The sun is shining, the breeze is “fresh”, the temperature is just about warm enough to go outdoors without a coat – so it must be St George’s Day or at least the Sunday closest to it, when Scouts around the world renew their Promises and spend a few minutes reflecting why they continue to belong to the largest youth movement in the World!

Whether you spent the day at Windsor Castle with “la crème de la crème” or with your Group or District here in Gloucestershire I hope you were inspired once more by the idea that Scouting is something very special, that it has some incredible members and that it really is a privilege to wear the uniform that we do. On these occasions we use words like “honour” and “duty”, we hear stories of courage and commitment, and we recognise people’s service not only to Scouting but to our neighbours and society. We take pride in the fact that we are not alone but are part of something much bigger. We feel reassured that we are not the only ones who care about the future of young people and the opportunities available to them. And we are gladdened by the idea that this great Movement of ours will continue to serve young people and the community for many years to come.

I was reminded of all this yesterday, when I and others spent some time meeting some of our Activity Assessors – a marvellous group of people. Adventurous activities are inherently dangerous – that’s what makes them both fun and challenging for young people and adults alike and such an important part of our programme. In order to manage that danger, we need to follow the rules which those who have had much more experience than us, have prescribed. One of the advantages of belonging to a large organisation like ours is that we can learn from the experience of others and don’t have to work it all out for ourselves. As a result, whenever we engage in adventurous activities there needs to be someone leading the activity who is sufficiently trained and experienced so that the rest of us can trust that person to keep us and most importantly, our youngsters, safe. We do that by requiring activity leaders to hold permits for the various activities they undertake. And the credibility of those permits is ensured by having highly experienced and qualified Assessors who are willing and able to confirm the ability of that leader to lead such activities.

Yesterday we met two climbers, a hill walker, a skier, an archer and a caver. Some were regular Scouters who had offered to take on this additional responsibility, while others had no involvement in Scouting other than a willingness to help in this way. I have never skied, I’m not that keen on climbing and I hate confined spaces, so to be honest I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of discussing these activities for too long. But in fact I was inspired by the enthusiasm of our Assessors for their sport, their knowledge of their subject and their empathy with and understanding of others who may be interested in the activity but don’t have anything like their level of skill or experience. Their willingness to spend their free time coaching and supporting adults and young people, without compromising on the need to do things properly, was really impressive. We are really fortunate to have such a strong contingent of activity experts in this county who are willing to give their time to Scouting in this way. When people offer their services as Leaders they often talk about “giving something back” in recognition of what they received from Scouting as youngsters. More than one of our Assessors described how they were inspired to take up their sport as a result of the introduction they received through Scouting.

Which brings me back to St George’s Day. Today we have reaffirmed our Promise to “help other people and keep the Scout Law”. Whether we provide that help working with our sections week by week, or by fundraising to enable those meetings to happen, or by planning training events and assessments or simply co-ordinating the whole affair, everyone I meet is committed to giving something back and helping their neighbours, whether in the town or village in which they live or across this global village that we now occupy. Service to one another is key to our Scouting experience. It is one of those things that makes Scouting unique for us. By renewing our Promise today we have rededicated ourselves to serving one another in whatever role is most appropriate for each of us and that, for me at least, is the reason why I choose to continue to belong to this great Movement of ours.