#myscouthero on Founders Day (February 22nd)

Today is Founders Day (or Thinking Day if you’re of the Guide persuasion), the anniversary of the birthday of Lord Robert Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting (and Guiding). To commemorate the day Scouting are encouraging us to use the hashtag #myscouthero on social media. So this is a picture of me and #myscouthero:

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Lee Rees, Cub Scout Leader extraordinaire and my Dad

When I was six I was enrolled on my local Beaver Scout colony and soon they wanted extra adult help for fun days and trips to look after us, run bases, etc. So he volunteered for the occasional event and enjoyed. Then at age eight I joined Cubs. And there was a desperate leader shortage with the worry they’d need to close the pack if extra adult help didn’t come forward. And this man stepped up to the plate and believed all the nonsense that “it’s only an hour a week”. Already an experienced youth leader, he started taking us on hikes and camps, gained his DofE BELA qualification, shooting instructed permits, Scout wood beads, the list goes on. Because of him I stuck with Scouting during my teens when the group slowed and my peers dropped out, became a young leader at fourteen and an adult leader at eighteen. My passion for Scouting comes from this man – who was never a Scout himself, joined to help keep the group open as his son was there and has stuck with it for more than a decade since I outgrew Cubs.

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Nowadays his health isn’t so good. He’s in a wheelchair and can’t do as much as he used to – camps and hikes are out and indoor nights away are only possible in certain places. But he is still a valued member of our leadership team. He’s the guy I go to for ideas and advice and while he sometimes doesn’t think it, we still need him there (and I think secretly he still loves it, even though he complains all the time).

So this is my tribute to #myscouthero – my Dad – Lee Rees. He will probably never receive an award or honour from Scouting or elsewhere, but he is the hero of myself and several generations of young people in the Loughor/Gorseinon area and beyond.

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Keep up the good work Dad.

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