I became a Cub leader in 2009, but I grew up with Cubs (even though girls were not allowed to join Scouts at the time), as my parents were both Leaders at 1st Whickham in the 1980’s / early 90’s. I was a Brownie and a Guide, and became a Guide Leader in 1998 before moving to Brownies in 2000. I was then Whickham District Commissioner for Girlguiding in 2008 / 2009. I left Guiding, and despite saying that it was time to take a break from volunteering, I became CSL at 1st Whickham when my older brother (who was by then CSL) moved across to Lancashire. Whilst at 1st, I was lucky enough to take part in the 23rd World Scout Jamboree (WSJ) in Japan in 2015 as a member of the International Service Team (IST) working on the camp for 3 weeks, helping run activities for over 40,000 Scouts from all around the world. I also went to the 15th World Scout Moot in Iceland in 2017, again as IST, this time with over 5000 international Scouts. In late 2017, I was selected as one of 4 Leaders from County Durham to take a group of 36 Scouts from the County to the 24th WSJ to be held in West Virginia in summer 2019. 4 of the Scouts from 1st Whickham were also selected to be participants in the Unit. Our trip took us to New York City for the first couple of days, followed by a coach trip down to West Virginia to camp at the Summit Bechtel BSA campsite for 15 days. After this, the Unit went to Washington DC for 4 days, and we managed to arrange a tour of the Capitol Building and the White House. Finally we had a 3 day stay in Toronto with a local Scout Group, where we went to Niagara Falls and had a day exploring Toronto with our hosts. Moving to 12th Gateshead in Summer 2019 gave me the opportunity to restart the Explorer Unit in the Group, while being able to carry on as Cub Leader. Now, I’m lucky enough to work with all the sections, and love being a part of such a fantastic team of leaders.