Specially chosen by Scout Headquarters, Explorer Scout Lucy Onyango from the Brock Unit in Maulden leapt to TV fame. She was coached by a top ranking PR agency, given a high profile partner (Chief Scout Peter Duncan) and sent on an all day whirlwind tour of radio and tv studios to talk about girl power in scouting. It was all to do with the annual census figures announcement on the 27th April.

She admitted afterwards, “I was unaware of what stardom does to you. After a while you accept the butterflies in the tummy and 150 plus pulse rate. You don’t even realise you are talking to millions of people. But it was a great help having Peter Duncan alongside to help fill in any gaps. But I’m not sure this stardom thing is for me.” The success of the media operation comes in a variety of forms but no one could have predicted what happened next.

One of Lucy’s viewers was Lee Quince, a canoeist and water activities specialist who signed up for Bedford district within an hour of watching the Breakfast show on BBC1.

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