Protecting special places for future generations

As a charity working with communities across the country, Scouts Scotland is passionate about supporting our membership through these difficult times and seeing young people thrive at their local groups and our outdoor centres.

The services we care deeply about delivering are under pressure as we see demand increasing and costs soaring, but we remain optimistic about the future. Our key objectives right now are to keep costs down for our members and to ensure our centres stay open and affordable to allow young people to benefit from outdoor education. Protecting the spaces, locally and nationally, where young people meet the natural world is essential so we’re doing our bit.

Locally, groups are making small but meaningful changes such as upcycling craft materials to make play activities more affordable; re-using garden materials to create bird boxes and bug hotels; co-ordinating meetings and trips to save on fuel.

At Scouts Scotland we’ve been looking at the sustainability of our three Scout Adventure Centres, which are not only used by Scout Groups, but by schools and local authorities too. They offer fun and adventure in the shape of bushcraft and camping, zip lines, paddle boarding, rope courses and climbing with experienced instructors. We’ve residential accommodation too, meaning that groups can stay year-round.

We’re proud of the Scottish outdoor education sector’s Save Our Centres campaign and the impact that has had in highlighting the need for young people to interact, learn and have fun outside a formal classroom. Post-Covid, our centres provide a place where young people can re-discover a sense of adventure, step out of their comfort zone, switch off their phones and build trust with peers and adults. These positive outcomes connect youth work, youth volunteering and outdoor spaces together.

Our Scout Adventures Centres are set in stunning Scottish woodland, hills and by waterways so the environment is always a priority for us. We've made sure that recycling is available, easy and encouraged, we've introduced sensor-activated LED lighting, and we've even made our plumbing more environmental, saving 1 litre per flush!

At our Scout Adventures Fordell Firs centre in Fife we've planted 400 native trees, helping to build and nourish natural habitats for animals and birds in the local area, and ensure effective irrigation on the site. Groups visiting Fordell Firs and our centre in Lochgoilhead, have the opportunity to complete a John Muir Environmental Award, which focuses on exploring and discovering a wild place, conserving the wild place and then sharing what they found out about it.

Our Scout Adventures Lochgoilhead centre on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, has been gifted trees by the Woodland Trust to tackle a very wet part of the site. We’ve planted trees that like water, such as alder and willow, and they’re ideal for bush craft sessions. Any damaged fencing is being replaced with hedgerow, which looks great, encourages wildlife and is more durable. Hippo bags have been added to all cisterns in the on-site toilets, reducing the water used when flushing, and we’re using a composter to dispose of food waste. We've also signed up to Clear Access Clear Waters' Big Paddle Cleanup 2023, helping protect and preserve our waterways by removing plastic pollution.

Set in beautiful Perthshire, near Aberfeldy, our Scout Adventures Meggernie centre has a new lodge with Air Source heating and all residential buildings are fitted with LED sensor lighting. Outside, we’ve planted 2,200 trees since 2007 with another 450 arriving this year to continue previous hedge lined corridors and wildlife refuge areas. This natural mix of species will provide food sources and materials for site use. Willow has been planted from a handful of withies and the site now has several shelter areas including a Willow Den. And there’s shelter for flora and fauna too, with field margins of uncut grass areas encouraging greater biodiversity.

The team at Meggernie are stars at re-using and re-purposing to enhance the site’s natural beauty, fun spaces and sense of adventure for Scouts and visitors. There's a bushcraft shelter made from forest thinnings and covered by old marquee canvas and altar fires made out of oil drums, table frames and even an old washing machine drum!

Scouts Scotland is passionate about equipping young people with the skills they need to succeed and be happy in life. Connection with the outdoors promotes good mental health and wellbeing, and it also inspires young people to get involved in climate action.

In 2021 Scouting launched Promise to the Planet, encouraging young people to use their voices to tell the world about environmental issues and to inspire decision makers such as MSPs, MPs and Councillors to act and save our planet. We were delighted to have had young Scouts ambassadors at COP26 last year, and to be shortlisted for a Nature of Scotland Award this year, recognising the difference Scouts make through community impact, conservation and climate action.

The partnerships we’ve made over the past few years have helped us achieve so much more than we could have done alone. Understanding common issues and finding solutions together has been a rich source of new skills and certainly helps us on our sustainability journey. It’s never too late to learn skills for life. Thank you to every voluntary organisation that helps us do this.

If you would like to connect with us to talk about sustainability or would like to visit one of our centres, we’d love to hear from you: hello@scouts.scot

Claire McIntosh is Media and External Engagement Lead at Scouts Scotland

www.scouts.scot