Title: Volunteer

Occupation: IT consultant

Hobbies: Scouting / hiking/ rock climbing

Scouting Background:

When I was 8 years old I started as a cub Scout back home in Holland, I stayed there until I moved to Scouts (what they called “verkenners”) at the age of 11.
When I got to the age of 14 I did not fell like going to Venturers and decided to quit scouting, this was in 1991, when in 1995 the World Jamboree came to Holland I felt the itch to go back in to Scouting and went back as a young leader and actually was on staff for the Jamboree together with my group.

A few years later the leader team in my group changed and I was not really comfortable within the new team, so I decided to switch groups and due to unforeseen circumstances found myself in charge of a troop of Scouts (the other leaders have walked out on a planning meeting because of a dispute with the Group Scout Leader). When I was with this group I did all my formal leader training (although in Holland you don’t get a woodbadge for this) and also I was asked by my local Scout county to become a trainer for them which I did.

In my job for county I have run several promotional events and participated in several Leader Courses. Somewhere down the line I received a phone call from the Dutch national Scouting / Guiding HQ as they were looking for a support person in my area and thought I was suitable for this role.
I had agreed to take this role and although it has changed am currently still involved with the Dutch HQ.

In 2001 I moved away to a different town in Holland and therefore I had to quit my group and my work for the County, but HQ asked me to take on a new challenge and that was to actually help found a new Scout group in Eindhoven. I stayed with this group until I moved to the United Kingdom for work in 2006.

In June 2006 I took on the role of Cub Scout Leader in my current group and also as a member of the Activate activity team as climbing and archery instructor.

One of the biggest highlights was that I participated in the 21^st World Scout Jamboree in the UK in 2007 and gaining my wood badge in 2007 as well.

Author / Owner	Patrick van Sloun
Copyright