SCOUT ASSOCIATION
Risk assessment
FOUR mothers who were brought together by the tragic deaths of their sons on scouting trips, 23 years apart, met children’s minister Janet Daby last week to call for the Scout Organisation to be monitored and regulated in the same way as schools.
They say their children’s deaths were all preventable. They accuse the association of being stuck in a “1920s mentality” and more concerned about protecting its reputation and ingrained culture than accepting 21st-century principles around health and safety.
Lee Craddock, Scott Fanning and Roy Thornton all died on expeditions in the 1990s. Jackie Leonard’s son, Ben, fell to his death from a clifftop on the Great Orme, Llandudno, in 2018 after volunteer leaders let him and friends wander off on an unplanned hike without any instruction, risk assessment or supervision.