26th – 28th June 2020 – Postponed

South of England Showground, Ardingly

Over the last few weeks, the Scoutabout Steering Committee has been carefully considering the impact of the developing Coronavirus situation and the safety of everyone who would be involved at Scoutabout 2020 from Scouts and Girlguiding. Their safety is our number one priority and, as always, is at the heart of our decision making. A secondary, but nevertheless important factor, is the significant financial risk to Surrey Scouts, should our event have to be cancelled at short notice due to circumstances beyond our control.

We have taken advice from Scouts HQ, the Surrey Scouts Trustees and our suppliers. Our insurers have advised us that claims in respect of the Coronavirus are unlikely to be covered.

For these reasons we have taken the very difficult decision to postpone Scoutabout until 2nd – 4th July 2021.

We recognise that this is extremely disappointing for the 6000+ participants, leaders and Service Team members.

We have taken the decision now in order to minimise any further financial exposure to Surrey Scouts, the Surrey East and West Girlguiding Counties, Districts, Divisions, Groups and Units. We also know that many parents will be considering whether their Scouts and Guides should be attending at this time.

As we have decided to postpone, we are expecting most groups to be able to join us next year and therefore we propose that deposits will be carried forward to next year’s event. Over the next few weeks, the Steering Committee will work through the impacts of this decision and further information will be published once this has been achieved.

We very much hope that you will all be able to join us next year. If, however, you are unfortunately unable to attend the rescheduled event, we shall publish details of the process we should like groups and individuals to follow to receive refunds. The Steering Committee shall also consider the event age limits to see whether we can ensure that no one misses out.

Paul Iverson                                                  Ian MacQueen

Scoutabout Chair                                          Deputy County Commissioner (Events)