Scouting

We were very pleased to learn this term that Mr. Holbeche, though having no previous experience of Scouting, is proposing to join the Scout Group. During the term he has been learning about many of the curious activities carried out by the Scout Troop, and it is hoped that he will have a Warrant as Scoutmaster before we go to camp at the end of the Summer Term. Holt, Oldman, and Pfluger have continued to work with enthusiasm for the Troop and at the beginning of term they were presented with Warrants as full Assistant Scoutmasters.

Progress has been maintained in both the Scout and the Senior Scout Troops, and one of the most pleasing aspects of this progress was the gaining of five Ambulance and eight First Aid Badges. Many Scouts are within striking distance of the First Class Badge and during the holidays seven are taking part in First Class Journeys, while four Seniors are undertaking rather more strenuous Venturer Journeys. Those Seniors who will be attending either the Jamboree itself or the Jamboree Camp are making great efforts to become Queen's Scouts before the end of the Summer Term and there seems to be little doubt that they will achieve this goal.

The Summer Camp will be held, from Tuesday, 30th July, until Wednesday, 7th August, at Birkrigg Farm, Newlands, Keswick, Cumberland. The site, which the Seniors used four years ago, and which is some 51 miles from Keswick in a very secluded position, is ideal for a Scout camp and it is hoped that all possible members of the Scout and Senior Scout Troops will attend. Full details will be sent out early in the Summer Term. As before it may be possible to arrange for rock-climbing instruction for those Seniors who produce written permission from a parent or guardian, and this arrangement can also apply to any First Class Scouts who will be joining the Senior Scout Troop in September.

GILWELL, 1957

The Boy Scout movement is at the moment sorely in need of men and boys to carry on the work started by Baden-Powell 50 years ago. Whilst the movement flourishes in its junior sections, the majority of boys leave before the age of 15 and are then often lost to Scouting. As part of a policy to stop this trend, a course in "Leadership in Scouting" was held for Public School boys in their last year at school, at Gilwell Park in Essex.

Gilwell is set in the heart of Epping Forest and is regarded as the fountain-head of Scout training in the world today. Under the inspired leadership of John Thurman, the Camp Chief, the ideals of Scouting are given a practical basis and are thence passed on throughout the world by the many Scouters from all over the world who attend the various training courses there. Its truly international aspect was well shown by the fact that on the staff during the week we were 45

there, were an Australian Commissioner, a Scouter from New Zealand, a German Scout, an oriental gentleman of unknown nationality, and last, but definitely not least, a 20-stone County Commissioner from South Wales.

On Easter Tuesday, then, the three of us, Wroe, Sykes and myself, congregated at Imperial Headquarters or I.H.Q., in Buckingham Palace Road, having spent the morning visiting friends and relatives in the London district. We met the other members of the course and were introduced to many of the headquarters' commissioners. After tea we were driven to Gilwell by bus. Immediately we were hustled into the training-ground, a most impressive area of park surrounded by trees. Here we were issued with armfuls of literature, divided up into patrols, and briefed as to the nature of the course. Its tempo may be gathered from the fact that on the first evening we were given two talks and also a demonstration by a local troop. This hectic pace continued throughout the week.

A typical day's programme was started by inspection, flag-break and prayers, immediately after breakfast. Then we would be warmed up by a few games suspiciously reminiscent of P.T. periods. Lectures, demonstrations, and experiments, on various branches of Scouting, would follow thick and fast throughout the morning. The afternoon would be devoted to an activity designed to test individual leadership. Each boy would take it in turns to lead his patrol in some apparently impossible task in which obstacles such as genuinely electrified fences and large and muddy ponds would frequently occur. After dinner many exalted personages from I.H.Q. or elsewhere would come and give us the benefit of their experiences. One, we were pleased to learn, turned down the offer of a command of a battalion to devote himself to Scouting. We feel that others might well follow his example. These lectures culminated in the visit of Lord Rowallan, the Chief Scout, on the last night of the course. Few of us will forget either his talk or his handshake !

Highlights of the week were firstly the visit to a Troop of Scouts of whom over half were on probation and with whom army discipline was more effective than the usual fair words. Secondly there was the cooking without utensils in which we indulged one day. It is amazing how a steak can change when impaled on a stick and held in a fire. Finally, there was the visit to Windsor to watch the Queen take the salute at the march-past of the Queen's Scouts.

On the final morning, for the last time, we washed up, tidied the camp-site, stole the Sea Scouts' hats, tripped over that decidedly lazy animal, the camp dog, and performed all other tasks that had become familiar during the week. As we bade farewell to the fellow-members of our patrol, we realised what a unique organisation the Scout movement is for the making of friends. Where else in the world, at the height of the Suez crisis last summer, could Egyptians and Israelis work peaceably together side by side as they did at Gilwell Park. D.J.O.