Donations to The Scouts

Since 2012 I have been donating a portion of the funds raised through my 2012 Prestonian Charity Fund to The Scouts, and especially to their heritage work.

Over the years, those donations have funded:

• The installation of a climate control system for the Scout Association Archives.
• The digitisation of the Baden-Powell archives.
• The installation of information boards at Gilwell Park, most notably at key items of historical interest.

• The restoration of an importnt Baden-Powell portrait.

• The creation of the Barn Gallery, a major new exhibition which tells the story of Gilwell Park.

Incidentally, the last image above, from the Gilwell Park visitor book of 1929, includes the signatures of Daniel Carter Beard, an American Scouting pioneer after whom the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award is named, and James E. West, Scouting America’s first Chief Scout Executive.

I have also contributed towards various other fundraising appeals at Gilwell Park, such as the Promise Path, so that the 2012 Prestonian Charity Fund and Freemasonry is mentioned along with other donors.

In recognition of more than £46,000 being raised and donated to The Scouts, the fund is mentioned on the honours wall at Gilwell Park’s Syd Kesseler Centre, and the centre’s meeting room is named Square & Compasses Meeting Room.

These donations have not only contributed to the preservation of Scouting’s heritage but also to the Scout Association’s education work, so that Scouting’s history can be communicated to future generations.

Thank you to all who have donated to the 2012 Prestonian Charity Fund. It is thanks to you that all of the above has been possible.