I’m writing this as the news has broken about the Duchess of Cambridge volunteering in Scouting, what a fantastic advocate and champion for both Scouting and flexible volunteering. As Bear Grylls said -

“The Duchess has an incredibly busy life which makes it all the more inspiring that she has chosen to volunteer alongside us. Over the last few years it has been our mission to make it easier for adults who volunteer with us to give as much or as little as they are able – it is how we change our society: many people doing a little bit.  I just know that the Duchess will love the buzz that young Scouts always bring to their communities and their adventures, and there are few greater joys than being part of empowering young lives through the simple principles of Scouting: fun, friendship, faith and family."

Thank you for joining the adventure and let’s support others to do the same in ways which are right for them in a modern society. There is lots of supporting material for recruitment on http://www.scouts.org.uk/  please check it out.

And …….speaking about recruitment welcome to the new DCs who were announced just before Christmas. Aileen Thomson, who is currently DC in Inverleith will be leading Inverleith/Haymarket, Colin Brough, who has been out of Scouting for a while [and yes we managed to get him back!] will be leading Blackford/Morningside   and Jenny Tait-McGillivray, who is currently a Cub Leader in Blackford with lots of management experience will be leading Pentland after Colin Liddle moves to another role later in the year. Further details of all three appear later in the newsletter. With effect from 1^st April 2012 we will have 7 Districts and it’s great to have the positions filled. Aileen, Jenny and Colin B will join their DC colleagues Colin Hyslop, Colin Harrison, Liz and Tamsin to provide leadership for all our Districts. The Regional Team are putting in place a mentoring and support system for all DCs to ensure that they are effectively supported in these key roles.

Until the end of March May, Amy and Mark will continue to be the DCs of Morningside, Haymarket and Blackford and will run ‘ business as usual’ alongside working to bring about the smooth transition into the new Districts. We thank them for this important work which will help us all move forward.

Before Christmas the Boundary Implementation Team and myself met with the DCs and District Chairs of the merging Districts, we meet again on the 9^th January and things will move quickly from there. Look out for the updated FAQs to further support the changes.

As 2012 commences, we are well on the road of progressing our vision ‘Every young person in South East Region has the opportunity to join the adventure that Scouting offers’ thank you for your support with this and we look forward to another great Scouting year.

Thank you all for your continued support

Dorothy McKinney

Regional Commissioner