I stood in the middle of a pretty cold field in Phasels Wood, Hertfordshire, on Sunday afternoon, with around 400 Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Network and Leaders, and proudly renewed my promise for the year, as part of the St George’s Day activities hosted by Hemel Hempstead District Scouts.
The Scout Promise is a simple one and is taken by every uniformed member of the Scout movement, and we all know what we are committing to when we make this promise.
Simple or not, I found this act of publicly renewing my promise to ‘do my best’ a very powerful and moving experience. There is something to be said for making a public declaration, with other like minded individuals, who all share a vision for making a positive difference to the development of the young people in our community.
Alongside the climbing and bungee trampolining on offer that afternoon, one of the other activities available was ‘The Promise Tree’ – we could draw around our hands, write the promise on one hand and hang it on the tree…and on the other hand we could write 5 good deeds we had done in the past week, with the intention we share those good deeds with our friends and leaders at the next section meeting.
It is always good to recommit to our vision, recognise our achievements…and even better to share them with friends.