a partner church in the WOLDSBURN benefice
CHURCH AT KIRKBURN
http://www.churchatkirkburn.org.uk/page47.html (48,49) 1 of 3 sept ‘07 movement 17/9/07 12/11/08
850TH ANNIVERSARY
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Sept 2007
A Lt. General and a hero of the Boer War commanding the defence of Mafeking for 7 months from the besieging Boer troops, the first real British triumph during the Boer War, he wrote a military training manual called “Aids to Scouting” concentrating on techniques such as observation, tracking, initiative etc. Returning to England he found that many boys and young men were reading his book. Various influential people concerned about young people persuaded him to write a version of his book aimed at teenagers. “Scouting for Boys” was published in 1908 (after a camp at Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour, in Dorset. where he tried out his ideas on 4 patrols of boys from London and from Bournemouth) The original idea was that the ideas set out in the book were to supplement the programmes of youth organisations already in existence such as the Boys’ Brigade, and Boys Clubs. But boys not in any of those organisations bought the book (it was originally published in 6 fortnightly parts which sold like wildfire) setting themselves up as patrols of Scouts and finding themselves leaders to train them The man who started it all was Lt. General, later Lord, Robert Baden Powell (BP)..
But BP was still in the army, organising the territorials in Northumberland, which was miles away from the hub of Scouting in the south, the initial phases being organised by C. Arthur Pearson and Co, who had published “Scouting for Boys” as well as the newly published Scout Magazine. So there was little real organisation; the movement evolved very democratically with Scout Leaders being free to run their patrols, so long as the principles of scouting were observed. Recognising the need to separate from the publishing company to obtain and maintain credibility in 1909 the Scout Association opened its first office in Victoria Road, working separately from the publisher. In 1910 BP retired from the Army to devote his time to the movement (all his royalties from Scouting for Boys were ploughed back into scouting) and in the same year a census of scouts in the United Kingdom showed that there were over a 100,000 scouts in the UK. In 3 years the Scouting movement was well established. Actually as early as 1908 scouting began in various outposts of the British Empire and in 1909, an American business man named William Boyce happened to be in London. By chance, lost in a dense fog and trying to find his hotel, a small boy approached him and offered to take him to his hotel. On arrival the boy refused any tip or money for the service saying the “good turn” was his duty as a scout.. Boyce was intrigued, and on his return stateside ,set up the movement in America. By 1928 there were 300,000 American scouts and by the end of the twenties the number in the States had risen to 1 million.
At the start BP had thought that the movement should cater for boys between 11 and 18. As might have been foreseen younger brothers also wanted to join in. This led to the foundation of the Wolf Cubs in 1916 based round the Jungle Books of BP’s friend, Rudyard Kipling .A similar problem arose in regard to sisters. By 1910 BP. with the help of his sister Agnes, and, later, his wife Olave, had set up the Girl Guides. In 1917, just before the end of the war, for those too old to be scouts, BP set up the Senior Scouts which in 1919 changed its name to Rover Scouts, with outdoor adventure and service as the roots of its programme.
In 1967 things changed. We then had the Scouts with an upper age of 16, the Cub Scouts and the senior scouts and Rover Scouts were replaced by Venture Scouts for the 16-20 years old, and for those who wanted to participate in scouting over the age of 20 but did not want necessarily to commit to a leadership the BP
But BP was still in the army, organising the territorials in Northumberland, which was miles away from the hub of Scouting in the south, the initial phases being organised by C. Arthur Pearson and Co, who had published “Scouting for Boys” as well as the newly published Scout Magazine. So there was little real organisation; the movement evolved very democratically with Scout Leaders being free to run their patrols, so long as the principles of scouting were observed. Recognising the need to separate from the publishing company to obtain and maintain credibility in 1909 the Scout Association opened its first office in Victoria Road, working separately from the publisher. In 1910 BP retired from the Army to devote his time to the movement (all his royalties from Scouting for Boys were ploughed back into scouting) and in the same year a census of scouts in the United Kingdom showed that there were over a 100,000 scouts in the UK. In 3 years the Scouting movement was well established. Actually as early as 1908 scouting began in various outposts of the British Empire and in 1909, an American business man named William Boyce happened to be in London. By chance, lost in a dense fog and trying to find his hotel, a small boy approached him and offered to take him to his hotel. On arrival the boy refused any tip or money for the service saying the “good turn” was his duty as a scout.. Boyce was intrigued, and on his return stateside ,set up the movement in America. By 1928 there were 300,000 American scouts and by the end of the twenties the number in the States had risen to 1 million.
At the start BP had thought that the movement should cater for boys between 11 and 18. As might have been foreseen younger brothers also wanted to join in. This led to the foundation of the Wolf Cubs in 1916 based round the Jungle Books of BP’s friend, Rudyard Kipling .A similar problem arose in regard to sisters. By 1910 BP. with the help of his sister Agnes, and, later, his wife Olave, had set up the Girl Guides. In 1917, just before the end of the war, for those too old to be scouts, BP set up the Senior Scouts which in 1919 changed its name to Rover Scouts, with outdoor adventure and service as the roots of its programme.
In 1967 things changed. We then had the Scouts with an upper age of 16, the Cub Scouts and the senior scouts and Rover Scouts were replaced by Venture Scouts for the 16-