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Bear takes to the air to visit 10,000 Scouts
28/05/2010
Please be aware, the information in this article is no longer current.
Chief Scout Bear Grylls is on the first stage in his mission to visit Scouts across the whole of the UK over the next five years.
He is flying by helicopter to visit 24 events across Yorkshire and the north-east of England over this bank holiday weekend.
Throughout the weekend Bear will meet 10,000 Scouts and leaders at Scout events from Grimsby to South Shields. But he won’t just be dropping in, he’ll also be joining in some activities, including sailing with Scouts from the 3rd South Shields, rock climbing at Ingleby Greenhow, mountain biking in Dalby Forest, canoe polo at Grimsby Docks and a canal boat expedition along Salterhebble Basin and locks.
He said: ‘I’m really looking forward to kicking off the first stage of my UK tour. It’s great to be going out and meeting so many people at some really amazing events. Scouting is all about adventure – letting adults and young people go wild and have fun.’
‘It’s going to be just awesome’
Becky, 15, an Explorer Scout from Huddersfield is just one of the Scouts who will meet the Chief Scout: ‘It’s going to be just awesome. It’s great that Bear is going to meet loads of different Groups and as many Scouts as possible. I think it’s a really important thing to do – and he’ll get to see just how much we all love doing the activities and stuff. Now he can see that Scouting rocks just as much here as anywhere else.’
Jon, 36, a Scout Leader from Birkenshaw added: ‘I’m really excited that Bear will be coming to visit us here in West Yorkshire. I’ve been a leader for 18 months now and I love it. While lots of people know that Scouting is all about adventure, they don’t always realise that adult volunteers can get just as much out of Scouting as young people.’
Follow the action on Twitter
We'll be tweeting throughout the weekend so you can follow the action as it happens. Follow #bearinthenortheast on Twitter.
If you are attending one of the events, upload your photographs to the 'Bear in the Air' group on Flickr and we will publish the best ones in Scouting magazine.
Inspiring more volunteers
As well as meeting as many Scouts as possible during the UK-wide tours, these tours are part of Bear’s mission to encourage more adults to volunteer for Scouting. He said: ‘My goal is for every young person that wants to be involved in Scouting to be able to be. In order to make this happen we need even more adult volunteers. So over the next five years I am going to be travelling across the UK visiting our members to try and inspire even more adults to volunteer.’
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The Scout Association is the largest mixed youth movement in the UK. It strives to ensure that its
young people fulfil their full physical, intellectual, social and
spiritual potentials by working in teams, learning by doing and
thinking for themselves.
Adults working in Scouting contribute in
excess of 364 million hours of voluntary work each year to their local
communities. Join the adventure
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