Annual Report 2026
Team Leader's Report (Freyja Smith)
Another year has flown by and KSWP have been hard at work supporting events up and down the country.
I'd like to start with a big thank you to the 72 members that have attended at least two events over the past year - meeting the requirement for active membership. That commitment is what keeps us relevant and in HQs eye. However, it also means that around 150 of us haven't quite met that mark. As a committee, we'd genuinely like to understand how we can improve attendance and make it easier (or more appealing) for people to get involved. If you have ideas, please do share them with us.
2025 saw 19 members head out to Morocco with the goal of summiting Mount Toubkal. While the summit wasn't quite reached (thanks to some fairly dramatic winds and storms that destroyed most of our tents) it was still an incredible adventure. Huge thanks to Caroline for organising, keeping us safe and our spirits high! And I think I can say this since Caroline isn't here to stop me... but I'm hoping that the next international expedition will be in 2028 so get chatting about potential destinations, challenges or mountains to climb!
Behind the scenes, the committee has been busy. We've had a packed calendar of events, membership numbers are higher than ever, our social media presence continues to grow (as do our finances)... though our own personal finances are going down from the extortionate amount of pints we all consume at Matt's social weekends and we can keep track of all of it on the Portal that continues to run smoothly and efficiently.
It's hard to believe it's already been a year since we were last here, and since James handed over the Team Leader role to me. I'll be honest - I only had my official introduction to the role from HQ about a month ago, so I'm still very much finding my feet. Thankfully, not much has needed changing. James and the committee have done, and continue to do, an incredible job at keeping everything ticking along, which has given me the space to settle in and work out what I'm doing!
Recently, our line manager at HQ stepped away from the role, and currently, there is no replacement. If you are interested in joining Lewis Dangerfield's UK Programmes Team, please let me know and I will forward you the details.
Looking ahead, the next year doesn't look any quieter. A quick glance at the Portal shows a busy summer and autumn ahead. While the large HQ and state events are always popular, we really do need support at the smaller, less prominent events too. They're just as important to us. So please, take a look at the Portal, sign up where you can and get involved.
As always, thank you for everything you do for Scouting, both within KSWP and beyond. Your time, effort and enthusiasm truly doesn't go unnoticed. For those heading to Windsor tomorrow, let's continue to show the rest of The Scout Association what we do best.
Finance Report (Caleb Williams)
The KSWP started the financial year with £1781 in the bank, with none of this reserved for any specific purpose.
The account handover from Chris to myself went smoothly and Freyja has been added as a signatory, but is still setting up her online banking access.
At the time of writing I am still working to get the name changed on the account.
The main notable expenditure is £207 on neckers and badges for the Morocco expedition and £58 for equipment for the Norjam Sweet Shop Academy activity we ran.
We have had good membership income, a £600 donation from helping out at pedal car events, as well as a £200 surplus from the KSWP weekender (despite Matt's best efforts to spend it all on salmon).
We ended the financial year with £3443 in the bank with £210 reserved for the July Lakes weekend. The new committee will have discussions about how this can best be spent whether this is on subsidising events, charity donations, equipment or other expenditures.
I have submitted a statement of cash flow and financial position to Gilwell, and provided them with our March bank statement for approval by their auditors.
Events Report (Jon Harris and Beth Headworth)
This year kicked off again with the Major Incident Simulation, which looks like a blast (and a train wreck), as we played casualties for the emergency service trainees to deal with, along with helping to setup and takedown. We were then back into some of our regulars such as the Big Fiesta at Woodhouse Park and Fundays at Gilwell Park.
In the summer, James and his merry team of Oompah Loompahs headed to Norjam to run the Enterprise Zone, which now seems to be an annual Jamboree favourite! So if you'd like to don the orange face paint (metaphorically) at WINGS this year, then please speak to James.
Along with many of our repeat events such as Midnight Madness in Durham, Go Beavers in Sussex and S&E in Gloucestershire, we also saw a strong presence at our uniformed events, such as the Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace and Lord Mayor's Show.
Festival of Remembrance unfortunately saw a reduction in numbers due to HQ utilising members from the four nations.
We also saw events at Great Tower in the Lake District and Fordell Firs in Scotland, along with our repeats in Yorkshire and Durham. So that's the whole mainland UK covered, so there really is no excuse to not attend.
The only way of getting more events though, is to show attendance at those we gain access to, and then we can grow from there. Unfortunately they won't always be on the doorstep, which is why we arrange camping/overnight facilities wherever possible.
Our sign up conditions state 2 events per year, not including socials. Only 72 people in the last year have met that criteria, with 58 attending just 1 event, and very disappointingly 92 not attending any.
We need your support and attendance at these events. We have 150 members who haven't attended 2 events which is a great shame (unless your 1 event was a week at Norjam). We are more than just the formal events, Scouting is more than formal events; so please help us by signing up.
In 2024/2025 we attended 32 events. This year was 39, and we already have 27 loaded between now and November.
Whenever I get a request in, I have to question if I'm overstretching our resources, but with our membership at present, we should be able to cover these events without any issue.
We appreciate everything you're doing within the KSWP, and acknowledge that many of you hold other roles within Scouting at various levels. So we'd like to thank you for all that you do, knowing that it's making a difference.
Members Report (Eloise Jack)
This year has been a good year for membership of the KSWP.
Currently there are 222 active members, which is 15 more than last year, and 82 inactive members. We currently have 60 active members in the 18-25 age bracket and the largest proportion of our members fall into the 25-35 age bracket.
We have members spread across the UK including: Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Isle of Wight.
Although the number of active members has only increased by 15 since last year, we have received lots of new applications. There were 3 events this year which afterwards saw our membership rise. These included Windsor, Norjam and Gilwell Reunion.
Currently (as of 12th April) there are only 4 outstanding applications, 1 from 2026, 2 from 2025 and 1 from 2024. The applications from 2025 and 2024 have been in contact to say they still wish to join and are chasing their references. Every application is being given between 6 months to a year to be completed before getting an email and the application being removed. Doing one removal of applications each year makes this process more manageable.
Last year the report was about the struggles of the new membership system. I cannot say that all these issues are fixed however what I can say is that it is slightly improved from last year! I still do not get notifications of outstanding training or expired DBSs. Sometimes these do go to other members of the committee, but not always. Therefore please do action these when you receive a notification. If you need help with completing a new DBS drop me an email.
If you are a scouter in Scotland or Northern Ireland you also require an English DBS through the Scout Association to attend events with KSWP in England. If you do not hold one of these please get in contact with me via email and we can sort this out. It is hard for us to track who does and does not hold an English DBS on the KSWP Portal therefore you will be suspended on there if you do not hold one.
Finally, the reminder to pay your membership is 28 before it is due to expire and a reminder also shows when you login to the Portal. If you do not pay your membership, you will be given 60 days after it's expiry before the KSWP role is removed from the Scout membership system. If you pay after this the role will be re-added but cannot be backdated and will be dated the day that it is added.
I look forward to reviewing more KSWP applications over the next year and if any one has any membership questions please drop me an email and I will do my best to help. A final reminder please check and update your personal information on the Portal. It is super important that we have up-to-date medical and emergency contact details.
Social Media Report (Sarah Paget)
2025-26 has been possibly one of our busiest yet. The updates we share continue to provide an insight into what we do and we continue to gain interest and support for what we do.
Whilst I struggled to keep up with the social posts and posted the least times in a year than I have for several years, we have continued to gain followers on both Facebook and Instagram. Following the AGM last year it was agreed that we would take a back seat from X and I have all but ignored the account, so I have no details for X this year.
The lack of regular updates have not deterred our Facebook and Instagram followers with us still gaining over 100 followers to each account. The accounts are not linked, and whilst posts and photos are similar, they are tailored for their audiences and platforms. I also interact with other accounts and posts through the KSWP profiles, none of which shows in the impact data.
Facebook demographics show we are hitting our mark, although I suspect most of our followers are our own members, with 35% of our followers being aged 25-34 years and 19.6% are aged 35-44 years. Despite Facebook often being stated as not the platform for them we still have a growing audience on the 18-24yrs age range, with 13.1% of our followers still being of Kings Scout Award age.
For Instagram in the last 3 months (mid Jan to mid Apr) we have had over 5200 views. 68% are from followers and 31% are from non-followers. I suspect a certain Paralympian might be behind the peak of our non-followers but they don't seem to have dropped off. Demographics show that of our 561 followers over 70% are aged 18-44 and the 13-17 years age range continues to grow with 5% of our followers being in that age range, this is a huge jump on the 0.9% we had last year.
We continue to be followed across both platforms by a number of well known profiles as well as local Counties and Districts. We often gain followers when we first visit or tag a new event or location.
As ever this role is made significantly easier through the use of the WhatApp community and events chats. By sharing your view point of the events we are able to provide a behind the scenes preview not only of what we do and how we do it, but we share the fun and laughter we have along the way. I’m not going to comment on the number of times I’ve almost added my name to the lunch run when I’m not even been at the event! Please do continue to share photos and videos into the event chats, they are an excellent record of what we do. All I ask is that you remember some of them do need to be appropriate for an external audience (you were better this year!).
Please continue to support our social media either by messaging the channels or emailing media@qswp.org.uk.
Below is a break down of the analytics for both social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram) for the period of April 2025 to April 2026.
| Date | Posts | Likes | Increase | Followers | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 - 2016 | 19 | 195 | - | - | - |
| 2016 - 2017 | 7 | 248 | +53 | - | - |
| 2017 - 2018 | 9 | 284 | +36 | - | - |
| 2018 - 2019 | 23 | 345 | +61 | - | - |
| 2019 - 2020 | 14 | 411 | +66 | - | - |
| 2020 - 2021 | 21 | 480 | +69 | - | - |
| 2021 - 2022 | 23 | 519 | +39 | - | - |
| 2022 - 2023 | 31 | 607 | +88 | 663 | - |
| 2023 - 2024 | 15 | 854 | +247 | 930 | +267 |
| 2024 - 2025 | 16 | 916 | +62 | 989 | +59 |
| 2025 - 2026 | 9 | No longer used | 1092 | +103 | |
| Total to 18/04/2026 | 1092 | ||||
Top Facebook Posts 2025-2026
| Post | Views | Engagement |
|---|---|---|
|
22/02/26 Happy Founders Day to all our fellow Scouting Family (and happy Thinking Day to our Guiding and Girl Scouting Sisters)... (Service of Thanksgiving) |
9057 13% Followers 87% Non-followers |
115 Reactions 6 Comments 4 Shares 849 Clicks |
|
09/11/25 They Shall not grow old... (Remembrance Activities - Festival of Remembrance and local services/parades) |
5649 20% Followers 80% Non-followers |
68 Reactions 2 Comments 0 Shares 686 Clicks |
|
13/02/26 2026 is set to be another busy year for KSWP. We're looking forward to seeing lots of your when we're out and about. (Call to action for support) |
5460 28% Followers 72% Non-followers |
37 Reactions 0 Comments 13 Shares 368 Clicks |
|
28/06/25 Mini flash back to our favourite day of the year - Day of Celebration & Achievement at Windsor Castle. |
4679 24% Followers 76% Non-followers |
67 Reactions 2 Comments 1 Shares 399 Clicks |
| Date | Posts | Followers | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 - 2020 | 22 | 161 | - |
| 2020 - 2021 | 26 | 191 | +30 |
| 2021 - 2022 | 16 | 229 | +38 |
| 2022 - 2023 | 19 | 291 | +62 |
| 2023 - 2024 | 12 | 377 | +86 |
| 2024 - 2025 | 13 | 456 | +79 |
| 2025 - 2026 | 9 | 561 | +105 |
| Total to 18/04/2026 | 561 | ||
Top Instagram Posts 2025-2026
| Date | Post | Likes | Comments | Reposts | Views |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24/02/26 | Slightly different post for us and something very special! (Announcing Nina for the Paralympics) | 61 | 2 | 3 |
1399 52.0% Followers 48.0% Non-followers |
| 08/11/25 | Today we were delighted to be able to support the Lady Mayors Show... | 74 | 1 | 0 |
1342 75.1% Followers 24.9% Non-followers |
| 28/06/25 | Mini flash back to our favourite day of the year - Day of Celebration & Achievement at Windsor Castle... | 54 | 0 | 2 |
1124 67.8% Followers 32.2% Non-followers |
| 26/04/25 | KSWP have wrapped up another year with our AGM. Today we welcomed Freyja as our new Team Lead... | 77 | 1 | 1 |
1122 72.3% Followers 27.7% Non-followers |
Social Report (Matthew Wheeler)
It has now been a year since I was guilt-tripped by Eloise into becoming Social Coordinator on the drive to the AGM. This report looks back at what we've been up to over the past year and what's in store for the future.
While there haven't been as many social opportunities as I would have liked this year, this is something I'm keen to build on going forward.
Our weekend away this year took place in November at Scout Park in London. As in previous years, we gathered in the local watering hole on the Friday evening as people arrived. It was a lively start to the weekend, complete with some impromptu singing from a few members of the group.
On Saturday morning, the more energetic among us tackled a rather hilly Park Run to shake off the effects of the night before. Perhaps the start of a new annual tradition? During the day, people headed into central London for a range of activities, including a visit to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs, a large-scale game of hide and seek, and a classic Monopoly Run.
In the evening, we dressed up for a black tie dinner, prepared by Eloise and myself, before dancing the night away to a playlist of cheesy favourites - with a little help from Tom's shot bar.
Our other social event of the year saw the return of our virtual quiz teams for the 49th Quiz, organised by James and Hayley.
Looking ahead, there is plenty to be excited about. We are planning a weekend in the Lake District in July to explore the mountains, as well as our annual weekend away from 13th-15th November (with the menu already under consideration!). In addition, the 50th Quiz is being planned for January/February - this will be a hybrid event, including accommodation, daytime activities, and of course the "Big 50" quiz in the evening. Watch this space!
As always, please do let me know if you have any suggestions for social activities or would like to get involved in organising them. We're a large group spread across many locations, so it's always great to have opportunities to come together socially alongside our working events.
Digital Report (James Baker)
At the AGM last year, the Digital Coordinator role was made a new separate role (previously I did it as part of my Manager role), and I took it on initially for one year with the role becoming a properly elected role at this AGM (which I am happy to stand for). The role is primarily responsible for looking after the KSWP Portal and website, although it also covers other digital responsibilities such as managing the Google Workspace account that the committee use for their e-mails and collaboration.
Over the past year, you probably won't have noticed much change to the Portal beyond a few minor new features (mostly for the benefit of the committee). This is a good sign really, as it shows it's fairly stable and broadly speaking meets the needs of the people using it.
Behind the scenes though, I've done a fair amount of work updating the underlying dependencies and coding of the website (I won't go into the details, but you can always see the code on our GitHub) so that it's up to date and kept secure. In a few cases this has broken one or two things, but I've (hopefully!) been able to fix those fairly quickly.
If anyone has any issues with the Portal, or requests for new features, please let me know at digital@kswp.org.uk.