On Wednesday 25th January, we had the pleasure to present Paul his Award for Merit for his involvement in Scouting. Paul is currently the AGSL at 1st Balcombe and an Explorer Leader at Neil Armstrong Explorers.
The Award for Merit is awarded for outstanding service. It implies keen, conscientious, imaginative and dedicated service over a sustained period, of at least 12 years duration (exceptionally 10).
Well done Paul!
Paul Abbott or Mr PA as he is known to some, started his scouting adventures at a young age joining cubs in 1987 before becoming a scout, venture scout and young leader before becoming a leader himself based down in Shoreham near the family home. Along the way he has spent hundreds of hours under canvass across the length and breadth of the country either as a YP himself or indeed leading a section. Once becoming a leader, he has continued to use his previous skills and knowledge and has passed them onto the younger generations of scouters and is always looking at ways to help engage the YP and develop their own skills in every aspect of scouting, organising plenty of muddy hikes and his infamous ability to always find a hill!
Paul is well respected by many of the other Explorer leaders in Crawley and supports the Explorers to reach their potential. He has happily supported several groups of Explorers run Passport camps over the last 5 years, something many of the other units are unable to support and offer. Under Paul’s leadership he has also reinstated D of E in the unit and they have their first D of E silver team this year for 10 years!
Extract from Paul’s Citation