Rise in female membership boosts Scottish Scout numbers

27/04/2009

• Female youth membership up 12%
• Growth in Scottish membership for 3rd year in a row
• Youth membership rises to over 30,000 for the first time in over 5 years
• Total Scottish membership now approaching 37,000, the highest since 2003
• Movement in growth but still lacks adult volunteers

The number of girls joining the Scouts in Scotland has greatly increased over the last year, helping the Scout Association in Scotland to an overall growth in membership for the third year in a row according to statistics released today.

The Scout Association census figures show that over 300 girls have joined the Movement in the last year in Scotland, an increase of 12%. Female youth membership now stands at 3,200, while total youth membership has risen to over 30,000 for the first time in over 5 years. A 2% rise in our total adult & youth membership in Scotland over the last year means that 36,788 people across the country are now enjoying the adventure of Scouting, the highest number since 2003. Total membership of the Movement across the UK stands at nearly 500,000.

In terms of age groups, the biggest growth has been in the Scout Section (10 – 14 year olds), which has attracted almost 500 extra young people in the last year, a rise of 6% to 8,600. The number of Young Leaders in Scotland has also risen by a third to almost 800. Young Leaders are Explorer Scouts (14 – 18 years old) who take on Leadership roles in the younger Sections of the Movement – Beavers (6 – 8 year olds), Cubs (8 – 10 ½ year olds) and Scouts (10 ½ - 14 year olds).

With adventure at its core, Scouting helps young people achieve their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potential as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities. Over 200 activities, including adventure glider flights, water skiing, rock climbing and water zorbing, are offered by Scouting around the UK, so it’s no surprise that more and more young people are joining the Movement.

However, despite this impressive growth, demand for Scouting still outstrips supply and waiting lists remain high due to the lack of adult volunteers.

Last year there were more than 30,000 young people aged between 6 and 25 waiting to join Groups across the UK and over 2000 of them were based in the Scotland. Despite The Scout Association managing to open up almost 13,000 places nationwide thanks to 2,600 new adult volunteers across the UK offering their support (the highest amount of new adult recruits since 1996), this year’s UK waiting list has actually risen to more than 33,000 although Scotland’s waiting list is stable at the 2000 mark.

But this figure is not as difficult to overcome as it may seem. For every new adult that volunteers five more young people will have the chance to participate in Scouting. So across the UK, we only need 6,600 adults, which equates to just 0.01% of the UK’s adult population, signing up to completely wipe out our current waiting list.

Zoe Mackie, an Explorer Scout from Falkirk, said: “Six years ago I was the first female Scout in my Scout Troop and now we have ten. The girls really enjoy it and love camping to the extent that they are away nearly every weekend. I originally joined the Scouts to learn new skills and to make friends. I’ve been involved for six years now and as a result I’ve been to a lot of great camps including the Blair Atholl Jamborette and the 21st World Scout Jamboree. I’ve also met some amazing friends and tried a range of different activities that I would have never even have thought about doing if it was not for Scouting.”

Sarah Paget, an Assistant Cub Scout Leader in Aberdeen, said: “For me Scouting is all about the challenge. Not only do we challenge the young people that we lead, but they challenge us. I’m always learning new skills and ways to deal with situations. I really value the skills I’ve picked up while I’ve been doing this - skills that I’ve then been able to use outside of Scouting as well. It’s also really rewarding to see how much young people enjoy Scouting and how much they are actually learning each week.”

Chief Scout Peter Duncan said “Adults who volunteer get just as much out of Scouting as young members. Not only is it really rewarding to see young people having fun and getting to try out new things, but adult volunteers get to participate in these activities as well and they are being active members of their community. Also, volunteers aren’t just giving something back to society, they are getting the opportunity to develop transferrable skills such as leadership and motivational skills. If you look at it this way volunteering is much, much more than a hobby or an extra-curricular activity and we can see from current data that even more adults are adopting this view – with our biggest growth in adult membership for twenty years.

He added: “However, despite this growth we always need more volunteers – our waiting lists are still stuck well over the 30,000 mark and we want to make sure all young people that want to take part in Scouting can do so. I’d encourage anyone who is able to volunteer to do it – it’s a fantastic experience.”