Celebrating Founders Day and Thinking Day
National SSAGO Exec
Wednesday 22nd of February 2017
Today we celebrate the birth of both Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, and the founding of the movements of Scouting and Guiding that make up not just SSAGO, but such an important part of our lives.
In celebrating what this means to us and in continuing the tradition from last year, the SSAGO Exec took this opportunity to reflect back on an important moment for each of them and just what it means to them in each one of these photos.
Happy Founders and Thinking Day to you all!
Anna: Back in 2012 I was selected to go on an international trip with people I’d never met before. I went round Eastern Europe with 8 other members of Senior Section and 3 leaders from North West England. It was none-stop adventure, we travelled to 5 countries in 15 days, we became experts at overnight trains, visited guiding groups along the way and fitted in a lot of sightseeing. It was an amazing opportunity and it’s something I hope to do again in the near future!
Ciara: It was incredibly difficult to pick just one photo as Scouting and SSAGO has given me so much.
The picture I've chosen is of the amazing team that I got to work with at Essex International Jamboree.
This is the Nightingales Ward Subcamp team, and these people at a Jamboree are truly the people who make the cogs run smoothly.
These are the people who are called if there's an emergency on subcamp, these are the people who run the activities on the subcamp and these are the people that the participants on the subcamp probably have the most interaction with.
And in 2016, we absolutely rocked it.
Happy Thinking/Founders day SSAGO!!
Lloyd: One of my favourite moments in scouting is from doing a camp in Malta as a scout. The photo is from the end of the camp where we exchanged t-shirts and badges. The camp was great fun and really interesting to see how scouting was done in other countries.
Oli: Some crazy, smiling and enthusiastic people wearing neckers once convinced me to join this thing call SSAGO, telling stories of fire, camps and adventures beyond anything I'd ever done before. Little did I know then that joining SSAGO and getting involved in Scouting would completely change my life. Before SSAGO, I'd never known the joys of camping or sitting around a campfire or the truly incomparable experience to a SSAGO Rally, but that was all about to change...
Perhaps it is fitting that my first camp, my Freshers camp, was on Brownsea island. After meeting such lovely people and having a weekend unlike anything I had dreamt, it wasn't long before Scouting took over my life. Since then, I had the chance to join Southampton SSAGO committee, get involved in Network, become a leader, help at Essex International Jamboree, try to use my technological skills to help wherever I can and now try to give back to the organisation that gave me so much and help on the National SSAGO exec.
I now spend all my time trying to make sure that other people have the same opportunities and possibilities that I had, regardless of age or background, from Beavers to SSAGO members, and to help more people find Scouting and SSAGO like I was lucky enough to do.
Andrew: This is one of moment's in Scouting which stands out for me, being an Explorer Scout Leader. This unit was something I had the joy of helping grow from basically nothing. i had the chance to watch a bunch of teenagers turn in to wonderful adults and had the chance to show and teach them skills in which they could use in their life time. We had so many great moments! so much fun and I think this photo encapsulates the joy and the family bond that the Unit had.
