Network · ages 18 to 25
Adventure on your own terms.
The sixth and last section, for 18 to 25 year olds. Self-led, free to join, and it does not care whether you have ever been in Scouts before.
- Ages
- 18 to 25
- Meets
- As often as you organise
- Cost to join
- Free
What Network is for
Adventure
Whatever the people in it want to do and are willing to organise — hillwalking, climbing, paddling, caving, or getting a qualification that lets you take other people out.
Community
Taking on something in Newcastle that needs doing, and finishing it. Network projects are meant to leave something behind rather than fill an evening.
International
Jamborees, expeditions, the Explorer Belt, Scouts of the World. This is the age at which the international side of Scouting stops being a rumour.
This is what it looks like
Nationally there are over 20,000 members aged 18 to 25 doing this their own way. Some Networks meet a few times a year to do one project properly; others have several running at once.
- Hillwalking and climbing
- Paddling and caving
- International expeditions
- Community projects
- Qualifications and permits
- Jamborees
How Network works
Every district has one Scout Network, and ours is run by the district's 14–24 Team. There is no weekly meeting to turn up to — Network is what its members organise.
Self-led, and flexible
Members manage their own journey and organise their own projects, with the district team there to back them rather than to run it.
You choose your district
You do not have to be in the Network where you live or where you were an Explorer. Pick one, be in more than one, or simply join the UK Scout Network. Most universities have an SSAGO society as well.
You can volunteer too
Membership and an adult volunteering role are not alternatives. Plenty of members lead a section on a Tuesday and go caving with the Network at the weekend.
“We decide all of it.”
Things to work towards
As young people try new things, build skills and take on challenges, they earn badges and awards along the way. The highest award in Network is the King's Scout Award.
It can be started as an Explorer and finished any time before 25, alongside the Explorer Belt, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and Scouts of the World.
Before you start
The practical things worth knowing. If something here is not answered, ask the Group — they would far rather you did.
A stone shirt or blouse with the Scout Network badge, worn with the Network scarf that everybody in Network can wear wherever they came from. In practice most of what Network does happens in ordinary outdoor kit.
Network membership is free, and there is no adult learning to complete first. Individual trips and projects cost what they cost, and the members decide that between them.
No. Network is open to anybody aged 18 to 25. If it sounds like your sort of thing, that is the whole entry requirement.
Network is deliberately flexible. Stay with Newcastle, join the Network where you are studying, do both, or just be part of the UK Scout Network. Your call.
Join the Newcastle Network
Tell us roughly what you are after — the adventure side, the community projects, the international side, or all three — and the district's 14–24 Team will pick it up.
Email hello@newcastlescouts.org.uk and say you are interested in Scout Network, or use the contact form. Membership is free and open to anybody aged 18 to 25, whether or not you have ever been in Scouts.
Just moved here? Howay in.
Every autumn this city takes in thousands of people who do not know a soul in it. If that is you, Network is one way through the first month — free to join, and it makes no odds whether you did fourteen years of Scouts at home or have never been near a tent.
You do not have to give up the Network where you are from to be in ours. Be in both, or be in the UK Scout Network as well — nobody is counting. Come for a term, come for a degree, come and stay. Newcastle has never been fussy about where anybody is from.
Or give some time back.
Network members can hold a volunteering role at the same time. Plenty lead a section on a Tuesday and go caving with the Network at the weekend.
