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Lord Baden-Powell


Many years ago, there was a family of five boys. One of the brothers, Robert Baden-Powell enjoyed everything about the outdoor from walking to camping, tracking and climbing trees. After school Robert joined the army, where he went on to become an Officer. He enjoyed to train his men with competitions and games and later used one of his tricks to save a town called Mafeking, in South Africa. What he did was build models of soldiers and stand them up on top of the town walls. The people who were attacking the town were scared away because they thought the model soldiers were real. Baden-Powell had only a few soldiers in Mafeking, so he would use boys to help with first aid and for running errands. Baden-Powell was a hero back in England because of his bravery in South Africa.
Not long after his return, Baden-Powell wrote a book called Aids to Scouting, which was about training in the Army. He found that boys liked to read the stories in his book and try out the skills themselves. In 1907 Baden-Powell ran an experimental camp for 20 boys form different backgrounds, at Brownsea Island in Dorset. There were games, sports and other activities at the camp, which the boys really enjoyed, because they were enjoyed so much, Baden-Powell decided to write down all his ideas in another book called Scouting for Boys. This book was written in the form of a magazine, in six parts and very soon, boys all over the United Kingdom had joined together and formed groups of 'Boy Scouts'. They began to ask adults to run scouting activities for them.
Younger boys saw how much fun their older brothers were having and asked if they could join Scouting, so in 1916, Baden-Powell started a special section called the Wolf Cubs. Wolf Cubs were boys aged between eight and eleven who learnt all kinds of exciting and useful things like first aid, tracking, how to be fit and healthy, how to cook on fires and most of all how to have fun. Scouting grew more and more popular and in 1920 Baden-Powell became World Chief Scout. Nine years later he became Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell.
Baden-Powell returned to Kenya (Africa) in 1937 and died in 1941, but Scouting continued to grow and change with the times. 1967 saw the Cubs change from Wolf Cubs to 'Cub Scouts' and the start of the Venture Scout (Now Explorers), which replaced Rover Scouts and Senior Scouts. In 1986, Beaver Scouts became full members of the Scout Association and in 1990 girls were allowed to become Cub Scouts.
So, today Scouting is still popular worldwide among young people, both male and female of different origins, colour, age, race and ability. Each country wears it's own uniform and says it's own promise and law, but each one belongs to the same Movement with the same aim to have FUN! Today with modern technology Scouts worldwide are closer than they have ever been, they can share their moments on the Internet, by phone or even by post. ...If only Baden-Powell could have seen ScoutBase and similar sites (link to ScoutBase on Scout Website Page - click on the Back symbol below).