On Saturday 19th May 2012 Chief Scout Bear Grylls took to the air to meet almost 4,000 Scouts from 
Northern Ireland at a series of events in Clandeboye, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and Crawfordsburn Scout Centre.
Ballymoney Scouts took part in an overnight survival camp at the Clandeboye estate, where they slept out in basic shelters that they made themselves and ate under the stars.
In the morning they took part in various survival skills including making and using a bow drill to light the cooking fire, filtering water through a sock and making camp firelighters.
When Bear arrived the scouts got the chance to meet with him and show off the skills they had learnt.
The event was one of a number that Bear visited in Northern Ireland and Scotland at the weekend. 
The tour is part of his mission to encourage more adults to volunteer for Scouting, as well as celebrate the important role of Scouting in Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole. The journey comes as part of his plan to visit the whole of the UK during his term as Chief Scout, having previously visited many parts of England.
The weekend’s events showed what Scouting is all about, offering thousands of young people the opportunity to take part in adventure in the company of peers and trusted adults. The Scout Association is the largest co-educational youth Movement in the country. Recent figures have shown that membership has passed the 525,000 mark in the UK, with almost 10,000 members in Northern Ireland.
However, the Movement is in desperate need of more adult volunteers to ensure that more young people can join the adventure.
Bear Grylls, Chief Scout, says: “It was great to visit Scouts in Northern Ireland. At every event I go to, I know I’ll meet young people taking part in the adventure that Scouting provides. It’s crucial though that more adults sign up as volunteers, to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to join.”
If you are interesting in volunteering with Ballymoney Scouts please contact the Kevin, Group Scout Leader, on 0777 563 2415
More About Scouting:
- The Scout Association was founded on 1st August 1907.
- Adventure is at the core of Scouting, and the Association passionately believes in helping their members fulfil their full physical, intellectual social and spiritual potentials by working in teams, learning by doing and thinking for themselves.
- Over 200 activities are offered by Scouting around the UK, made possible by the efforts of more than 94,000 volunteer leaders. This has helped make Scouting the largest co-educational youth Movement in the country.
- One of the challenges that the Scout Movement faces is finding more volunteers to plug the current gap.
- Adults working in Scouting contribute in excess of 364 million hours of voluntary work each year to their local communities.
- The number of volunteers working for Scouting is bigger than the combined workforces of the BBC (24,000) and McDonalds (67,000) put together.
- Worldwide Scouting has 28 million members both male and female and operates in nearly every country in the world.
