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WELCOME
In this part of our site you can find out more about some of our activities and see what events are coming up.
So read and enjoy!
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Baden Powell - 13th Hussars |
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BP's Last Message to Scouts |
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I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness doesn't come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself health and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so can enjoy life when you are a man.
Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the word for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one.
But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that, at any rate, you have not wasted your time but have done your best. 'Be Prepared' in this way, to live happy and to die happy - stick to your Scout Promise always - even after you have ceased to be a boy - and God help you to do it.
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100 YEARS OF SCOUTING |
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Lat year we celebrated the centenary of the formation of the Scout Movement |
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Lord Robert Stephenson Smythe Baden-Powell |
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Here is a short biography of our founder. |
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Born on 22nd February 1857 in Hyde Park, London, Robert Stephenson Smythe Baden-Powell was educated at Chaterhouse School where he began to develop many of the outdoor skills he later brought to both the army and scouting.
On joining the Army in 1876, he was first sent to India with the 13th Hussars and then to South Africa where he came across a large string of wooden beads worn by a Zulu King. This he later incorporated into the Wood Badge awarded to leaders in scouting who complete their training.
He was posted to Malta as an intelligence officer when he transferred to the Secret Service and he then led a successful campaign against the Ashanti Tribe from North Africa. It was here, when meeting with one of the great warrior chiefs, that he discovered the left hand shake - it was deemed a sign of trust and friendship for a warrior to transfer his shield to his right hand, which also held his spear, in order to greet someone in peace and comradeship, since that left the warrior unable to defend himself - BP decided to adopt the left hand shake when he formed the Scout movement.
In 1897 he joined the 5th Dragoon Guards and wrote 'Aids To Scouting' as a training manual, teaching tracking, camping survival and navigation skills, for the army.
He was sent back to South Africa during the Boer War where he and his troops held the town of Mafeking for 217 days in spite of being outnumbered ten to one. During the seige he used young boys to carry messages, scavenge for food and assist in the hospitals etc. He was much impressed by their courage and capabilities.
At the end of the war he took time out from active service try out an idea he had and on 1st August 1907 he held the first Scout Camp at Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour, Dorset. He took along 20 boys from mixed backgrounds to experience the outdoor life.
It was such a success that he wrote a series of fortnightly magazines entitled 'Scouting For Boys' to encourage others to learn these skills as well. So well received was this that, when the first Rally was held at Crystal Palace, London in 1909, 11,000 Scouts turned up - SCOUTING HAD BEGUN.
He was knighted in 1909 and retired from the army in 1910 to persue the development of scouting. He married Olave Soames in1912.
Wolf Cubs were formed in 1916 and Rover Scouts in 1918.
The first World Scout Jamboree was held at Olympia, London in 1920 and BP was declared Chief Scout of the World. Later his wife, Lady Baden-Powell, was declared World Chief Guide.
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The final days |
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He took ill in 1939 and returned to South Africa where he died on 8th January 1941. He is buried at Nyeri, near Mount Kenya, and his grave is a national monument.
Scouting now takes place in over 155 countries around the world and over 28 million people are involved in the movement. WHAT A LEGACY! |
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Quest for the Holy Grail |
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As Rovers and Rangers we are required to undertake our own 'quest' in order to become invested. |
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THE REALM OF THE HOLY GRAIL |
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The Grail serves those who serve. |
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In Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the vessel used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers. Many versions of the story believe the Joseph of Arimathea used the Grail to catch Christ's blood at the Cross.
The legend combines Christian lore and Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers but in most versions, the hero must prove himself worthy to be in its presence.
The Quest involves growing both spiritually and mentally. It is an inwardly motivated quest, directed from within.
"the tragic line of the individual life develops from within outward, dynamically, fuctionally"
(Wolfram von Eschenbach
13th Century German Knight and Poet)
So, we to try and live by the code of chivalry like the Knights of the Round Table.
- To never do outrage or murder
- Always to flee treason
- To by no means be cruel but to give mercy unto him who asks for mercy
- To always do ladies, gentlewomen and widows succor
- To never force ladies, gentlewomen or widows
- Not to take up battles in wrongful quarrels for love or worldly goods
(Sir Thomas Malory) |
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HOW TO BE HAPPY THOUGH RICH OR POOR |
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The best way to suceed in this world is to act on the advice you give to others.
(Anon.)
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.
(Holmes)
Success does not depend so much upon external help as on self reliance.
(Abraham Lincoln)
Be not a shrub but a cedar in your generation.
(Sir Thomas Browne)
We are not what we think we are, but what we think, we are.
(Anon)
The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be happy as kings.
(R.L. Stepvenson)
He who is happy is rich, but it does not follow that, he who is rich is happy.
(Cingalese Proverb)
Hump your own pack.
(Canadian Saying)
Happiness is more than a grin on one's face, it is the glory in one's heart. It is the consciousness that one's machinery is working perfectly at the job for which it was designed.
(R. Parlette)
SOME THOUGHTS ON LIFE
(from 'Rovering to Success' by Baden-Powell) |
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PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE |
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For man 'tis absurd to be one of the herd,
Needing others to pull him through;
If he's got the right grit he will do his own bit
And paddle his own canoe.
He'll look without dread at the snags on ahead,
Wine, Women and Highbrows too;
He won't run around but will work his way round,
With a smile, in his own canoe.
So love your neighbour as yourself
As the world you go travelling through,
And never sit down with a tear or a frown,
But paddle your own canoe.
(Parody) |
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