The Grampound Times
Easter 2007 (Edition 44)
Our community in Cornwall
SCOUTING FOR BOYS ( AND GIRLS )
The Scouting Movement celebrates its 100th Birthday this year; sadly here in Grampound we no longer have a section in the movement, but Guides and Rainbows, direct descendents of the the great B.P’s ideas for youth prosper here.
It was during the siege of Mafeking in the South African War that Baden Powell had the idea of a movement for boys training, and he developed this directly from his military experiences in South Africa. Initially there were no places for girls, but the great and immediate success of the Boy Scout movement brought a surge of enthusiasm for a similar organisation for girls, and therefore, from the Scout movement there developed an organisation for girls which became Girl Guides. Nowadays although the movements are viewed as brother and sister organisations, girls are also accepted directly into the boys side of the business as Scouts. Call me old fashioned if you like, and I probably deserve it, but is it sensible progress or just another instance of ‘correctness’ gone mad. The brother and sister relationship between the Scout and Guide Movements was right for me as it used to be.
I’m off my soapbox now, and having retired from my Scout Leader position with the 3 rd St. Austell Group some 15 years ago, it was a great pleasure to be invited by the Castle Canyke Group at Bodmin to drop in and give them a yarn. They wanted to hear about the ways Scouting worked in the past and compared with their activities today. Although well beyond the age for a uniformed scouter I decided to try and feel a part of things again by donning my uniform, always providing that it had not shrunk too much over the years! My one concession to “officialdom” was to wear my 1 st Gilwell Troop scarf instead of my old troop’s black and gold - that lasted until I drove into their car park at Bodmin, when I decided that I was a black and gold man at heart! That proved to be a little unfortunate however, because as I removed the Gilwell scarf the top button of my shirt could stand the pressure no longer and took off at great speed! I don’t think anyone noticed.
One of my proudest ‘left overs’ is my Camp Fire Blanket. This contains badges and pennants that I collected over the many years I spent in Scouting, and is all I need to remember all those very happy times - and keep on talking!
Amongst the many badges it holds are my first badges from 1 st Grampound Troop reformed in about 1945 after the 2 nd World War had ended by BILL KNOWLES and NORMAN MANNELL
when they returned to Grampound from war service. I was just 10 years old and remember at a District Camp held at Porthpean, the late MRS. JILL CROGGON appearing at tea-time with a large plate of jam and cream splits!
Among the many decorative badges I collected are those that remind me of specific and important events - my Advanced Leader Training at Gilwell Park where I obtained a badge from each of the eight leaders in my ‘training patrol’ - Chief Scout Challenge Hikes that I supervised around Wales and the South Coast areas, each trip producing badges as memories - and perhaps the most memorable event of all, the road run from John O Groats to Lands End completed in just 12 running days, with a badge from each of the Scout Troops that provided our overnight accommodation down the whole route. The International Scout Centre at Kandestag in Switzerland that I twice visited with my troop, also produced a wealth of memories and badges. The blue embroidered badge awarded to us all for successfully completing the High Adventure Challenge is a precious one indeed, as apart from carrying out day hikes up mountains and numerous other exciting things we also had to complete the requirement of swimming in a glacier lake - the blue of that badge reminds me always of just how icy cold that water was!
The Bodmin Scouts kindly said they enjoyed my visit, and that brief return to Scouting was a great pleasure to me.
Roger Paynter
© 2006 Grampound with Creed Parish Council