Tonight I was invited to represent the Oxfordshire Lieutenancy as guest speaker at Oxfordshire Scouting’s recognition evening for adult volunteers. Here’s what I said:
It’s lovely to be here tonight, amongst friends and fellow members of the Scouting family, celebrating some truly remarkable contributions to young people across Oxfordshire.
I’m here as a Deputy Lieutenant, but tonight I feel much more like a fellow Scout. And I suspect that’s how most of you would prefer it too.
Ninety-one volunteers have been recognised for good service across Oxfordshire this year, and 32 of you are here this evening. That’s something worth celebrating. Although I know Scout volunteers aren’t always terribly good at accepting thanks. We’re much happier getting on with the next activity, sorting out a problem, or discovering that nobody has remembered to book the minibus.
But tonight, for once, I’d encourage you to sit back and enjoy being appreciated.
I’ve been involved in Scouting for more than fifty years now, and one of the things I’ve come to appreciate is that the people who make the greatest difference often have absolutely no idea of the impact they’re having.
My own first Scout camp was at Cranham, near Stroud. It rained almost continuously, and by the following morning my sleeping bag, clothes and most of my possessions were thoroughly soaked.
I remember wondering whether this was really what camping was supposed to be like.
And yet I loved it. The friendships, the adventure, the freedom of being away from home and the satisfaction of solving problems together.
What I didn’t appreciate then was how much I was learning. Not from lectures or formal instruction, but by being given responsibility, learning to work with others and occasionally getting things spectacularly wrong.
There were adults making all of that possible, giving up their evenings and weekends, probably wondering why on earth they’d volunteered in the first place.
I wonder whether any of them realised how important those experiences would become to the young people in their care.
Probably not. They were far too busy trying to get everybody dry.
Years later, when I was a Cub leader in Bristol, I took a group of children from the St Paul’s and Easton areas of the city camping at Minchinhampton Common.
One of the boys, Jake, stopped dead during a walk. He had never seen a cow before.
He knew what cows were, of course. He’d seen pictures. But he’d never actually encountered a real one.
The following morning he refused to put milk on his cornflakes. Having now met the animal responsible, he was rather less enthusiastic about consuming its products.
Eventually he decided that dry cornflakes were an even worse prospect.
I’ve never forgotten Jake, because he reminded me that what we take for granted isn’t necessarily part of everybody else’s experience.
And that’s one of the extraordinary things about Scouting. We open doors to experiences that young people might never otherwise have.
Sometimes those doors lead to foreign countries and extraordinary adventures. Sometimes they lead to a field full of cows.
It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that somebody has opened the door.
And, of course, that somebody is usually a volunteer.
One of the privileges of being involved in Scouting is discovering that this happens all over the world.
I’ve seen Scouting in Uganda, where young people were helping to tackle serious health challenges through peer education and community projects. I’ve seen it in communities recovering from conflict and hardship, where Scouting provides friendship, stability and a sense of hope.
And only a couple of weeks ago, my husband Mark and were in Germany, visiting Scout projects in Thuringia, where volunteers are working hard to build opportunities for young people in communities facing considerable social and economic challenges.
The circumstances may be very different, but the commitment is remarkably familiar.
People giving their time, sharing their skills and creating opportunities for young people.
And quite often doing so with limited resources, competing demands and rather more bureaucracy than they’d ideally like.
Which sounds remarkably like Scouting in Oxfordshire!
But there’s something else I’ve learnt over the years.
The most important thing we offer young people isn’t necessarily the activity we’ve so carefully planned.
It’s the relationship.
It’s knowing that somebody believes in them. That there’s a place where they’re welcome. Somewhere they can try something unfamiliar, make mistakes, learn from them and discover what they’re capable of.
I was reminded of that repeatedly during my year as High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, when I chose Hearing the Young Unheard as my theme.
I met young people facing enormous challenges, and adults who were making an extraordinary difference simply by being there, listening, encouraging and refusing to give up on them.
Sometimes the most valuable thing we can give a young person is our time and our attention.
And that is something Scout volunteers give in extraordinary quantities.
Shaun has told us that the award recipients here tonight represent some 568 years of service between them.
Just think about that for a moment.
Five hundred and sixty-eight years of meetings, camps, activities, training, planning, washing up, putting up tents, taking down tents, dealing with parents, filling in forms and trying to remember which version of the latest system we’re supposed to be using.
And Peter Craddock, with 58 years of service, deserves a particular mention. Peter, I imagine you’ve seen a few changes over the years. Perhaps even the occasional one for the better!
But the real significance of those years isn’t the number. It’s what happened during them.
The nervous Beaver who gained confidence. The Cub who discovered a talent. The Scout who learnt to lead. The Explorer who found somewhere they belonged.
And perhaps, years later, the adult who decided to become a volunteer because somebody once did the same for them.
We can’t possibly measure all of that.
Nor should we pretend that volunteering is always easy.
The world has changed. People are balancing work, family responsibilities and all sorts of other demands on their time. The traditional assumption that somebody will simply be available every Tuesday evening for the next twenty years doesn’t always fit modern life.
We have to be willing to adapt, to welcome different ways of volunteering and to make it easier for people to contribute whatever time and talents they can offer.
And we must remember that volunteers need looking after too.
Nobody joins Scouting because they have an overwhelming desire to complete risk assessments or learn another membership management system.
They join because they want to help young people, because they enjoy being part of something worthwhile, and because volunteering brings friendships and experiences into their own lives as well.
We need to protect that enjoyment.
Which is one reason why tonight matters.
We don’t volunteer for awards. But it doesn’t follow that we shouldn’t say thank you.
In fact, I think we should probably do it rather more often.
Not simply for the great achievements or the remarkable lengths of service, but for the ordinary acts of generosity that keep Scouting going.
For the person who steps in when somebody is ill. The volunteer who stays behind to tidy up. The leader who takes time to reassure an anxious parent. The person who notices that a young Scout is struggling and quietly makes sure they’re included.
Those things rarely feature in an awards citation.
But without them, Scouting simply wouldn’t work.
I want to finish with a thought about the Scout Promise.
I’ve been making that Promise, in one form or another, since I was a boy. And the older I get, the more I appreciate its simple commitment to helping other people.
It’s not a complicated philosophy. But it is a rather good one.
And tonight, looking around this room, I see people who have spent years, sometimes decades, putting that promise into practice.
You may not know what became of all the young people whose lives you’ve touched. You probably won’t remember every conversation, every word of encouragement or every small kindness.
But some of them will.
And somewhere in Oxfordshire this week, another young person will walk into a Scout meeting for the first time. Perhaps nervous, perhaps excited, perhaps not quite sure whether they belong.
Someone will welcome them, help them settle in and encourage them to have a go.
It may seem a perfectly ordinary evening to the volunteer concerned.
But for that young person, it could be the beginning of something quite extraordinary.
So congratulations to every one of you whsoe award is being celebrated tonight. Thank you to the families and friends who support you, and to everyone who makes Scouting possible across our county.
And thank you, above all, for the difference you make, often without ever knowing quite how much it matters.
Enjoy your evening. You’ve earned it.
