Eer Scouts5 » Pine Tree Web Home Page (original) (raw)

ee-cover-pix.jpg (7886 bytes)

E. E. Reynolds, Boy Scouts, 1944


Zebra and Lion Pen drawing by Lord Baden-Powell

ACTIVITIES

The earlier reference to the badges will have given some idea as to what Boy Scouts do, but the general reader must be sometimes puzzled to know exactly what are the activities of the Boy Scouts and what they do in their mysterious meetings. So it will perhaps not be amiss to describe a typical Troop Meeting. Space will not allow similar descriptions for meetings of Wolf Cubs and of Rover Scouts, but apart from their special purpose it will be true to say that the general idea is the same.

First for the Troop Meeting indoors. This sounds paradoxical since Scouting is primarily an outdoor Movement, but unfortunately in this country we have to meet on dark evenings during the winter and under weather conditions which are not always favourable to outdoor activities. There is, of course, always the danger that a Scout Troop may become too much of an indoor club and this calls for constant vigilance.

Every Group aims at having its own Headquarters. This may be something quite unpretentious like an old garage or stables, or indeed anywhere where there are four walls and a reasonably weather-proof roof. The important point is that the boys should feel that it is a place that belongs to themselves where they can do what they like, which they can decorate in their own way to suit their fancy, and where they can store their gear. Unfortunately, many Groups have to be content with the use of a Village Hall or schoolroom and this very much limits the activities. The present move to put up Youth Centres all over the country which can be shared by the various Youth Movements is of doubtful wisdom if by that is meant that the individual organisations will not also have their own separate places. A central place which may provide such amenities as a swimming bath, gymnasium, a hall for dramatic performances, etc., may well be desirable but it is also very important that for Scouting at any rate each Group should have a place that it can call its very own.


"Studying Tonights Menu" Animals of the African Veldt Water colour by Lord Baden-Powell By courtesy of Boy Scouts Imperial Headquarters

When the Troop assembles the visitor will notice that the boys have collected. in four or five small groups, each containing six or seven boys. These are the Patrols and it will be noticed throughout that the activities are worked on a Patrol basis and that the Patrol Leader plays a very important part in everything which is done. The first item of the meeting will be the breaking of the Union Flag, followed by an inspection. This is not allowed to take up much time but does just ensure that degree of smartness and correctness of uniform, personal cleanliness, etc., which are important in the training of the boy. This inspection will probably be followed by some very active games. The boys have either been shut up in school all day or at work in a factory or elsewhere, and they need an opportunity for letting off steam, and so they will be given a full chance of doing this with as much noise as they like for ten minutes before they settle down to more serious work. The range of games that can be played is very considerable so that there is no need for constant repetition of the same game. Most Troops, however, seem to have certain games which become their own special favourites.


Design for Scouts Enrollment Card Water colour by Lord Baden-Powell By courtesy of Boy Scouts Imperial Headquarters

The next item will probably be some practice in one of the activities included in the Scout Tests. For instance, it may include signalling or knotting, or there may be a period for the Patrols to get together to have instruction from their own Patrol Leaders in preparation for a competition or just to get them further along in their Scout Tests.

The next important item will probably be an Inter-Patrol competition. For instance, arrangements may be made beforehand for a friend of the Scoutmaster’s to burst into the hall and pretend to throw a fit in the middle of it. The way in which the boys deal with such a sudden emergency will be watched very carefully by the Scoutmaster and later on he will point out mistakes which were made and praise any particularly good effort of one of the Patrols. The competition, however, may be something much more straightforward such as splicing a rope or a set test under First Aid, or possibly a test in observation.. A great deal of emphasis is put on developing the powers of observation and one of the commonest forms is known as Kim’s Game as it was derived from the book of that title by Kipling. (The curious reader should see Chapter IX.) The boy is shown a collection of a dozen or so small articles and after a minute’s observation, he has to make a list of the objects. At a later stage, he has to describe them as well. The competition may be followed by an instructional talk from one of the Scoutmasters on pioneering or some such subject. Here he will be following B.-P.’s own method which he used at Brownsea Island when he would give a talk round the camp fire at night in preparation for the next day’s activities. This yarn will not take long and will be usually followed by another game, after which the meeting will conclude with prayers and the lowering of the Flag.


Kim’s Game

It must not be thought that this is a fixed routine for all Troops. They are encouraged to vary their programmes very considerably and to plan them carefully so that in the course of a period of months they do make very definite progress. This planning of the work should be done by the Patrol Leaders together with the Scouters in a meeting which is known as a Court of Honour. This is a very important part of the training of a Scout because he learns quite early to meet together with his fellows and to work out plans for the future. In this way he learns that he cannot always have his own way and that there is a good deal of give and take in life.

There may be other evening meetings in the week, for instance, an evening for badge work. Here the visitor if he came into the Troop Room, or, if the Troop is lucky, into the special workshop, would see some Scouts busy making toys, others doing leather work which may either take the form of making things like belts or knife sheaths or doing something purely utilitarian like mending a pair of boots, other Scouts may be learning how to bind books and applying this to the books in their own Troop Library, yet another group may be having instruction in carpentry or in simple electrical work, and so on. This reference to hobbies and activities emphasises how important it is for the Troop to have its own place where it can do these things.


Practice in Morse Signalling

In the winter months the Troop may be busy preparing for a concert or for the performance of a play. This will call for all kinds of practical ability and those Scouts who are perhaps not suited for taking part in the performance as actors or singers will be equally busy and equally enthusiastic in making the properties, or rigging up the stage, or making and painting the scenery. Most Troops do have some kind of annual show which is as far as possible made a useful part of their training.

In addition to the evening meetings, Troops try to arrange for Saturday afternoons out of doors, even during the winter. This will give opportunities for applying things learned indoors, perhaps only in theory, such as fire lighting, cooking, tracking, learning to recognise trees, and so on. Or the afternoon may take the form of what is known in the Movement as a wide game. This is really a development of the better known field day of such organisations as Cadets. The wide game is carried out over as big a stretch of country as possible, though for the town Troops it may have to be adapted to the streets and a park. The framework of the game may be quite simple such as, for instance, capturing flags from an opponent’s camp, or it may be worked out in a more elaborate form as a story of Red Indians, or a tale such as John Buchan’s John Macnab may be used as a kind of theme. These games are, of course, so arranged that they bring in a number of practical activities such as Ambulance work and Signalling, as well as the more obvious skills in stalking and tracking.


Refugee French Scouts in Camp in England, 1941 Preparing a Meal

But above all, the Scouting activity is camping. Some hardened Scouts will camp practically all the year round and they are encouraged to do so once they have gained the necessary skill and knowledge, but for the younger Scouts, especially, camping will begin about Easter time and will last through the summer months. There will be week-end camps, possibly at one of the Scout Headquarters camp sites like Gilwell Park, lasting from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening. Every troop aims at having ten days or a fortnight in camp in the summer, usually in August. Here again Scouting has its own methods; each Patrol works as a unit and does its own cooking and looks after itself as much as possible. This is deliberately intended as a training in self-reliance so that the boys do not get into the habit of expecting other people to do things for them.

The older Scouts may manage to get a camp or hike abroad in the good days of peace. This practice had developed to a very great extent before 1939 and thousands of Scouts left this country every year to camp or hike on the Continent. A few were lucky enough to get further afield, for instance to Canada, but the expense of such a far afield expedition was too great for most Troops to face. It is certainly very much hoped that after the present war it may be possible for Scouts to get to more distant places and particularly to America and to parts of the British Empire.


The Jamboree Camp in Holland, 1937 At this camp 28,000 Scouts of 31 nations camped together

The greatest camps of all have been the Jamborees held every four years in different countries. Here were gathered together Scouts from many nations for a fortnight under canvas. They would get to know each other under conditions which very quickly broke down. any reserves that there might be between boys of one nation and another. This, too, is a practice which everyone hopes will be greatly developed in the future.

Your feedback, comments and suggestions are appreciated.
Please write to: Lewis P. Orans