Leaders reconnect at Gilwell Reunion
Published Tue 02 Dec 2025
A legacy of adventure and a lifetime of friendship was celebrated at four Gilwell Reunion events on Saturday, 29 November.
The events – one for the Northern Regions at Camp Eagle Eye, Glenreagh; one for the Southern Regions at 1st Junee Scout Hall; and two at Baden-Powell Activity Centre Pennant Hills – gathered more than 200 adult Leaders who have achieved their Wood Badge as part of their adult training.
This achievement makes them part of the worldwide 1st Gilwell Park Scout Group, a symbolic Group to celebrate a shared love of Scouts based on the location of Lord Robert Baden-Powell’s first official Wood Badge training course in 1919.
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What is a Gilwell Reunion? A Gilwell Reunion is a gathering of current and former Leaders who have completed their Wood Badge and received their Wood Beads. Attendees include Leaders who have completed their Wood Badge in recent years, right back to those who completed it decades ago. The reunions are often held at major events – such as the Australian Jamboree or Cuboree – with the Training Team currently unsure when the last standalone event was held in NSW. |
While the Region events were more intimate affairs – with 18 at Glenreagh and 14 at Junee – the two events at BP were well-attended, with 105 attending an afternoon High Tea and 85 at dinner.
Between the two sessions at BP, Chief Commissioner Lloyd Nurthen unveiled a new Axe and Log Statue to celebrate adult training and the Gilwell Reunion. The Axe and Log is a symbol designed on the first training course held at Gilwell Park, UK, and is a global Scouting symbol of adult training. Most major Scout adult training facilities around the world have a statue of the Axe and Log.
The event also featured a special display from the Scouts NSW Heritage Team, featuring a 101-year-old buffalo skin, which was signed by many early adult Leaders completing their training in the 1920s and ’30s at Pennant Hills. It also includes the signature of Lord Baden-Powell as the founder of Scouting.
Sean Langshaw, from Scout Heritage NSW, was proud to have the opportunity to display the skin.
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“It’s from the 1924 World Jamboree in Copenhagen. There are only four of them in the world and Australia got one of them,” he said.
Many Leaders commended Assistant Chief Commissioner Adults in Scouting and Training Gai Green and her team on organising the event.
“Today’s event has just been amazing, with an amazing team putting it together and it’s just so great to see so many Gilwellians come together and share the spirit of Scouting,” Gai said on Saturday.
“We had a High Tea this afternoon, a little bit of trivia, a couple of games, and networking this afternoon, and tonight we’re going to go in and have a spit-roast barbecue and some more trivia.
“This afternoon we also unveiled the Axe and Log that has been made out of sandstone. It’s absolutely beautiful. I’m really excited to see we finally have a training monument here at our training centre.”
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Deputy Chief Commissioner Niamh Hitchman said: “I’m privileged to be here with some of our amazing Gilwellians, hearing some of their incredible stories about what they’ve been doing since they got their Wood Beads.”
Hunter and Coastal Region Commissioner for One Program Denise Broadhead said joining a Scout Group was making an instant family.
“Some of these people here today have had an impact on me and how I Scout because I started as an adult, not as a child or a youth member,” she said.
“Just catching up with those guys that they’re still actually in the Movement and they’re still leading in one position or another, is absolutely amazing.
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“We had a fantastic High Tea, sitting around the table and having a bit of a chat with people I didn’t necessarily know. Gai Green did an amazing job in my opinion putting it all together with her team.”
