Glen Militis, the new Island Commissioner for Scouts, said the waiting list for children wanting to become Cubs, Beavers and Scouts stood at 160 – and counting.
However, despite a rising interest among young people wanting to join, he said the organisation did not have enough volunteers to meet that demand.
‘There are about 800 young people who take part in Scouting in the Island and there are approximately 150 adult volunteers who provide support within the organisation,’ said Mr Militis.
‘We have a backlog of young people wanting to join with a waiting list of about 160 – there is demand in the Island for Scouting – but there are insufficient places due to volunteer constraints.
‘We are in a situation where, for example, parents have signed up their child potentially for beavers – aged six to eight – and because of the waiting list, they might not even get a chance to start in Beavers.
‘I want to ensure we provide and deliver Scouting to as many young people who want to be involved as possible. We need more adult volunteers to help out and Jersey has a real volunteer culture, so I believe there are more people out there who will be prepared to volunteer.’
There are seven Scout groups in the Island and each group contains Cub, Beaver and Scout sections. In addition, there is the Scout band, a Scout climbing club and three explorer Scoutgroups for ages 14-18, who participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the Scout programme.
Mr Militis, who was appointed Island Commissioner for Scouts by the JSA in the spring, said more volunteers were needed to fill a variety of roles, including group Scout leaders to take charge of Beaver colonies, Cub packs and Scouts.
‘We will also need people to help train and develop new section leaders including with safeguarding.
‘And we need more assistant leaders, occasional helpers, media liaison [officers] and event organisers,’ said Mr Militis, who works at the Airport as a trainee air traffic controller. ‘Lots of people doing a little and giving a few hours of their time is much better than just one person doing a lot.’
Mr Militis, who is a former RAF helicopter pilot who flew Chinook helicopters in all major conflicts of the past 20 years, added: ‘Some parents of current Cubs, Beavers and Scouts have kindly taken on roles as leaders and they were able to start a new Cub pack and Beaver colony earlier this year. We now want to create a new Scouts group to help meet demand and part of that challenge is also finding additional accommodation to hold activities in.’
Anyone who would like to volunteer with the Scouts are asked to email join@scouts.org.je.
