By Marcus Booth, 1st Stoke Gifford Scout Group.
Two Stoke Gifford Scout leaders have received awards for good and long service to Scouting.
Sue Baker, a Beaver Scout leader, and Michele Grattidge, a Scout and Explorer Scout leader, were presented with awards in December for their dedication and support to Scouting in Stoke Gifford.
Michele started as a parent helper at 1st Stoke Gifford Beavers in 1997, when her son Chris joined the colony. She soon went into uniform as an assistant Beaver leader and from there has been a Cub leader and then went on to be a Scout leader with the 1st Stoke Gifford School Scouts, based at St Michael’s Primary School. In addition, she was a founding member of the Solar Explorer unit in 2007 and was an assistant Explorer leader until 2020.
She is a trained Duke of Edinburgh’s Award assessor and played a leading role in many Solar DofE expeditions and camps as well as supporting other groups with their assessments. She has been on more camps than she can remember and played a part in the growth and development of so many young people over the years. She is the first person to be a leader in all the group’s units, i.e. Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers. Michele’s son Chris has gone on to be a Scout and Explorer Scout leader himself, keeping up the family tradition.
Michele was given an ‘Award for Merit’. This award is given for outstanding service of not less than 12 years. It rewards keen, conscientious, imaginative and dedicated service over a sustained period.
Sue was a founder member of the 1st Stoke Gifford Beavers in 1993 and is the longest continuing serving member, having done all of her 27 years’ service with the group. She still loves the interaction with the children and cannot remember how many sleepovers and camps she has done, though she does say not much sleep was had on any of them! Her husband Lee has been a Cub and Scout leader and, as a result, her children Lauren and Daniel have spent far more nights under canvas than most kids! In fact she jokes that Daniel probably had his ‘Nights Away 50’ badge before he even joined Beavers, aged 6! Sue says that she sometimes thinks of retirement from Scouting, but would miss the friendship and the camping too much.
Sue was awarded the ‘Award for Merit’ in 2015 and this year was presented with the ‘Bar to the Award for Merit’. This was awarded in recognition of her further years of outstanding service.
We are very proud of and grateful to both Sue and Michele for their many years of service to the 1st Stoke Gifford Scout Group and delighted that this has been recognised accordingly.
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2021 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on page 23). The magazine is delivered FREE, nine times a year, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
