A Life in Scouting
From a Scout troop in Gloucestershire to the leadership of World Scouting
In 1975, an eleven-year-old boy in Stroud, Gloucestershire, was sent off to Scouts by his mother. His brother was dispatched to Cubs. It was a perfectly ordinary piece of parental decision-making, and there is no reason to suppose that anyone involved imagined it would lead to more than half a century of adventures, friendships and service to the worldwide Scout Movement.
That boy was John May. More than fifty years later, he is still involved in Scouting, having served at almost every level of the Movement, from leading Cub Scouts in Bristol to becoming Vice-Chairperson of the World Scout Committee. The path from one role to the next was not planned in advance. Instead, each stage built on the experience before it: local leadership taught him how Scouting changed young people’s lives; national representation showed him how those experiences could inform wider policy; and international service gave him the opportunity to apply both lessons across borders.
Along the way, he has helped develop international partnerships, supported the rebuilding of Scouting in countries emerging from political repression, contributed to major World Scout Jamborees and championed the role of Scouting in education, inclusion and international understanding.
His contribution has been recognised with both the Silver Wolf, the highest award of UK Scouting, and the Bronze Wolf, World Scouting’s highest distinction. Yet the appointments and honours tell only part of the story. At its heart is a lifelong belief that Scouting can change lives, build friendships across boundaries and help young people discover what they are capable of achieving.
It started with Mum: 1975–1979
John joined the St Lawrence Scout Troop in Stroud in 1975, aged eleven. His mother had decided that Scouting would be a good thing for him, just as Cubs would be good for his brother. As parental judgements go, it proved to be a particularly consequential one.
He remained with St Lawrence until 1977, when he moved to Wycliffe College and continued his Scouting involvement with the school’s Scout Troop until 1979. Those four years gave John his first experience of the friendships, activities and opportunities that Scouting offers young people. More importantly, they established the personal connection with the Movement from which everything that followed would grow.
His return to Scouting as an adult came through another youth organisation: The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Looking for a way to fulfil the service requirement of his Gold Award, John decided to volunteer as a Scout leader.
On 11 December 1982, he received his first adult Scouter warrant in Bristol Central District, signed by Chief Scout Major General Michael Walsh. The following month, he began serving as Assistant Cub Scout Leader with the 160th Bristol Scout Group.
What began as a way of completing an Award requirement became something rather more substantial. There is a pleasing symmetry in the fact that John would eventually become Secretary General of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, the very organisation whose Gold Award had helped bring him back into Scouting.
Learning to lead: Bristol and Oxford, 1982–1986
John’s early adult Scouting years were spent working directly with young people, learning the practicalities of leadership and discovering just how much patience, ingenuity and good humour a group of Cubs can require.
He completed his initial adult leader training in January 1983 and Cub Scout basic training that June. In March 1984, he transferred to the 226th Bristol Scout Group, becoming its Cub Scout Leader in March 1985.
His first Wood Badge was awarded on 18 December 1984, following completion of the advanced training and practical requirements for Cub Scout leadership. The Wood Badge, with its distinctive wooden beads, is an internationally recognised qualification representing the completion of adult leader training.
In October 1985, John moved to Oxford, becoming Cub Scout Leader with the 5th St Michael’s Scout Group in Oxford (Isis) District, an appointment he held until May 1986.
These were formative years. Long before committee papers, international conferences and organisational strategies became part of his Scouting life, he was planning programmes, running activities and working with children whose needs, interests and abilities varied enormously. That practical responsibility gave him a standard against which he would later measure every wider role: whatever the level of leadership, Scouting had to remain meaningful for the young people who experienced it.
Cardiff and John’s first international conference, 1984
While John was still developing his experience as a local Cub Scout leader, an opportunity arose that would introduce him to a much wider world of youth work and international cooperation.
In 1984, he represented The Scout Association at an international forum on alcohol and substance misuse amongst young people in Cardiff. Although the conference took place in Wales, it was his first experience of international representation and an early indication that Scouting’s contribution could extend well beyond its own activities and structures.
The event brought together people concerned with the effects of alcohol and drug misuse on young people, creating an opportunity to share experience and discuss how youth organisations could contribute to prevention, education and support. For John, it connected his practical experience of working with young people to wider questions of health, wellbeing and social responsibility.
It was an important first step into international representation and helped prepare him for the broader role he would assume several years later.
Finding a national voice: the British Youth Council
While working as a Cub Scout leader in Bristol in the mid-1980s, John was invited to join The Scout Association’s delegation to the British Youth Council (BYC). It was his first significant involvement in representing Scouting beyond the local Movement and introduced him to the wider world of youth policy, representation and advocacy.
The invitation followed his work with young people in Bristol, where his approach to giving Cubs opportunities to influence their own activities had attracted the attention of staff at Baden-Powell House, then the national headquarters of The Scout Association.
The British Youth Council brought together representatives from a wide range of voluntary youth organisations, providing opportunities to debate issues affecting young people and to influence national and international discussions. In 1985, The Scout Association was entitled to send ten delegates to the Council.
For John, the significance went beyond the meetings and discussions. The experience connected his local work with a broader principle: young people should have a genuine voice in decisions affecting their lives, and youth organisations have a responsibility to listen, collaborate and speak up on their behalf. His involvement with the BYC became an important bridge between local Scout leadership and the national and international responsibilities that followed.
The Beaver years: Lichfield, 1987–1988
John’s appointment took him to Lichfield District, where he received a new Scouter warrant in February 1987.
Beaver Scouts had only recently become an official section of The Scout Association, in 1986, and John became involved in supporting its development during those early years. He served as District Beaver Scout Leader before being appointed Assistant District Commissioner (Beaver Scouts) in December 1987. He completed Beaver Scout leader training and was awarded his second Wood Badge on 13 April 1988.
He also undertook training as a tutor and adult leader trainer, developing skills that would become increasingly relevant as his responsibilities expanded. The Beaver years reinforced an understanding that Scouting must be willing to evolve. The Movement’s principles may be enduring, but the ways in which it delivers its programme must respond to changing generations and circumstances.
An unexpected invitation: becoming International Commissioner
By the end of the 1980s, John’s Scouting interests were increasingly extending beyond individual groups and districts. His involvement in national discussions brought him into contact with senior figures in The Scout Association, including Chief Scout Garth Morrison. John has recalled an encounter at a national conference when, as one of the younger participants, he challenged some of the prevailing thinking about the Movement’s future. Rather than being discouraged, he found himself encouraged to take on greater responsibility.
On 6 February 1991, John was appointed Assistant International Commissioner of The Scout Association. Just six months later, on 1 August 1991, shortly before his twenty-seventh birthday, he became International Commissioner of the United Kingdom.
The appointment placed him at the centre of British Scouting’s international relationships during a period of extraordinary political change. The Cold War had ended, Germany had been reunited and Scout organisations across Central and Eastern Europe were rebuilding or re-establishing themselves after decades during which independent Scouting had been suppressed.
International Scouting was about much more than organising overseas trips. It involved helping national organisations develop, supporting international recognition, encouraging partnerships and demonstrating the practical value of friendship across political and cultural boundaries. John also became a trustee of The Scout Association in 1991, beginning a period of national governance involvement that continued until 2006.
Kandersteg and the World Scout Moot, 1992
In July and August 1992, John served as Deputy UK Contingent Leader at the 9th World Scout Moot, held at Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Switzerland. The UK Contingent Leader was Stephen Peck, who would himself go on to make a distinguished contribution to international Scouting.
The Moot brought together approximately 1,400 young adult Scouts from more than 50 countries, combining mountain activities, international friendship and opportunities for discussion about the future of the Movement. It was an early opportunity for John to experience international Scouting not simply as an administrator or representative but as a leader supporting young people taking part in a major worldwide gathering.
Earlier that year, in May 1992, he had also attended the 14th European Scout Conference in Helsingborg, Sweden, strengthening his involvement in the European dimension of the Movement.
Uganda: the beginning of a lasting relationship
One of the most enduring strands of John’s international Scouting life began in the early 1990s with Uganda.
In December 1992, more than 100 Venture Scouts gathered at Woodhouse Park, near Bristol, to explore international opportunities. John, then International Commissioner, encouraged them to consider undertaking a development project in Uganda. Four young people committed themselves to an initial visit in 1993. What began as an idea developed into a programme of exchanges, partnerships and practical projects, including work associated with the Scout training centre at Buwenda, near Jinja.
John’s relationship with Ugandan Scouting was strengthened through contact with Alan Beavis, who was working in the development of Scouting in Uganda. Their discussions helped generate an ambitious idea: a partnership that would link Scouts in Uganda and the United Kingdom with UNICEF, combining practical community development with education about the wider world. That idea became UNITE.
UNITE: Uganda, UNICEF and UK Scouting, 1993–1994 and beyond
The UNITE partnership, established in 1993, was among the most significant initiatives of John’s period as International Commissioner. He was one of its principal instigators, helping bring together The Scout Association in the United Kingdom, the Uganda Scouts Association and UNICEF in a project that combined international cooperation, community health and development education.
The partnership was distinctive in both its ambition and its approach. Rather than simply asking British Scouts to raise money for a project overseas, UNITE sought to create a relationship in which Scouts in both countries could learn from one another and contribute to a common purpose.
In Uganda, the project supported Scout-led community health initiatives, particularly work encouraging childhood immunisation and raising awareness of HIV/AIDS. Ugandan Scouts were central to the delivery of these activities, using their local knowledge, community relationships and commitment to service to reach families and young people.
UNICEF brought its expertise in health and development, while British Scouts contributed fundraising, awareness-raising and practical support. The partnership demonstrated how a youth movement with a strong tradition of community service could work alongside an international development organisation to address real challenges.
But UNITE was not simply an overseas aid initiative. Its educational dimension was equally important. It reflected John’s conviction that international partnership should change the understanding and opportunities of young people in every country involved, not merely deliver assistance from one place to another.
1994: A first for British Scouting
The year 1994 became the principal UK-wide UNITE campaign year, with development education activities, fundraising initiatives and a dedicated UNITE badge helping to engage Scout groups throughout the country.
One of the campaign’s most important achievements was the creation of dedicated development education materials for UK Scouting, described in historical accounts as the first educational project of its kind to involve every section of the Association.
Programme resources were developed for Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts, Scouts and Venture Scouts, enabling young people throughout the Movement to explore questions of poverty, health, international inequality, development and global interdependence through age-appropriate activities.
This represented an important innovation. International Scouting had traditionally been associated with overseas camps, expeditions, exchanges and friendships. UNITE brought international development into the ordinary weekly programme of Scout groups across Britain, including those whose members might never have the opportunity to travel overseas.
The educational materials encouraged young people to look beyond their immediate surroundings, to understand something of the circumstances faced by others and to recognise that they could make a difference. They also offered an alternative to a simplistic view of international charity in which one country gives and another receives.
Learning through action
The UNITE programme combined educational activities with fundraising and opportunities for direct involvement. A fundraising badge helped give the project a recognisable identity within UK Scouting, while programme books and activity materials enabled leaders to introduce development issues to young people in practical and engaging ways.
Study visits and exchanges helped deepen relationships between British and Ugandan Scouts. By 1997, contemporary reporting described approximately 60,000 Ugandan Scouts and Guides participating in HIV-prevention education associated with UNITE, demonstrating the scale of the partnership’s continuing work.
UNITE’s activities extended well beyond the original British campaign. Records from August 2002 describe the delivery of the final UNITE-funded motorcycle in Uganda, providing tangible evidence of the programme’s continuing practical support.
A legacy beyond the project
UNITE helped establish an enduring relationship between British and Ugandan Scouting, and its influence extended well beyond the original partnership. For John, it was the beginning of more than twenty years of involvement with Uganda, encompassing visits, friendships, exchanges and continuing support for the development of Scouting.
UNITE deserves a particular place in John’s Scouting story because it brought together several of the themes that would characterise his subsequent leadership: international partnership, youth participation, education, social responsibility and a belief that Scouting should equip young people to engage thoughtfully with the world around them.
The Netherlands World Scout Jamboree, 1995
In 1995, John served as UK Contingent Leader for the 18th World Scout Jamboree, held at Dronten in the Netherlands. The Jamboree brought together tens of thousands of Scouts and leaders from around the world, providing opportunities for international friendship, cultural exchange and shared adventure on an extraordinary scale.
Leading a national contingent involves significant responsibility, from preparing participants and adult volunteers to coordinating travel, logistics, welfare and participation in the international programme. During this period, John was also involved in the early work towards bringing the World Scout Jamboree back to the United Kingdom for Scouting’s centenary in 2007.
Poland and the Golden Arrow, 1996
One of the most historically significant moments in John’s international Scouting career took place in Warsaw in August 1996. Following the political transformations of the early 1990s, the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, ZHP, had regained its place within the international Scouting community.
At the centre of the 1996 celebrations was the return of Baden-Powell’s Golden Arrow, originally presented to the Polish delegation at the 1929 World Scout Jamboree at Arrowe Park in Britain. The arrow had been preserved in Britain during the decades when Polish Scouting’s international position had been disrupted by war and political repression.
On 8 August 1996, John formally returned the Golden Arrow to Polish Scouting at a ceremony in Warsaw. It was a deeply symbolic occasion, representing not simply the return of a historical object but the restoration of relationships between national Scout organisations.
The wider British–Polish partnership demonstrated how Scouting could contribute to rebuilding trust and friendship in a Europe emerging from decades of division.
Equality, inclusion and changing Scouting
One of John’s most significant contributions to the development of British Scouting was his involvement in writing The Scout Association’s first formal Equal Opportunities Policy, announced in February 1997.
John was one of the policy’s authors, and the document explicitly addressed the inclusion of LGBTQ people within the Movement. At a time when attitudes towards sexuality were very different from those of today, this was an important development in the Association’s approach to equality and inclusion.
The timing matters. Section 28, which restricted the activities of local authorities in relation to homosexuality, was still in force. Public discussion of homosexuality, particularly in the context of organisations working with young people, was often marked by suspicion, prejudice and considerable political controversy.
As a gay man who had experienced the pressures of concealing his sexuality in professional life during the 1980s, John understood that inclusion was about more than reassuring words. It meant creating an environment in which young people and adult volunteers could participate without fear of discrimination or exclusion.
For him, the principle was straightforward: a Movement dedicated to helping young people develop their potential must also be prepared to challenge the barriers that prevent them from doing so.
Programme development and educational leadership
Following his period as International Commissioner, John continued to hold significant national responsibilities within The Scout Association. By 2000, he was serving as Chairman of Programme and Development, contributing to the evolution of Scouting’s educational programme and its approach to supporting young people and adult volunteers.
His interests increasingly focused on the relationship between Scouting’s fundamental principles and the practical experience offered to young people. He believed that the Movement needed to be ambitious about its educational contribution while remaining accessible, relevant and responsive to the changing world.
This included recognising the importance of youth participation, ensuring that young people had genuine opportunities to influence decisions, and supporting adults to become effective facilitators of learning rather than simply organisers of activities.
Returning to district leadership: London, 2003–2004
In September 2003, John was appointed District Commissioner for Islington, London. A year later, in September 2004, he became District Commissioner for City and North London. Both appointments were made during the period when George Purdy was Chief Scout.
Returning to district leadership after serving in senior national roles reflected John’s belief that Scouting’s strength lies in its local groups and the volunteers who make activities possible week after week. It also provided a valuable reminder of the challenges faced by those responsible for recruiting volunteers, supporting leaders, maintaining standards and ensuring that young people have access to good-quality Scouting.
The distance between an international committee meeting and a local Scout hut can sometimes be considerable. John has always believed that those responsible for the Movement’s wider direction should understand both.
A century of Scouting: the 2007 World Scout Jamboree
In 2007, the United Kingdom hosted the 21st World Scout Jamboree at Hylands Park, Essex, as a centrepiece of the celebrations marking the centenary of Scouting.
John served on the Jamboree Core Team, working on contingent support and helping coordinate the participation of national delegations from around the world. The event brought together approximately 40,000 Scouts and leaders, making it one of the largest international youth gatherings of its kind.
For John, the Jamboree represented the culmination of work that had begun more than a decade earlier, when Britain first indicated its intention to bid to host the event. Beyond the logistics lay something more important: young people from across the world living, learning and working together, demonstrating the relevance of Scouting’s ideals a century after Baden-Powell’s first experimental camp.
European Scouting and the wider Movement
Alongside his national responsibilities, John contributed to the leadership and development of Scouting across Europe, including service on the European Scout Committee.
His work involved supporting cooperation between national Scout organisations, contributing to discussions about governance and educational development, and encouraging opportunities for young people to participate internationally.
The European Region brought together Scout associations with very different histories, structures and resources. Some had operated continuously for generations; others were rebuilding after periods of political suppression. All faced the challenge of making Scouting relevant to young people in changing societies.
John attended a number of European Scout and Guide Conferences during this period. These included the 13th Conference in Larnaca, Cyprus, in 1989; the 14th in Helsingborg, Sweden, in 1992; the 15th in Salzburg, Austria, in 1995; the 16th in Luxembourg City in 1998; the 17th in Prague in 2001; the 20th in Brussels in 2010; the 21st in Berlin in 2013; and the 22nd in Melsomvik/Stokke, Norway, in 2016.
The World Scout Committee, 2008–2014
In 2008, John was elected to the World Scout Committee, the principal executive body of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). The Committee provides strategic leadership for World Scouting, oversees the implementation of decisions made by the World Scout Conference and supports the development of Scouting across its regions and national organisations.
John initially chaired the Committee’s work on Educational Methods, reflecting his longstanding interest in non-formal education, programme development and youth participation. In 2011, he became Vice-Chairperson of the World Scout Committee, serving until 2014.
His six years on the Committee coincided with a period of organisational change, including developments in the structure and operation of the World Scout Bureau and efforts to strengthen the Movement’s capacity to support national Scout organisations.
John contributed to discussions about governance, educational impact, international cooperation and the future direction of the Movement. His work also included supporting the role of Scouting in human rights education, peace-building and the development of active citizenship.
For John, one of the most important characteristics of World Scouting is its ability to bring together people from societies with very different traditions and perspectives. Meaningful international cooperation requires patience, diplomacy and a willingness to understand how shared values are expressed in different circumstances.
International recognition: the Silver Wolf and Bronze Wolf
John’s contribution to Scouting has been recognised through a number of national and international honours.
He received The Scout Association’s Medal of Merit in April 1995, followed by further recognition for his service, including the Bar to the Silver Acorn in 2008.
His international awards include the Distinguished Service Medal from Scouts Malaysia in 2009, a Certificate of Commendation from Scouts Canada in 2012, the Swedish Gustaf Adolfs-märket in 2014 and the Silver Sakura from the Scout Association of Japan in 2015.
On 23 April 2015, John received the Silver Wolf, the highest award of The Scout Association in the United Kingdom, recognising service of the most exceptional nature. The following year, he was awarded the Bronze Wolf, World Scouting’s highest distinction, becoming recipient number 351.
Established in 1935, the Bronze Wolf is awarded by the World Scout Committee for outstanding service to the worldwide Movement. For John, these honours represent not simply personal recognition but acknowledgement of the many colleagues, volunteers and friends with whom he has worked. Scouting is, after all, a collective endeavour.
British Scouting Overseas and continuing service
In September 2017, John was appointed the first President of British Scouting Overseas (BSO), continuing his longstanding commitment to supporting British Scouting beyond the United Kingdom. BSO provides Scouting opportunities for young people in British communities around the world, operating in a wide range of countries and circumstances.
He has also remained active in international Scout networks and initiatives, including the European Scout Foundation and the Friends of Scouting in Europe.
In 2017, he addressed the World Scout Education Congress at Kandersteg, speaking about the importance of education that goes beyond traditional academic measures. He argued for greater attention to five Rs: Roots, Risks, Relationships, Resilience and Relevance.
The message reflected a conviction developed over decades: young people need opportunities to take responsibility, experience manageable risk, learn from failure, develop meaningful relationships and understand their place in the world.
Fifty years of Scouting
On 11 December 2023, John received the Chief Scout’s 40 Year Length of Service Award, recognising more than four decades of adult volunteering. The certificate, signed by Chief Scout Bear Grylls, came 41 years to the day after his first Scouter warrant had been issued in Bristol.
In 2025, John marked another milestone: fifty years since his mother first sent him along to the St Lawrence Scout Troop in Stroud.
His wider professional career has also been strongly influenced by the values and educational principles he encountered through the Movement. As founding Chief Executive of Career Ready, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise and Secretary General of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, he has continued to champion opportunities for young people to develop skills, confidence, character and a sense of responsibility.
His charitable and civic roles, including service as High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire and Chair of Oxfordshire Youth, have provided further opportunities to advocate for young people and the importance of volunteering.
A movement built on friendship
For all the appointments, conferences, Jamborees and honours, John has often reflected that the most important things Scouting has given him are friendships.
Some began decades ago and have survived changes of country, career and circumstance. Others have grown through shared experiences, whether organising international events, supporting local groups, visiting Scout projects or simply spending time together around a campfire.
The worldwide Scout family has provided opportunities to meet people whose backgrounds, beliefs and experiences are very different from his own, yet with whom he shares a commitment to the values of the Scout Promise and Law.
Those relationships have reinforced his belief that Scouting’s international dimension is not an optional extra. It is central to what makes the Movement distinctive. Friendship across boundaries is one of the most practical ways in which Scouting contributes to peace and understanding.
The adventure continues
John’s Scouting journey has taken him a long way from that first troop meeting in Stroud in 1975.
He has witnessed enormous changes in the Movement and the world around it: the introduction of new sections, the rebuilding of Scouting in countries emerging from authoritarian rule, the growth of international partnerships, changing attitudes towards equality and inclusion, and continuing debates about how Scouting can best serve young people.
Yet his belief in the Movement’s fundamental purpose has remained remarkably consistent. Scouting is about giving young people opportunities they might otherwise never have, encouraging them to discover their abilities, helping them learn to work with others and enabling them to make a positive contribution to the communities in which they live.
And perhaps the most fitting reflection on more than fifty years of involvement is that it all began with a mother deciding that her two boys ought to go to Scouts and Cubs. She could hardly have known what she was starting.
Scouting service chronology
| Year | Appointment or milestone |
| 1975–1977 | Scout, St Lawrence Scout Troop, Stroud, Gloucestershire |
| 1977–1979 | Scout, Wycliffe College Scout Troop |
| 1982 | First adult Scouter warrant, Bristol Central District |
| 1983 | Assistant Cub Scout Leader, 160th Bristol |
| 1984 | Assistant Cub Scout Leader, 226th Bristol; Cub Scout Wood Badge; international forum on alcohol and substance misuse, Cardiff |
| Mid-1980s | Member of The Scout Association’s delegation to the British Youth Council |
| 1985 | Cub Scout Leader, 226th Bristol; subsequently 5th St Michael’s, Oxford |
| 1987 | District Beaver Scout Leader, Lichfield; subsequently Assistant District Commissioner (Beaver Scouts) |
| 1988 | Beaver Scout Wood Badge |
| 1989 | 13th European Scout and Guide Conference, Larnaca, Cyprus |
| 1991 | Assistant International Commissioner; UK International Commissioner; national trustee |
| 1992 | Deputy UK Contingent Leader, 9th World Scout Moot, Kandersteg; 14th European Conference, Helsingborg |
| 1992–1993 | Early involvement in the Uganda Scout partnership |
| 1993 | Principal instigator of UNITE, Uganda–UNICEF–UK Scout partnership |
| 1994 | National UNITE campaign and development education materials for all UK Scouting sections |
| 1995 | UK Contingent Leader, 18th World Scout Jamboree, Netherlands; Medal of Merit |
| 1996 | Return of Baden-Powell’s Golden Arrow to Polish Scouting, Warsaw |
| 1997 | Co-author of first Scout Association Equal Opportunities Policy; UNITE health education in Uganda |
| 1998 | 16th European Scout and Guide Conference, Luxembourg City |
| 2000 | Chairman of Programme and Development, UK Scouting |
| 2001 | 17th European Scout and Guide Conference, Prague |
| 2002 | World Scout Conference, Thessaloniki; final UNITE-funded motorcycle delivered |
| 2003 | District Commissioner, Islington |
| 2004 | District Commissioner, City and North London |
| 2005 | World Scout Conference, Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia |
| 2007 | World Scout Jamboree Core Team, UK |
| 2008 | Elected to World Scout Committee; Bar to Silver Acorn; World Scout Conference, Jeju Island |
| 2008–2011 | Chair of Educational Methods, World Scout Committee |
| 2009 | Distinguished Service Medal, Scouts Malaysia |
| 2010 | 20th European Scout and Guide Conference, Brussels |
| 2011 | World Scout Conference, Curitiba, Brazil |
| 2011–2014 | Vice-Chairperson, World Scout Committee |
| 2012 | Certificate of Commendation, Scouts Canada |
| 2013 | 21st European Scout and Guide Conference, Berlin |
| 2014 | Gustaf Adolfs-märket, Sweden; World Scout Conference, Ljubljana |
| 2015 | Silver Wolf, UK; Silver Sakura, Japan |
| 2016 | Bronze Wolf, recipient 351; 22nd European Conference, Norway |
| 2017 | First President, British Scouting Overseas; World Scout Education Congress, Kandersteg |
| 2023 | Chief Scout’s 40 Year Length of Service Award |
| 2025 | Fifty years since joining Scouting |
| 2026 | Friends of Scouting in Europe visit to Thuringia, Germany |
Prepared October 2026 from historical records and personal recollections. Some details remain subject to archival confirmation.