31st October 2002
Explorer Scouts has been launched in glittering ice-cool style by the first all female team to reach both the North and South Poles! Explorer Scouts, the first new Section to be introduced for 14 to 18-year-olds in 35 years, now makes up the fourth Section of the Scouting family.
The change has come about under the Movement's new Programme. Boasting more freedom and greater flexibility, it opens up fresh opportunities for young people to broaden their horizons and look wider? every year there is a UK Scout expedition to every continent in the world!
Asking leading figures in the field of exploration to lend support to this new Scouting Section is highly appropriate for an organisation where outdoor exploration is a traditional ingredient.
Caroline Hamilton, Ann Daniels and Pom Oliver set their sights on conquering both Poles on foot. They were the first all-women team to achieve the feat of reaching the North Pole this year, having trekked to the South Pole two years earlier when they were the first all-women UK team to do so.
The intrepid trio were happy to set Explorer Scouts on course for exciting and uncharted territory of their own making. For the emphasis of the new Section is to give young people the freedom and opportunity to dream up frontier-busting programmes of their own.
The Polar Princesses happily toasted the ambitions of like-minded young people at the official launch of Explorer Scouts at Mansion House in London on Friday 1 November, to set them on their own journeys of discovery.
To make the ladies feel at home, the Scouts brought in a 135 kilo block of ice specially carved to depict the Explorer Scout logo - the weight being the same as the sledges the ladies themselves pulled on their trek. The ice sculpture was delivered to the Mansion House on a 3.70 metre long Nansen sled!
For more information about Explorer Scouts, call The Scout Association Information Centre on 0845 3001818 or check out:
www.scoutbase.org.uk/6to25/explorer/index.htm
Explorer Scouts at the launch came from Rochester in Kent; Harlow in Essex; Winsor near Southampton in Hampshire; and Hackney in London.
How did Explorer Scouting begin?
Scouting has always been a dynamic and forward-looking Movement. In the early days of Scouting, Lord Baden-Powell saw the need to provide a Programme for young people to continue after their time in the Scout Section. Senior Scouts was developed to meet this need, and the Section continued to evolve over the years.
In 1967, Venture Scouting was formed from the existing Senior Scout and Rover Scout Sections. During the late 1990s, it was decided that, in order to meet the changing needs of new generations, two new Sections should be created for young people over the age of fourteen. Explorer Scouts for 14 to 18-year-olds and the Scout Network for 18 to 25-year-olds were created.
Polar Trek
Caroline Hamilton and Ann Daniels trekked more than 500 miles across the frozen Arctic Ocean for 81 days to reach the North Pole. They pulled 250lbs of equipment behind them on sledges. Severe frostbite forced Pom Oliver to abandon the expedition half way through.
