Other example citations

Chief Scout’s Personal Award

Name: Susan Squirrel

1. Reason for the award nomination

Outline the incident or condition that’s been brought to your attention. Please be as specific as possible about dates and include as much detail as possible to help the National Awards Advisory Group understand the situation.

Sue has continued to volunteer for the Scouts despite the death of her husband last year, in fact she has thrown herself in to her volunteering even more and we feel that she should be recognised for her true Scouts grit. Frank (Sue’s husband) died after a long fight with Parkinson’s, but Sue who has been the Cub Leader since 1984 continued with a full programme, including camp, and supported the District with St George’s Day this year too. In 2015, Susan was recognised with a Silver Wolf but we feel her continued service in such circumstances also needs recognising by our Chief Scout.

2. Involvement in Scouts

Outline what the nominee does in/for Scouts and their usual character.

Since 1984, when her son joined the group, Sue has been our Cub Leader. Frank (Sue’s husband) husband, was also involved in the group until he was too unwell to continue.

Sue is currently a member of the Jamboree fundraising committee and part of the local awards advisory committee.

Sue is extremely welcoming and as a result she always has new people coming along and supporting her group and manages to get many parents involved where others wouldn’t be able to. She is kind and helpful and really upholds all of our scout values.

3. Key achievements and outcome

What has the nominee achieved (for themselves or others) by dealing with the incident or despite their condition?

Since Frank (Sue’s husband) died in 2021, Sue has been back to face to face scouting, she was on Zoom during Covid but as soon as she could, she was back to the Scout hut.

She has continued to be a cub leader and supported the district fundraising committee for the jamboree.

She has used the experiences to help raise awareness of Parkinson’s with other leaders and the young people and has raised money for Parkinson’s UK.

4. Personal challenges

Think about the main challenges or risks that the nominee has had to overcome. For acts of bravery did they put their life at risk, and if so, how? If undergoing treatment for a medical condition, how has this affected them and what is the long-term prognosis?

It takes a lot after your soul mate dies to get back out there. Sue has done just this and has really thrown herself back in to volunteering at the Scouts post Covid. She has her own medical issues which could have easily prevented her from coming back to her volunteering role, but she loves giving young people skills for life and looks forward to Thursday night cubs, so she was determined to return ASAP. She has also started supporting others who have lost loved ones.

5. Other community recognition

Outline any other recognition the nominee has received relating to the incident or condition described above. Examples could include: recognition from the emergency services or other organisations. Please also list the name and dates of any related awards received by the nominee.

She has not. Sue received her Silver Wolf in 2015. Frank became ill in 2017 and for 3 years, Sue supported him whist still volunteering with the Scouts.

6. Witness statements/evidence

Detail all external support for this nomination. Examples could include: statements from eye-witnesses, the emergency services, doctors or medical specialists or newspaper cuttings etc.

Mary Foster: Daughter of Sue and Frank.

Mum loves to volunteer with the Scouts. She has a lot to thank it for, but so do we. Scouts has got her back out both post Covid and post dads death. We would all have to make sure we were able to be around on a Thursday evening, so mum cold go to cubs, it’s her solace. Her happy place and we love that she is back volunteering and camping.

It was so amazing to see mum and dad receive their awards in 2015 and she would not be expecting anything like this but I think it is so great that the DC thinks the Chief Scout will recognise her adversity and hear what she has been able to do. She is amazing we love her so much.

Chief Scout’s Personal Award

Name: Joe Wolf

1. Reason for the award nomination

Outline the incident or condition that’s been brought to your attention. Please be as specific as possible about dates and include as much detail as possible to help the National Awards Advisory Group understand the situation.

After a family member was injured and the local air ambulance came to help, Joe discovered that the air ambulance was a charity. Joe was Inspired by this information and elected to raise money for them. He set himself the goal of raising £1000 over a period of 6 months. Joe did a sponsored walk consisting of 40 miles over 5 days along the local coast path and camping each night. Joes also organised a duck race and ran a raffle alongside it. Finally, Joe organised a fundraising evening at his local scout hut in which scouts brought along things they no longer needed, to sell as well as baked goods, Joe made flyers to promote the event and asked local businesses to advertise it too in their windows.

2. Involvement in Scouts

Outline what the nominee does in/for Scouts and their usual character.

Joe is a Scout and holds the role of Patrol Leader, he started his scout’s journey as a beaver at 6 years old. Joe is an enthusiastic member of the group and always goes out of his way to help others.

3. Key achievements and outcome

What has the nominee achieved (for themselves or others) by dealing with the incident or despite their condition?

Not only did Joe achieve his goal of raising £100 in 6 months, but he exceeded this, raising a final total of £1270 for the Air Ambulance. This both benefitted the charity financially, but Joe has also spread the word of the importance of the Air Ambulance and why they require more funding/donations. In raising the £1270, Joe has also learned many other skills, for example, resilience, organisational skills, how to manage the money (how to best store it, donate it and keep track of how much had been raised) and updating his online fundraising page accordingly.

4. Personal challenges

Think about the main challenges or risks that the nominee has had to overcome. For acts of bravery did they put their life at risk, and if so, how? If undergoing treatment for a medical condition, how has this affected them and what is the long-term prognosis?

Joe encountered a number of personal challenges whilst raising his Air Ambulance donation. Not only did Joe require great stamina to complete his sponsored walk, but he also had to carefully plan the trip to ensure he had all the supplies he needed and that he had somewhere safe to stay each night. When it came to the duck race, Joe had to get to permission from the local council in order to run the race in the river and organise an event in the public park next to it for the end of the race and Joe did this all by himself. Joe approached many local businesses to collect prizes for the raffle, which was no easy task. Finally, Joe coordinated with his Scout Leaders to plan the fundraising evening at the hut, which took a lot of responsibility in addition to liaising with his fellow scouts to ensure that there were enough people to man the stalls and there was enough to sell.

5. Other community recognition

Outline any other recognition the nominee has received relating to the incident or condition described above. Examples could include: recognition from the emergency services or other organisations. Please also list the name and dates of any related awards received by the nominee.

Due to its success, Joe’s duck race event made it into the local newspaper where he received recognition for his efforts and later on, a personalised thank you from the Air Ambulance when he donated the money.

Cornwell Scout Badge

Name: Harry Canoe

1. Reason for the award nomination

Outline the incident or condition that’s been brought to your attention. Please be as specific as possible about dates and include as much detail as possible to help the National Awards Advisory Group understand the situation.

At Group or District events, Harry is just the same as any other young person. He participates fully in most activities, and always endeavours to help others in Scouting whenever he can. This summer he went camping with the Explorer Scouts and then went on to his old Scout Troop’s summer camp in Kent, taking on numerous responsibilities. Despite starting to feel unwell, he insisted on staying until the end of the camp. As a result, he spent the next two weeks in hospital to recover from an infection that he had picked up.

However, Harry is no ordinary Scout. He was born with a congenital heart disease called Aortic Stenosis, he had surgery to correct the narrowed aortic valve at birth and when he was seven had open heart surgery and had a metal valve fitted. Aged 14 the valve failed and Harry had to go through surgery again. Unfortunately whilst in hospital Harry contracted sepsis and became critically ill, after many weeks of treatment Harry was able to return home but was so weak he was in a wheelchair, Harry’s immune system was permanently weakened and he is now at higher risk to common infections.

Harry didn’t give in and after extensive physio, he regained the strength to walk again. It was then that Harry decided to start taking part in park runs, each week getting stronger and faster. Harry then entered the fun run and through sponsorship raised an amazing £10,000 for Young Hearts the Children’s charity that helped him and his parents when he was born.

Harry always does his best and has gained the highest award in every section and helps at Beavers every week. He is an amazing young man who never lets his health stop him from enjoying Scouting.

2. Involvement in Scouts

Outline what the nominee does in/for Scouts and their usual character.

Harry has gone through all the Scout sections, starting as a Beaver Scout. He has gained the Chief Scout Award in each section and is presently working on his Diamond Award in Explorers. Harry is also a Young Leader and helps at Beavers every week.

3. Key achievements and outcome

What has the nominee achieved (for themselves or others) by dealing with the incident or despite their condition?

Harry raises funds for “Young Hearts” the charity that helped him when he was first diagnosed with a heart problem. He has raised over £10,000.

4. Personal challenges

Think about the main challenges or risks that the nominee has had to overcome. For acts of bravery did they put their life at risk, and if so, how? If undergoing treatment for a medical condition, how has this affected them and what is the long-term prognosis?

Only by talking to Harry’s parents, would you get an understanding of his extensive medical history. Harry isn’t one to talk about the problems he has faced; instead he just gets on with things. Harry is a very brave and courageous young person. Despite many painful operations and having to take medication since birth, he remains cheerful and determined to continue Scouting to the best of his ability.

Harry’s father has highlighted his son’s positivity ever since his first operation, which has helped greatly with the recovery process. However, over the last two years, Harry has physically slowed down due to the problems with the valve in his heart, which was failing to do its job.

In April last year, he had heart surgery and from that point, his health deteriorated dramatically.

At school Harry enjoys swimming, trampolining, canoeing and physical education lessons as normal and is completing his silver DofE too.

Harry has shown great courage in the face of adversity and despite his health problems, he has shown great devotion to Scouting and life in general.

5. Other community recognition

Outline any other recognition the nominee has received relating to the incident or condition described above. Examples could include: recognition from the emergency services or other organisations. Please also list the name and dates of any related awards received by the nominee.

Mayors Young Star Award for his fundraising.

6. Witness statements/evidence

Detail all external support for this nomination. Examples could include: statements from eye-witnesses, the emergency services, doctors or medical specialists or newspaper cuttings etc.

The evidence sent with this recommendation outlines his medical problems, and includes a list of operations he has undergone with their respective date.

Cornwell Scout Badge

Name: Kenny Kayak

1. Reason for the award nomination

Outline the incident or condition that’s been brought to your attention. Please be as specific as possible about dates and include as much detail as possible to help the National Awards Advisory Group understand the situation.

Kenny was diagnosed with a cancerous kidney tumour 18 months ago at the age of seven. He had to undergo lots of unpleasant tests to define the nature of the tumour and whether it had spread, before having to go through a gruelling eight-hour operation to remove it. Thereafter he suffered months of very powerful chemotherapy and dealt with lots of the side effects of that, including losing a lot of weight, losing his hair, suffering lots of nasty infections and having to have lots of antibiotic treatment.

His treatment finished last month, after 18 months when he rang the bell in the hospital cancer ward. His hair is starting grow back in and he is slowly regaining some his lost weight.

2. Involvement in Scouts

Outline what the nominee does in/for Scouts and their usual character.

Despite having to face lots of surgery and other treatment, Kenny never lost his passion and enthusiasm for the Scouts. He attended weekly meetings when he was well enough, and when he was in hospital was a regular attender at the hospital Scout Group.

Kenny has been an inspiration to everyone who knows him. His Cub friends have rallied round to help him when necessary, but he insists in being treated like everyone else. His leaders have been astonished at his determination and ongoing enthusiasm for Cubs.

3. Key achievements and outcome

What has the nominee achieved (for themselves or others) by dealing with the incident or despite their condition?

In the past 18 months Kenny has managed to complete his Chief Scout’s Silver Award and six activity badges. He has attended almost all the Cub Pack weekends away, albeit attending during the day and returning home at night.

Kenny decided to raise money for the hospital cancer ward that treated him. The Cub Pack supported this and with Kenny’s drive they managed to raise £6500 in the past six months. The money has been used to help furnish the children’s play zone in the hospital cancer ward.

4. Personal challenges

Think about the main challenges or risks that the nominee has had to overcome. For acts of bravery did they put their life at risk, and if so, how? If undergoing treatment for a medical condition, how has this affected them and what is the long-term prognosis?

It is fair to say that Kenny and his family have been to hell and back in the past 18 months. Kenny has two younger siblings and according to his parents Kenny has been a superb big brother to them both. Despite being unwell, Kenny has still been able to help and support them and to encourage them to help out around the house. Kenny regularly minimises the challenges that he has faced during his treatment. He constantly reminds people about the things he can do and dismisses the things he can’t.

5. Other community recognition

Outline any other recognition the nominee has received relating to the incident or condition described above. Examples could include: recognition from the emergency services or other organisations. Please also list the name and dates of any related awards received by the nominee.

Kenny was interviewed for the Hospital Newsletter and reported on how wonderful the doctors and nurses were who looked after him. He loved attending the MediCinema and the Scout Group when in hospital, and encouraged his fellow patients to join him at the hospital Scouts Group meetings.

6. Witness statements/evidence

Detail all external support for this nomination. Examples could include: statements from eye-witnesses, the emergency services, doctors or medical specialists or newspaper cuttings etc.

The evidence sent with this recommendation outlines his medical problems and includes a long list of operations he has undergone. His cancer specialist has been fulsome in her praise for Kenny and his support for the other children undergoing cancer treatment.

Commendation Award

Name: Connor Raft

Why a Commendation Award should be given.

Recently Connor Raft, as a member of the District Leadership Team, was instrumental in the delivery of a support event for new adults joining the Scouts. Connor led the organisation and delivery of the content with the assistance of other leaders across the District.

The event was a complete success and has had the effect of integrating our new adults into the District quickly and providing them with vital information and support structures that they call upon as they grow into their new roles.

Connor’s dedication and commitment in the initial idea building, planning and delivery is to be commended and recognised by way of a Commendation Award.

Commendation Award

Name: Peter Flag

Why a Commendation Award should be given.

Following on from a District Team meeting where falling numbers in Cubs and Scout sections were discussed, Peter Flag approached the District Commissioner with a proposal to take Scouts to the local primary schools in an effort to recruit new members to five of the struggling Groups in the District.

Peter made contact with the three Primary Schools in the area, had an initial meeting with each Head Teacher, and with their support, produced a program to suit each individual school. Peter then attended each School with a small team of District Leaders that he had recruited and trained, and delivered a very successful youth recruitment session. Peter followed up each session with letters to parents explaining all about the Scouts and how their child could join in.

The sessions were so successful that every group is now back up to full strength. Peter even managed to recruit several of the Teachers at the same time.

Peter’s dedication and commitment in the planning and then the delivery of this project is to be commended and recognised by way of a Commendation Award.

Thanks Badge

Name: Sheila Boat

Why a Thanks Badge should be given.

For 15 years, Sheila has been the dressmaker for the District Gang Show. The whole process begins in the August of each year when she starts to design, cut and sew all the outfits that are used for the show, which takes place some 10 months later. The show has a cast of around 50; with each member needing more than one costume, she designs and makes around 400 costumes each year.

For a large amount of the year, her daily routine is to come home from work, prepare dinner for the family and then begin making the costumes until late into the night. Her enthusiasm, creativity and commitment to make the costumes to the very best of her ability are evident for all to see. Sheila works quietly and efficiently, and her hard work enables others to enjoy the limelight of the stage.

Sheila has shown such long-standing devotion and enthusiasm that I feel her dedication is worthy of official recognition.

Thanks Badge

Name: Ian Adventure

Why a Thanks Badge should be given.

Ian has made an outstanding contribution to the fund raising and building of a new Scout and Guide Hall. He has given many hours labour working on the building itself alongside his Father. This work has involved also installing a security system and CCTV and Ian has helped with this too. When new gas pipes had to be laid, he liaised with the local farmer and helped to prepare the land to keep the costs down and then helped to re-landscape all the grounds. He has been the contact for all tradesmen and even helped out using a mini digger with some of the excavation work. He has organised and liaised with the painters and decorators, installed flooring, toilet cubicles and new doors and much more.

Ian has been appointed the Security and Maintenance Manager for the new building and will continue to be called upon for long after the building is completed.

Ian has attended meetings to give financial and structural reports and has been the leader in applying for more grants in which to complete the project.

Ian has put so much personal time and effort into the new hall that will be of great benefit to others, his enthusiasm and dedication is truly inspirational.