Demand to join the Boy Scouts has reached its highest level since World War II, according to the organization behind the movement.
The Scout Association said nearly 90,000 young people across the UK are on current waiting lists.
They said a post-pandemic “increased zeal” for the outdoors was behind the surge.
Meanwhile, Girlguiding says they’re also seeing a surge in demand, with nearly 55,000 people waiting for a spot.
Simon Carter, national spokesman for the Scout Association, said membership had grown 16% in the last year.
“We haven’t seen this kind of growth since World War II,” he said.
“Lockdown has been a dark time for young people. They had nowhere to go. Now there is more zeal for nature.”
Across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, 4,949 children are currently waiting to join the organisation.
Mike Croft, who runs the Elloughton cum Brough Scout Group in East Yorkshire, said some parents put their child’s name on waiting lists years in advance.
He said: “Sometimes a six-year-old misses getting into both Beavers and Cubs and doesn’t get into Scouts until they’re 10.
“If we can’t get a young person to Beavers, we move their name to the Cubs waitlist. Then if we can’t get him to Cubs, his names will be put on the scout list. We have a little more capacity.
“Unfortunately, demand is so high that we can’t respond to emails from parents.”
In North Yorkshire, Phil Bennett said demand had “gone through the roof”, while South Yorkshire Scouts spokesman Simon Daley said young people had returned to Scout groups “in the hundreds” since the pandemic.
Ellie, from York, put her six-year-old son, Ralph, on the local Beavers’ waiting list when he was four. Earlier this year, she received an email saying he wouldn’t get a spot until 2023 at the earliest.
“It’s really hard to explain to your six-year-old why he can’t go to his friends’ house,” she said.
“The beavers and scouts in general are part of British culture. It’s quite sad that so many children are missing out.”
Mr Carter said one way to cut waiting lists is to recruit more volunteers.
He said: “People have traditionally thought, ‘What do I have to give up?’ We need to change that mindset. We want people to think, ‘What do I get from this experience?’ in terms of learning new skills and networking.”
Angela Salt OBE, chief executive of Girlguiding, which has 290,000 members across the UK, said membership had increased by 20% over the past year and echoed Carter’s request for volunteers
“It’s really great to see that the opportunities girlguiding offers are being recognized by the significant increase in people wanting to join us over the past year,” she said.
“As more girls want to get involved, we desperately need the help of more adult volunteers so we can continue to provide girls with the space to learn new skills, build confidence, and have fun and adventure with a pre-made group of friends.”
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