Southampton SSAGO Goes to Brownsea Island!

Ben Lewis (Southampton SSAGO)

Sunday 12th of June 2022

Southampton went on a trip to Brownsea Island. We had a great time visiting the origins of Scouting and Guiding, while also buying many badges and meeting lots of animals.

Southampton SSAGO went on a trip to Brownsea Island. We are very lucky to be so near to Brownsea Island, as one of our local National Trust sites. Here's what we got up to!

We started the day doing one of the most exciting parts of a trip to Brownsea - taking the ferry across! Once we arrived, we instantly met a fellow Scout who welcomed us onshore.

Once we sorted out our tickets, we charged straight towards the most important place on the entire island… the badge shop. After spending half of our maintenance loans on buying the new Brownsea badges for the year, which we so desperately needed, we had our lunch. While eating, we were visited by a friendly peahen who we tried to get to join SSAGO!

We then visited the stone commemorating the original Scout camp on the island. It's a brilliant reminder of how although Scouting and Guiding are now massive organisations, they started with a small group of young people on an island in 1907. We took many, many many photos with the stone - as you must, of course!

We then split up and went on our own individual adventures. Some of us went off to spot some red squirrels, however we had no luck. Others went to find the children's playground - which Phil and Phillipa really enjoyed! Some of us got incredibly lost, which lead to us going on quite an adventure. 

There were many bird hides to visit, which were very exciting. We enjoyed seeing the cute birds, including many ducklings!

We finished the day by going to the café to get an ice cream, and then took the ferry back. We took a photo with the statue of Baden-Powell in Poole and headed home. It was a brilliant day enjoyed by everyone, and we are looking forward to going back soon!