Queen’s Scout award winner doing final duty for monarch
A YOUNG Guernsey woman, who was presented with her Queen’s Scout award at the same time as news of Her Majesty’s death broke, is now in London assisting with the long queue of people waiting to get in to Westminster Hall to see the late monarch as she lies in state.
Amy Woodland, 22, has been involved in scouting since the age of eight and said she had always wanted to earn the Queen’s Scout, which is the highest award given to Scout Network members and represented years of work on her part.
This included attaining a gold Duke of Edinburgh Award through her school, The Ladies’ College.
She went to Government House for a formal presentation on Thursday 8 September and said she had just received it from the Lt-Governor Lieutenant General Richard Cripwell, when he announced that the Queen had died: ‘It was a very sombre moment,’ she said.
The following morning she was invited to apply to join other award winners in assisting with the organisation of the Queen’s lying in state in London.
After going through a selection process she found out on Sunday evening that she had been accepted and flew out of the island on Monday.
‘We’re in London, helping with the queue management, collection of floral tributes and bag drops,’ said Miss Woodland.
Her group is staying on a camp site in Epping Forest and being bused in to the capital for their shifts.
Miss Woodland’s shift starts at about 2pm and ends at about 1am and she said the experience has mostly been a positive one: ‘But there are a lot of people who are not too happy,’ she said.
She has helped out at Victoria Gardens, where a ‘Disneyland’-type queueing system is in place as mourners get closer to the hall.
People still have another four hours or so to wait when they reach this point, however, and some have been upset when they realise they would not have enough time before having to return home for a rest before work.
She did not expect to have the opportunity to view the coffin herself, but said she nonetheless felt she had paid her respects by assisting: ‘Part of the promise I made was to do my duty to the Queen and to do this as my final duty is really quite special.’
Her final shift is on Sunday and her parents are due to join her on Monday and she hoped they would be able to see something of the funeral itself before returning to the island on Monday night.
