New International Secretary

Published on Friday January 09 2009

Woodcraft’s new volunteer International Secretary is Paul Bemrose.

Paul has been a Pioneer group leader for 20 years and held most offices in the
Brighthelmstone District. Over the years he has also been a successful fundraiser,
served on General Council and been Chair of the South East Region for 2-3 years. More recently in 2008 he played a key part in organising the South East Region’s summer camp.

Paul was chosen through a process of open selection. He has much experience of international work: previously he took delegations abroad to Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He also led three delegations to the Native American Reservation of the Northern Cheyenne in Lame Deer, Montana. He was Chair of the International Committee when on General Council, attended the International Falcon Movement congress and was elected to the resolutions committee. Not forgetting his one-year stint as Chair of the European Falcon Network. Looking to the future he comments, "I'm really excited by the prospect of helping deepen our international work, be it solidarity action, education, seminars or exchange opportunities".

Already the International Committee is completing a work plan that includes better
opportunities for seminars and exchange. A Google group was created for people
interested in internationalism and the International Exchange Pack is being revised. Paul adds “One of the things I am tasked with is looking at
pen-friend type opportunities, I'm thinking we could get European funding for a
Bebo-style webpage where young people from International Falcon Movement affiliated groups could become on-line friends."

While only new to the post it’s clear his ambitions are mighty. “I want to see every
young person, by the time they get to District Fellow, have the chance of being involved in at least one exchange. You may say I'm a dreamer. But hey! I'm not the only one!"