TRUE scouting requires constant dedication and one scout leader has given just that.
Biggleswade’s Gerry Pope has travelled almost twice round the world since taking over the role of assistant county commissioner for international activities in 2003.
Gerry accompanied the Bedfordshire Scouts to last summer’s World Scout Jamboree in Sweden and he also attended 2003’s jamboree in Thailand. Closer to home he was part of England’s jamboree in 2007.
He started his long scouting career with the 6th Bicester Scout Group back in 1964 and he later joined the Scout Troop of the 108th Beds RAF Henlow Group when his family moved to Bedfordshire.
Gerry, of Windermere Drive, has camped alongside canals in Holland, in the pine forests of Denmark and Sweden and even in Swiss snow. He has also visited the EU headquarters. Under his care Bedfordshire’s overseas scout adventurers have travelled to Mongolia and the Great Wall of China, climbed Mount Everest, helped the organisers of the Le Mans 24 hour race in France and hugged giant Anacondas in Peru.
This year scouts from Bedfordshire are planning to visit Sri Lanka, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark and South Korea to name but a few, so who knows where Gerry will find himself?