Devon Scouts announce New Chief

Royal Navy Engineer Russell GIBSON chosen as County Commissioner

September 2010: Devon scouts announced today that Russell Gibson (40) has been appointed as the new County Commissioner responsible for leading the 9000 members of scouting in Devon. Russ, who currently lives in Plymouth, has not been involved in scouting since he was a Cub Scout way back in the 80’s. Having recently retired from the Royal Navy where he served on such ships as HMS Charybdis, Invincible and Ark Royal, and had lately been the manager of the mechanical engineering workshops on board HMS Ark Royal. Russ is looking forward to this new challenge. He said “I am delighted to be appointed as the County Commissioner for Devon and I will be pro-actively seeking ways to bring the skills I have gained in the Navy to the Scout Association. I am looking forward to the challenges this will bring as I know it will be a steep learning curve for me, but I hope that with my experiences of leadership, communication and management I will be able to make changes in the right direction to further develop the organisation.”

Russ joins the 1500 other volunteer scout leaders in Devon who give up there time to bring scouting to young people. He is encouraging more adults to volunteer and said” Not only is it about giving scouts the opportunity to experience fun and adventure; adults can get just as much out of Scouting as the young people. As well as enjoying the same activities as the scouts they can develop skills that can be transferred into other areas of their lives. As County Commissioner I hope that I can support and encourage those leaders and therefore make scouting available to an even bigger proportion of the young people of Devon.”