Scouting Facts

• Scouting in the UK has been growing for the last six years
• More young people do adventurous activities as Scouts than with any other organisation
• Each year Scouts spend over two million nights away from home doing adventurous activities.
• You are rarely more than 10 miles from a Scout Meeting Place
• 11 of the 12 people to walk on the moon were once Scouts.
• Scouts have over 38 million members in 216 countries. (2007)

Brief history of Scouting:

The Scout Movement was founded by Baden-Powell (BP) in 1907. BP took 20 boys from a variety of backgrounds to Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour for the first ever Scout Camp.

In 1916 younger boys were introduced to Scouting by the formation of Wolf Cubs (now Cub Scouts) with a programme and organisation based on the Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Even today, the leaders of the Cub Scout Pack are known by their “Jungle Names” such as Akela, Baloo and Bagheera.

Details:

Scouting is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, so that they may play constructive roles in society.

Scouting began in 1907 when Robert Baden-Powell held the first Scouting encampment at Brownsea Island in England. Baden-Powell wrote the principles of Scouting in Scouting for Boys (London, 1908), based on his earlier military books. Baden-Powell made a parallel movement for girls with his sister Agnes Baden-Powell (more details below).

The Boy Scout movement swiftly established itself throughout the British Empire soon after the publication of Scouting for Boys. The first recognized overseas unit was chartered in Gibraltar in 1908, followed quickly by a unit in Malta. Canada became the first overseas dominion with a sanctioned Boy Scout program, followed by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Chile was the first country outside the British dominions to have a recognized Scouting program. By 1910, Argentina, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Malaya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States had Boy Scouts.

During the first half of the 20th century, the movement grew to encompass three major age groups each for boys :Cub Scout(7-10 years old), Boy Scout(11-17), Rover Scout(18 and up), and for girls: Brownie Guide(7-10), Girl Guide and Girl Scout(11-17), Ranger Guide(18+).

But in majority of countries today girls and boys are in the same organisation.

The movement employs the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking, and sports. The Scout method is the informal educational system used by Scouting to achieve their goal, which is simply stated by its founder Robert Baden-Powell as Scouts to become “healthy, happy, helpful citizens”. Scout Method includes Scout Law and Scout Promise.

Widely recognized movement characteristic is the Scout uniform, by intent hiding all differences of social standing in a country and making for equality. But, more important still, it covers differences of country and race and creed, and makes all feel that they are members with one another of the one great brotherhood”. The original uniform, still widely recognized, consisted of a khaki button-up shirt, shorts, and a broad-brimmed campaign hat. Baden-Powell also wore shorts, because he believed that being dressed like a Scout helped to reduce the age-imposed distance between adult and youth. Uniforms are now frequently blue, orange, red or green, and shorts are replaced by long trousers in winter, and in areas where the culture calls for modesty.

Distinctive uniform insignia include the fleur-de-lis and the trefoil, as well as merit badges and other patches. The fleur-de-lis (or fleur-de-lys) is a stylised design of an iris flower.Trefoil (from Latin trifolium, “three-leaved plant”)is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings.

The swastika was used as an early symbol by the British Boy Scouts and others. Swastika was added to the Scout fleur-de-lis to symbolize good luck. In 1934, Scouters requested a change to the design because of the later use of the swastika by the National Socialist German Workers Party.

Since the inception of Scouting in the early 1900s, the movement has sometimes become entangled in social controversies such as the civil rights struggle in the American South and in nationalist resistance movements in India. Scouting was introduced to Africa by British officials as a way to strengthen their rule, but came to challenge the legitimacy of the British Empire as African Scouts used the Scout Law’s principle that a Scout is a brother to all other Scouts to collectively claim full imperial citizenship. More recently, Scouting organizations that do not allow the participation of atheists, agnostics, or homosexuals have been publicly criticized.

Local influences have also been a strong part of Scouting. By adopting and modifying local ideologies, Scouting has been able to find acceptance in a wide variety of cultures. In America, Scouting uses images drawn from the U.S. frontier experience. This includes not only its selection of animal badges for Cub Scouts, but the underlying assumption that American Indians are more closely connected with nature and therefore have special wilderness survival skills which can be used as part of the training program. By contrast, British Scouting makes use of imagery drawn from the Indian subcontinent, because that region was a significant focus in the early years of Scouting. Baden-Powell’s personal experiences in India led him to adopt Rudyard Kipling‘s The Jungle Book as a major influence for the Cub Scouts; for example, the name used for the Cub Scout leader-Akela ,is that of the leader of the wolf pack in the book.

In 2007, Scouting and Guiding together have over 38 million members in 216 countries. Today at the international level, the two largest umbrella organizations are:

• World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), for boys-only and co-educational organizations.
• World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), primarily for girls-only organizations but also accepting co-educational organizations.

UK has 1 050 000 members of Scouts,so it is on the 6^th place by the membership of Scouts: US is the first(10 100 000 members),Indonesia, India, Philippines, Thailand,UK…

At an international level Scouting perceives one of its roles as the promotion of international harmony and peace. Various initiatives are in train towards achieving this aim including the development of activities that benefit the wider community, challenge prejudice and encourage tolerance of diversity. Such programs include co-operation with non-scouting organizations including various NGOs, the United Nations and religious institutions.

“Duty to God” is a principle of Scouting, though it is applied differently in various countries. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) take a strong position, excluding atheists. The Scout Association in the United Kingdom requires adult leaders to implement the Association’s religious policy which, inter alia, encourages members to belong to some religious body. Scouts Canada defines Duty to God broadly in terms of “adherence to spiritual principles” and does not have a policy excluding non-theists.

NOTABLE SCOUTS:

Belgium : Albert II, king,

Czech: Václav Havel 1st president of the Czech Republic,

Denmark: Margrethe II of Denmark queen ,

France: Jacques Chirac, Former President of the French Republic,

Netherlands: Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister.,

UK: Queen Elizabeth II ,Kate Moss, supermodel, Emma Thompson, actress, David Beckham – midfielder of the England football squad, Tony Blair – Ex-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Paul McCartney – singer/songwriter/bassist of the Beatles and Wings

USA: Madeleine Albright, first female United States Secretary of State, George W. Bush; Cub Scout, 43rd U.S. President…

This article is from wikipedia and so there are many interesting links to it’s site.

Robert Baden-Powell (B-P)