National Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra


The National Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra was formed in 1976 as a joint orchestra of The Scout Association and the Girlguiding in the United Kingdom.
Since it was formed, the orchestra has met yearly, undertaking a week-long course, finishing normally with 2 concerts. The orchestra has also undertaken several tours abroad taking participants to United States, Greece, Germany, The Czech Republic and, in 2004, Estonia. The orchestra has also been found performing in such prestigious venues as Westminster Abbey, St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle and The Royal Albert Hall as well as performances for Royalty.
The orchestra has tackled pieces such as Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky, Academic Festival Overture by Johannes Brahms and Borodin's second symphony in B-minor.
The course is led by an experienced orchestral conductor and supported by a team of professional musicians as section tutors. Rehearsals are interspersed with an active programme of varied sports, crafts, Scouting and Guiding activities.
Past conductors include Robert Cracknell, Martin Crozier, Alan Bell, Lee Marchant and the present conductor is Leon Gee. The inspirational first conductor of the orchestra was George Odam.
The orchestra performed at the Scout festival Live07 at The O2 Arena in Greenwich towards the end of 2007. In 2008, it performed at the Edinburgh Festival playing 'The Great Adventure', a symphony commissioned for the Scouting 2007 Centenary.
Rodney Newton was commissioned by The Scout Association to write a symphony to celebrate their centenary. The result was "The Great Adventure", which outlines Baden-Powell's life. This was written, and played, by the NSGSO and the 2nd Rossendale Scout Brass Band. Mr.Newton was then commissioned by Girlguiding UK to write a piece for their centenary in 2010. He wrote a shorter piece, called "Centenary Fantasia" which is a medley of campfire songs.
The National Scout and Guide Concert Band was reformed in its current format in 2016 as a joint concert band of The Scout Association and Girlguiding. The NSGCB is managed alongside the NSGSO and the summer courses are run alongside each other.
The reintroduction of the NSGCB in 2016 saw the membership of the NSGSO and NSGCB increase to record numbers, with 128 participants across the two groups in 2019. Participants are all members of The Scout Association and Girlguiding between the ages of 12 and 30.

Past Courses

The original courses, in the 70s, were held at Gilwell Park over New Year. Concerts were held in the Royal College of Music in London.