Dear Parents / Carers,
1st Richmond Scout Group is a highly successful and popular Scout Group. Because of our popularity, motivation and enthusiasm the group is usually full to capacity. Spaces for new young people Scout (10-14yrs) and Cub (8-10yrs) sections very rarely come up and it is fair for us to say that the only way into our Scout Group at present is via the Beaver Section (6-8 yrs).
The Beaver section operates a waiting list and we endeavour to accommodate all of the children on this list. However, demand over recent years has often mean that where children are added to the waiting list just a few months before Beavers, they are not top of the list to get a place when they reach the entry age for those sections. The current situation (updated March 2025) is that if you are adding a child over the age of 4 to the waiting list, they will not be allocated a place unless another child leaves the group, and even then there are likely to be several names above them on the list. On that basis we would strongly suggest getting onto the waiting list at the earliest opportunity.
When allocating places for young people in a given section we will apply the following criteria in this order:
- The young person is already a member of 1st Richmond Scout Group, and is moving up from the section below (i.e. Beavers to Cubs or Cubs to Scouts).
- A parent or other adult family member volunteers at 1st Richmond.
- The young person is already a member of The Scout Association at a Group outside Richmondshire District and has recently moved house to an area within the District.
- The young person has a sibling or family member who is already a youth member of 1st Richmond.
- If allocated a place, the young person will have at least one year within the Section being joined before reaching the age of moving up to the next Section, e.g. if a child is 5 years and 6 months old and is top of the waiting list for Squirrels they would have only 6 months left in that section so would not be allocated a Squirrel place and instead would be in line for a Beaver place once they reach 6 years old.
- After all of the above have been taken into account, the amount of time spent on the waiting list will be considered as the deciding factor.
If you would like to add your child to the waiting list, please complete the form Here.
