Last weekend’s Winter Camp held at Gilwell Park in the London region was the venue for the the launch of 40 new and modernised badges. In order to reflect the changing demands and interests of today’s young people, these new badges include areas such as Health and Fitness, Healthy Eating, Street Sports and Parascending.

 
The story was taken up by all the major national newspapers, along with numerous items on BBC Breakfast, BBC News24, BBC Radio 5 and BBC Radio 4.
ITV Local News also got in on the act closing off a weekends excellent media cover with a piece on the regional news

Explorer Scouts' Nancy Ibrahim from London and Kirsty Wright from Essex accompanied Chief Scout Peter Duncan on a whirlwind tour around BBC Television Centre, to talk about the updated programme and the new badges being launched at Winter Camp, held in the London region a Gilwell Park.
Peter said: ‘Young people today have a larger choice than ever before of activities to fill their spare time with. This includes challenging themselves with exciting activities and adventures, meeting new friends throughout the world, and creating a real difference in their communities
The introduction of Heathy Eating and Health and Fitness badges really caught the attention of the journalists. These badges have been introduced in consultation with young people, sports governing bodies and educationalists. They aim to reflect the interests and concerns of today’s young people and society in general.

Peter added: ‘The health of young people has al ways been of utmost importance to us, and through many of these badges we can help to further encourage young people on the choices they can make to lead a healthy lifestyle.’

Explorer Scout Nancy Ibrahim said: ‘It’s great that the badges have been updated to include activities that are important to today's scouts. The best thing about scouting is that we get the opportunity to try new adventures, when we might not have been able to do so otherwise.
‘We are always hearing that young people aren’t healthy enough and I think it’s really important for everyone to learn what healthy decisions they can make.’