Prague Scout Group celebrates 10 years in Czechia, seeks volunteers

Over the last decade, 1st Prague Scout Group, part of British Scouting Overseas, has carved out an irreplaceable niche in the hearts of dozens of kids, fostering deep friendships, a love of adventure and profound commitments to community service, teamwork and nature.

Since its establishment in 2014, 1st Prague Scout Group has seen the number of eager young participants skyrocket, going from around 20 kids at the beginning to 180 in seven different sections today, ranging in age from 4 to 18. 

Demand, in fact, is so high, organizers can’t keep up with the rapid growth and have put out a call for more adult volunteers. 

When it comes to prospective new Scouts, “we have a pretty long waiting list,” says Simon Burgess, Group Scout Leader and one of the founding members of the Prague branch. “What we are after is adults. We get enough kids coming in through the door. It’s not that I don’t want more kids. It’s just that we can’t possibly deal with them unless we have more dedicated adults who give time.”

That might mean anything from volunteering to drive a minibus a few times a year and organizing fundraising events to helping maintain the Scouts new headquarters in Nové Město or signing up as a section leader.          

“We are happy to have anyone who can provide some level of support. The more adults that get involved, the more we can do,” says Burgess. “In order to increase the number of kids we’ve got, we need leaders who will at least volunteer every couple of weeks.”

The Scouts have received unwavering grant support from the Prague City Council over years, allowing the group to keep the annual base participation fee low. Parents currently pay CZK 3,000 for the year, which covers the costs of the weekly meetings. Monthly weekend excursions – from visits to pumpkin patches to hitting the slopes once the snow arrives – cost extra. 

“Our fee is basically set by the City Council. But our objective as always is to be inclusive and to keep it as low as possible anyway,” says Burgess. “Even if we became billionaires, I think we would still probably charge, because the fee acts as an incentive to be active participants.   

When the weather is cooperating, Scouts generally meet at different outdoor locations once a week around Prague. Kampa, Obora Hvězda and Stromovka are popular meeting points. However, a week’s theme might see Scouts going on an urban hike through Žižkov or meeting on Wenceslas Square for a visit to the main Post Office to mail thank-you postcards to local heroes, like the police, trash collectors or firefighters.      

During the winter, most meetings are held indoors, which from September will take place at 1st Prague Scouts Group’s new headquarters at the Gilwell Centre, a historic building down from the State Opera House that used to house a tailor shop.    

Burgess, who has been part of the British Scouting community for nearly 50 years, started the 1st Prague Scouts Group with fellow U.K. expat Matt Lightfoot, shortly after relocating to the Czech capital. 

It was a steep learning curving, and Burgess and Lightfoot hit a few bumps along the way. 

The initial setup involved a mix of 6- to 10-year-olds in one group. Burgess admits that was too big of an age gap.      

“You can’t run with a 6-year-old and a nearly 10-year-old. It just doesn’t work. As soon as we saw that failing, we knew that was something we needed to fix. It took us nearly four years to get to that point. We just didn’t have enough leadership to be able to break the section at that time,” says Burgess.

But this changed in 2018, they had enough leaders by then to split the age groups into individual sections: Beavers (ages 6-8), Cubs (ages 8-10.5), Scouts (ages 10.5-14) and Explorers (ages 14-18). 

“It grew and grew and grew. We saw about a 100 percent increase at that point,” says Burgess. And then Covid hit. Scouts went online during lockdown. When they were able to hold in-person meetings again, Burgess was surprised by the surge of new interest. 

“The Covid effect was significant for us, because we thought we had expanded a lot before Covid, but – boom! – the demand for our services was massive, with young people and adults joining us,” says Burgess. “Everyone had been cooped up at home for over a year and thought Scouts was a great idea.” 

Momentum has only continued to snowball. 

There are now two separate Cub packs and two Scout troops to accommodate the spike in interest for those age groups. Last year, a Squirrels section was created for kids between the ages of 4 and 6.  

The program is almost identical whether you’re a Squirrel or an Explorer Scout. At its core, the goal of Scouts is to come together, share experiences, learn new skills and make friends that transcend borders. 

“The difference in scale is there, but the program themes are similar. It’s things like community service, crafts, global issues, international awareness, environmental issues – all the sorts of things you’d expect Scouts to get involved in,” says Burgess.  

To earn their community service badges, for example, Squirrels were asked to pick up litter. Explorers, on the other hand, might volunteer in a senior home for an afternoon or build something for a neighborhood park.    

For overnight adventures, Squirrels might engage in some local camping, while an Explorer might travel to the other side of the world. 

“We had three of our Explorers travel to South Korea last year as part of the World Scout Jamboree with 40,000 other Scouts,” says Burgess.  

As Prague Scouts ready themselves for the start of a new year, Burgess promises another season of adventures, life lessons and lasting memories. For more information visit the 1st Prague Scout Group website.