Dear Friends of Scouting in Europe-UK
Welcome to this latest news for Members of FOSE UK. We have all been active in the last couple of months and please make a note in your diary of the Reception we are holding at Baden Powell House, London, on Saturday 18 March 2017. This will give us an opportunity to bringing together those who support Scouting in the UK, Europe and World Wide.
David Shelmerdine has kindly offered to Chair the Organising Committee and a new Member to FOSE – UK Anne Whiteford – will be looking after your bookings and practical arrangements.
David McKee, the Director of the European Regional Office of WOSM, is hoping to join us together with the new Chairman of the European Scout Foundation (ESF) and other members of FOSE.
We very much hope that some Members of the Board of Trustees of the Scout Association, who will be meeting at the same venue, will be able to join us for a short while.
Annual Membership Subscription
Thank you to each of you for kindly renewing your Annual Membership Subscription for another year and I regret that you received a reminder from Walter – ESF Treasurer – by mistake and he offers his apologies.
We are pleased to welcome Anne Whiteford to our Membership with one or two others searching for their cheque book! We also note with interest that one of our Members has become a Life Member.
If you are speaking with any potential interested persons please do not hesitate to invite them to join or let me know so I can forward the necessary information.
FOSE at the Gilwell Reunion 2016
As you know, we participated at this year’s Gilwell Reunion with an information and display within the Programme Marquee alongside those of the International Core Team and International Scout Support Unit.
Interested persons were invited to cross the Training Ground to the Drop-in Café where they had an opportunity over tea and coffee, and cake, to speak to me.
Thanks to Anne Whiteford and Nigel Hailey for their help.

FOSE Super Friends Meeting


9-11 September 2016 at Sovehuset (Scout and Guide Centre), Holmen, Copenhagen.
On behalf of FOSE–UK I attended this Gathering with Jorgen Rasmussen – European Scout Foundation Chairman, Walter Hofstetter – ESF Treasurer and Juris Ulmanis – FOSE Chair, together with Super Friends from Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Henrik Söderman on behalf of France. FOSE is supported currently in 36 European countries out of 40.
In his welcome, Jorgen highlighted the fact that it is 26 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the start of support for the development of Scouting in Eastern Europe. His aim is for the current membership of 600, Life and Annual Members, to achieve 1,000. Jorgen highlighted the need for European countries to support Poland’s bid for the 2023 World Scout Jamboree. Walter advised that the European Scout Foundation (including FOSE contributions) now has €1,000,000 invested and currently earning interest above that of the average pension funds within Switzerland, the interest being distributed through the small Grants Project Fund.
Denmark will host the Friends’ Meeting on 9 September 2017 followed by Iceland on the 8 September 2018.
Following the meeting, at 1800 hours a FOSE Reception was held, attended by Members from the Danish International Scout Council – about 20 – where Jorgen welcomed three Annual Members and one Life Member. We then received a presentation on the progress and development of initially an equivalent of a Car Boot Sale in 1953. It developed into a charitable warehouse/shop business generating funds for the Scout Groups in their island.
Date for the diary...
FOSE–UK Reception – 18 March 2017 at Baden Powell House, Queensgate, London
Annual Gathering of the Friends of Scouting Europe
50 Friends of Scouting in Europe attended the 18th Gathering held in Dresden, Germany.
Jennifer Chalmers attended and we thank her for her report and photos.
There is still a lot of cultural and economical differences between ʻOld West and the Old Eastʼ since the fall of the Berlin Wall. One being there are only some 1,400 Scouts found in the whole of the German state of Sachsen, an area of almost half the size of countries like Switzerland, holding a population of roughly 4,250,000.
Pragerstrasse starts (or ends) across the street from the Central Station passes a typical Socialist high rise downtown district (today boasting all the international shops) and named Seestrasse and Schlosstrasse it makes its way into the ʻold townʼ.
The old town is not really old at all … nothing – not even cultural landmarks like Zwinger, Frauenkirche or the Semperoper – date back further than 1945. The massive allied bombings and the following DDR cleanup left nothing taller than some 2 inches in the central part of the town.
Marketing and Publicity
At this year’s Gilwell Reunion, we were able to introduce our new publicity leaflet, website and display banners.
Supplies of the leaflet are available and/or requests to borrow the display and banners are welcome. We were pleased to note that our promotional leaflet was incorporated within The Scout Association’s Report given to those attending its Annual General Meeting in September.
Should any Member hear of any events where they feel it would be appropriate for us to enquire if we may provide information and/or display at District, County or Area
Meetings please let me know. It has often been pointed out that we sometimes forget that those who retire from roles within Scouting, particularly Commissioners and/or Chairs of Committees/Presidents, are not always kept informed of ways in which they can continue to support Scouting; not only in the UK but through the Friends of Scouting Europe, European Scout Foundation or, indeed, that of the BP Fellows and World Scout Foundation.
FOSE Badge
As previously advised, we have a supply of the woven FOSE Badge – available for those who wear Scout Uniform or, indeed, Badge collectors; send your request to Alan Beavis. alanbeavis@fose-uk.org.uk
Information on ESF funded projects
Lithuania hosted the 16th Annual Gathering of Friends of Scouting in Europe in 2014 and following this meeting 5 small projects were funded in different districts of Lithuania. Very positive results have been achieved for Scouting in Lithuania.



Dare 2 Do Scouting (€870) – This project in Telsiai aimed to revive Scouting and establish new units in the District. Over 200 young people and 37 adults participated in activities, hikes and camps and there are now 3 new Scout units established.



Ukmerge – Lithuanian Sea Scout Cup (€1400) -This project aimed to strengthen Sea Scouting in Lithuania by providing opportunities for young people to build and sail their own boats, following the first ever sailing/rowing regatta for Scouts in Lithuania. Twenty Scouts have been involved in building the first boat “Laume” which took around 7 months to build. Over 500 children and adults have had the opportunity to sail in “Laume”. Sea Scouting has strengthened and there are now over 100 members in the Ukmerge Scout Unit.
Sea Scouting is going from strength to strength and there are plans for a 450km trip, commemorating the first Sea Scout trip in 1933 and there are plan to build 2 new boats in 2017.



Archery for Scouts (€900) – The aim of this project was to make archery affordable to all Scouts and to offer an archery badge for Scouts in Lithuania.
Working in partnership with archery clubs, 3 sets of bows and 5 archery instructors were trained. A programme of archery activities were provided at 6 camps and around 120 Scouts participated. An archery badge has been established and 4 districts have now purchased their own equipment and plan to offer more archery to their Scouts.