To all Donors to Friends of Scouting in Europe.
May we thank you once again for your financial support given through your donation to the European Scout Foundation through the Friends of Scouting in Europe.
This year has been another challenging one for all of us following the last two with Covid and thanks go to you for the additional financial support given enabling the European Scout Foundation to give more grants to support Scouts in Ukraine.
We have been ably supported by the FOSE Team UK, Anne Whiteford, David McKee and Steve Morton and in particular with the planned Speakers Reception and our participation in the Gilwell Reunion in September.
For those who were able to attend, we were pleased to meet up again at the Gilwell Reunion in September. We were able to have a promotional stand in the International Marque with Challenges designed by Anne Whiteford, a draw and other activities in which many participated. We held a Reception in the Library at the White House, welcoming many friends from the UK and Europe, particularly a party from Belgium. We were delighted to welcome new friends – Suzanne Blakeman, Colin Dippie and Robert James. Sadly, we marked the death of Stewart Hawkins.
It was good to meet so many in person and we hope that we can continue at future Gilwell Reunions to build interest and expand the support for the actions undertaken by the European Scout Foundation.
Due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the planned Reception in September with the Speaker of the House of Common was postponed. However, we are hoping to arrange a new date next year, possibly delaying it until after the Gilwell Reunion in September to allow more Friends to participate without having to make two trips to London.
We do hope that you receive and read the European Scout Foundation Board’s newsletters, detailing the progress with its support of projects through its grants during the year. We were able to join Zoom meetings during the year where the Chair of the foundation, Vivian, provided regular update of grants to projects, changes and support particularly with the new Weblink administration system for recording data.
We were able to provide a status report for the UK in October detailing friends support to FOSE, both in numbers and more importantly financially with the addition donations to support the appeal for Ukraine.
May we encourage you to invite others to join us in 2023 and look forward to meeting you all again. We further encourage donations from non-members to general projects channelled through the FOSE Foundation. You may be interested in the work that the European Region has been engaged in where there have been 8,000 beneficiaries – a truly impressive impact of Scouting, supported by the Region, its members organisations, the European Scout Foundation/FOSE and others. The report is available here >>
With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to you and your families.
Alan, Anne, David and Steve