AFTER 63 years of being prepared thanks to a lifetime of Scouting service, 74-year-old Brian Hawtin has been given the movement’s highest honour.

Mr Hawtin, of Vicarage Road, Kidlington, has received the prestigious Silver Wolf award after a career that progressed from Sea Scout to scout leader and up to district commissioner.

The former accountant with Oxford City Council said: “When I received the letter and saw the heading Silver Wolf Award I had to hand it to my wife Jo to read. I couldn’t believe that someone had seen fit to recommend for me for such an accolade.”

Mr Hawtin will be formally presented with the solid silver image of a wolf by County Commissioner Tarquin May at a ceremony in Oxford in July.

But he said he might never have become a scout at all if it hadn’t been for his brother Phillip.

He said: “When I was at Magdalen College School the boys either belonged to the Army Cadets or joined the Scouts.  “I decided that being bossed about at home by my elder brother was one thing, but being ordered about by a sergeant in the Cadet Force was another, so I joined the Scouts.”

As a member of the 40th Oxford Sea Scouts, he took part in camps and pushed trek carts up to Youlbury Scout Campsite in Boars Hill. After National Service with the RAF in Norfolk and marrying wife Jo, now 68, Scouting took a back seat, but only for a while.

He explained: “My son David, now 44, joined the cub scouts at the age of eight but they only had female leaders. He pleaded with me to come and help and I joined the 33rd Oxford (Kidlington) Scout Group, Rama Pack as an assistant cub scout leader.”

In the following years Mr Hawtin took over as cub scout leader, then went into management, serving as deputy commissioner of Isis District, then as district commissioner in 1989.

He also took on the role of treasurer of Youlbury Campsite, a position he held until March of this year. He remains county treasurer.

He showed off his Silver Wolf award at the weekend when he joined the other 70 Silver Wolf holders at the St George’s Day celebrations at Windsor Castle.