Happy Founders’ Day and Thinking Day! It’s all about the apostrophe. Some would like one between the “r” and the “s”, to show possession by Robert BP alone. Others put it after the “s” to show possession by both Robert and Olave – which I prefer. Others leave it out completely, but the punctuation pedant…
It’s not often that I now get to congratulate young people on achieving their DofE, but last week I was able to spend an evening with parents, pupils and Award volunteers at Lord William School in Thame, doing just that. The school has a remarkable commitment to the Award, and more than half of their…
I no longer actively work with a Section, I do other things as a Scout volunteer, but I was a leader in UK Scouting throughout the 80s and 90s, when being gay in Scouting wasn’t something you admitted to. Indeed, the institutional homophobia at the time was palpable. Since then, things have changed for LGBTQI+…
Thank you to my friends in New York for sharing this article with me, published locally… Celebrating John May: A Trailblazer for LGBTQI+ Inclusion in Scouting The world of Scouting, often associated with outdoor adventures and community service, is also a space where values of inclusivity and diversity are nurtured. Among the champions of these…
I was chatting today to an old friend in Nairobi. We come from different backgrounds and different cultures. We disagree about many things, but we have remained steadfast friends since early adulthood. We started to talk about the advice we would offer our younger selves. We began to make a list. Here are a few…
In just a few short weeks’ time, thousands of teenagers will be traveling to South Korea to attend the World Scout Jamboree. They’ll be flying in groups of around 36 young people, with each group accompanied by four long-suffering and truly wonderful volunteer adult leaders. If you’re one of those teenagers, or one of those…
On the 14th October, I had the opportunity to say a few thank yous as I bowed out as Secretary General of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award… Thank you. Two little words that truly say exactly what I want to say this evening. Thank you to the young people and their leaders around the…
On the 12th October, I delivered this speech to the delegates at The Award’s Forum in Cluj, Romania: Many of you will know the opening lines of Charles Dickens’ novel, A tale of two cities. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… it was the spring of hope, it was…
As so many children have started back at school today, I found myself reflecting on the story of one child I taught, many years ago. Let’s call him Christopher. He was in my Y6 class in the late 1980s, back when we called them 4th year juniors. He was attention seeking, usually using poor behaviour…
I was honoured this week to receive an Honorary Doctorate in Social Science from the University of Bolton. As one friend commented – “Dressing up and a show; perfect way to celebrate, John!” It wasn’t quite the normal show of a graduation ceremony that you’d expect to see. Covid rather put paid to that… Instead,…