Woggle Fest

SOMERSET – The wet weather did not deter people from attending Woggle Fest in their droves last weekend.

The event was part of the centenary celebrations of 1st Radstock Scout Group, and featured six bands playing throughout the day.

There were also side shows, a commando bridge, hog roast and craft competitions.

Councillor Rob Appleyard, chairman of Bath and North East Somerset Council, attended and had a go on the commando bridge.

Scout Jamie, 12, entertained the audience with a stand-up comedy routine, while members of the Old Bakery Artists group ran a painting workshop during the day.

Group Scout leader Janet Turner said: “We were looking to put on a celebration which involved all the community, and we are so grateful to everyone who made it a success: the musicians and entertainers who gave their time to help us, businesses who helped with sponsorship and donations of prizes, and Mitchards of Westfield who cooked the pig.

“This is an event which we anticipate will be repeated every year, and hope for more favourable weather next time.”

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Girl Scouts Honor 100 Women Of Influence

TOLEDO — Girl Scouts of Western Ohio paid tribute to 100 local leaders Thursday for their contributions and influence to the organization.

The awards reception took place at Owens Corning Headquarters in downtown Toledo. The event coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of the USA. Honorees were nominated in the categories of Trailblazers, Advocates, Leaders of Promise, and Honor Keepers. The distinguished 100 were selected based on how they exemplify leadership, diversity, and spirit of the Girl Scout Movement.

Honoree Kristine Hoffman said, “It’s been a great long-term experience for me with the Girl Scouts.” Hoffman, who has served on the Girl Scouts Board of Trustees for 15 years, added, “Tonight is just a wonderful celebration of a hundred women who have all made a difference in one way or another in our community.” 

CEO for Girl Scouts of Western Ohio Roni Luckenbill offered statistics to highlight the reach of the Girl Scouts. “Eighty percent of female business owners in the United States were Girl Scouts,” she exclaimed. Luckenbill continued, “One hundred percent, every female astronaut, who has ever flown in space, was a Girl Scout.”

Board of Directors Chair Jody Wainscott said, “The long term goal in this effort is ambitious and urgent. To create gender-balanced leadership in the United States in a single generation.” She added, “Together, we will get her there.”

Those honored wore green ribbons along with “100” pins to celebrate the event. Along with 15,000 adult volunteers, Girl Scouts of Western Ohio serves nearly 50,000 girl members in 32 western Ohio and southeastern Indiana counties.

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Celebrating 100 years of the Eagle Scout Award

SUBDURY – The National Eagle Scout Association (NESA) Committee of the Knox Trail Council, Boy Scouts of America, recently held its 2012 Convocation of Eagles at Nobscot Scout Reservation in Sudbury celebrating 100 years of the Eagle Scout award. Close to 100 Scouts and Scouters from across MetroWest, more than half of whom were Eagle Scouts, gathered to mark the centennial. The evening was headlined by Eagle Scout, Maj. Gen. L. Scott Rice, Acting Adjutant General of the Massachusetts National Guard.

“It was impressive to see the wide range of Eagles who attended – from 1939 to Knox Trail’s most recent Eagle Scout – each one sharing memories of their ‘trail to Eagle,” commented Bill Downey, a Marlborough Eagle Scout and Chairman of the Knox Trail Council National Eagle Scout Association Committee. “Events like this not only provide an opportunity for local Eagle Scouts to connect and network, but to display that the Eagle Scout award, one of the Boy Scout’s most important traditions, is alive and well,” he said.

Eagle Scouts of all ages attended the Convocation, representing 74 years of Scouting. The longest tenured Eagle Scout in attendance was Stuart Eynon of Ashland who earned the rank in 1938. The youngest was Christian Slutz of Milford who became an Eagle Scout earlier this month.

“Eagle Scouts represent the highest ideals of Scouting in Knox Trail Council,” said Council President Brian Dingman. “The Knox Trail Council Board is very pleased that so many local Eagle Scouts have become involved in Scouting across the MetroWest region,” he continued.

The event began with a one-hour networking period during which the Eagle Scouts and their guests had an opportunity to reminisce about their Scouting experiences. James Chesna, a Marlborough Eagle Scout and long-time ranger of Knox Trail Council’s Camp Resolute in Bolton, provided an impressive display of Scouting memorabilia to highlight Scouting’s prestigious history.

Speaking before the crowd of assembled Eagle Scouts and their guests, Maj. Gen. Rice remarked on growing up in Boy Scouts and how advancing to the rank of Eagle Scout shaped his life and career. The acting head of the Massachusetts National Guard also took questions from attendees during which he candidly spoke about how his Scouting background resonated during recent deployments to the Middle East.

Christopher Anderson, a Hopkinton Eagle Scout, served as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. Anderson, a current Master Sergeant in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, has been deployed three times during recent conflicts in the Middle East, serving under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Rice.

Members of the Massachusetts state legislature were also on hand to mark the occasion, including Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, and Reps. John Fernandes, D-Milford, and Carolyn Dykema, D-Hopkinton. Reps. Fernandes and Dykema presented the group with a joint legislative resolution sponsored by Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, and Rep. Fernandes, and co-sponsored by 85 other lawmakers, marking the centennial as well as the contributions Eagle Scouts have made to the community.

Paying tribute to Scoutmasters and Scouters who have positively influenced the Scouting movement, Convocation Chairman and Milford Eagle Scout, Sean Riley, remarked that “The ‘trail to Eagle’ is a personal journey; however, without the encouragement and mentorship of Scout leaders and adult volunteers, achieving this goal would not be possible.”
To close the event, Distinguished Eagle Scout Peter Casey encouraged Eagle Scouts to continue making their leadership and example count for the benefit of the community, and led the group in reciting the Eagle Scout Oath.

The Eagle Scout Award is the highest rank in Boy Scouts. The first Eagle Scout award was granted on Labor Day 1912 to Arthur Eldred of Long Island, New York. To date, more than 2 million have become Eagle Scouts including numerous distinguished Americans.

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Akela 2014 International Cub Scout Leaders Gathering

AKELA 2014 is the first international gathering for cub scout and brownie leaders initiated by the DPSG with the Federation of the German Guide and Scout Associations.

It will take place between 2nd and 6th August 2014 in Westernohe in Westerwald. The mains points are the exchange on the pedagogical issues of this age section and the international aspects of youth work as well as personal experiences and enlargement of the field of view.

The aim of this first international gathering for cub scout and brownie leaders is to create the basis for a mutual exchange across the borders. Therefore the organisers want to establish an international planning team and share their visions from the beginning.

If you wish to be part of the planning tam of this unique event, please register using the Akela 2014 Planning Weekend Invitation

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Girl Scouts 100th Anniversary Exhibit

FAIR PARK — One-hundred years have passed since Juliette Gordon Low organized the first Girl Scout troop in Savannah, Georgia, and this fall, Dallas will play an instrumental role in propelling the organization into its second century. The State Fair of Texas will provide a hub of education, preservation, and empowerment by hosting the Girl Scout 100th Anniversary Experience in the Hall of State from September 28 through October 21.

Free with general admission at the fair, the tech savvy exhibit was conceived by the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas and is sponsored by Dallas-based AT&T. Uptown’s Corporate Magicdesigned and produced the interactive exhibit, sparing no bells or whistles for its glimmering electronic campfires, computer-generated virtual troops, and brightly designed giant cookie boxes. But, the future-focused organization has not forgotten its past. Well-aligned to the overarching Girl Scouts ethos, the exhibit melds historical artifact with digital information, emphasizing the group’s sense of resourceful independence and progressive attitude toward the role of science and technology.

To this end, visitors are encouraged to download a special Girl Scout app, compatible with both iPhone and Android. With it, they can scan QR codes found not only throughout the exhibit, but also around Fair Park. The adventure – the “Big Texpediation” – is available in both English and Spanish and can be customized for varying age-levels. It leads guests all around the fairgrounds to solve riddles, find clues, learn trivia, and connect through social media. Upon completion, participants are awarded a special patch for their courage and cleverness.

Commitment to science and technology is particularly crucial to the future of the organization. GSNETX Chief Program Officer Gwyneth Lloyd said, “Girl Scouts encourages and empowers young women to visualize themselves as tomorrow’s leaders. That’s where the careers of the future are, so we want girls to know they don’t have to sit at the back of the classroom and be shy anymore.”

As such, a room in the exhibit dedicated to the ToGetHer There program allows guests to literally visualize themselves as astronauts or at the head of a boardroom with green screens and virtual reality. “We don’t always know what we can achieve until someone tells us that it’s within our reach,” Lloyd said.

On a national level, the organization has created programs like the STEM Center of Excellence which provides access to science labs and art studios. An acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, STEM activities include extracting DNA from bananas, creating their own compost, examining with microscopes, playing around with cameras, and even learning to clean up oil spills.

Declaring 2012 the “Year of the Girl,” the organization has refocused its emphasis on courage and personal ownership, with a reinvigorated push toward financial literacy, healthy living, and the environment. “In the 21st century, we want girls to finally own the language of leadership,” Lloyd said. “More than 80 percent of women small business owners are Girl Scout alumnae, and we want those numbers reflected in engineering, mathematics, and medicine.”

The organization has even revamped its most prominent symbol: the cookie box. New boxes will show young women kayaking, rock climbing, and hiking – images that evoke a sense of owning one’s space and owning one’s life more than the retired boxes’ less proactive and more seemingly docile images. But, not everything has changed; guests will be offered complimentary cookies each day at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., while supplies last, and vendors around the park will offer a special treat: deep fried Samoas.

While the centennial celebration at Fair Park is comprised primarily of items from North East Texas – Lloyd tells us that more than 99 percent of the historical items displayed are from private collections that had been preserved locally, and all of the images and voices used throughout the exhibit are of actual North Texas scouts – it has already garnered buzz nationwide.

The national board chair visited early in the week and was so impressed that talks have been initiated about the practicality and logistics of bringing the exhibit, which wasn’t originally designed for travel, back to headquarters in New York.

On the local level, Lloyd tells us that State Fair organizers have predicted that the exhibit will break all attendance records. “They’ve said the State Fair really hasn’t seen anything as elaborate before and that we should expect a home run,” Lloyd said.

She added, “We’re thrilled to have new audience that we haven’t been able to reach before, and that the information is accessible for 24 days. Girl Scouts is in it for the next 100 years! We’re not going anywhere.”

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Scouts’ Historic Camp $2.5M Upgrade

The landscape of one of the country’s oldest camps is about to get a makeover in the form of a new building — an addition that will begin with the turning of dirt today.

After several years of fund-raising, the Erie Shores Council of the Boy Scouts of America will break ground on its Centennial Leadership Center. The 11,000-square-foot building will house offices, offer space for programming and training, and create a home for the Camp Miakonda Museum.

“We wanted a facility that can be the inside classroom for the outside classroom,” said Ed Caldwell, scout executive and chief executive officer of the Erie Shores Council, which serves northwest Ohio. “… It’s a gateway to our 160-acre Camp Miakonda.”

Announcement of the center coincides with the council’s 100th anniversary this year. Organizers said the facility “represents the rebirth of Camp Miakonda as well as a place the community can utilize.”

Built in 1917, Camp Miakonda is the sixth-oldest Boy Scout Camp in the country and for decades has been a destination for youth and adults alike. Mr. Caldwell said the new building will offer even more opportunities.

The council for years has considered options for the site of its Centennial Leadership Center and had to look for a new home for its offices after the United Way building downtown was slated for demolition. Mr. Caldwell said the organization ultimately decided to use its own land to build an updated facility to use both as offices and as a program and training center.

As of today, the group has nearly reached its $2.5 million goal to build the structure. Mr. Caldwell said the organization still is seeking the final $125,000 needed.

In addition to offices and programming space, the building will house the first-ever storm shelter for the camp as well as an expanded Boy Scout shop. Plus, its location will be just off the main parking lot on Sylvania Avenue. The building is scheduled to be completed in June.

“We’re investing in kids, and we’re investing in the community. We believe that is central to our mission,” said Gary Hardin, president of the Erie Shores Council. “We’re very excited about this project. The point of the legacy center is that it is not just an office building.”

The Erie Shores Council serves 6,276 youths and has 2,300 registered adults who help run the program in Lucas, Wood, Ottawa, and Sandusky counties.

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3rd Scout World Jamboree

The 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held in 1929 at Arrowe Park in Upton, Merseyside, United Kingdom. As it was commemorating the 21st birthday of Scouting for Boys and the Scouting movement, it is also known as the Coming of Age Jamboree. With about 30,000 Scouts and over 300,000 visitors attending, this jamboree was the largest jamboree ever.

Organizational details

From 29 July to 12 August 1929, the third World Scout Jamboree was held at Arrowe Park, in Birkenhead, United Kingdom. This jamboree commemorated the 21st birthday of Scouting, counting from the publication of the book Scouting for Boys by General Baden-Powell. Therefore this jamboree is also known as the Coming of Age Jamboree.

The Jamboree on a site of 450 acres (1.8 km2) was opened by the Duke of Connaught, the president of the Boy Scout Association, and fifty thousand Scouts and Girl Guides of many countries attended. During the first week, the weather was poor, turning the park grass into ankle deep mud, gaining the jamboree its nickname jamboree of mud.

The camp was organized in eight subcamps, around a specially built town in the middle, called Midway, where Scouts could purchase materials. Each subcamp provided pitches for a contingent of scouts troops. The organization of daily chores such as cooking, campfire collecting, etc. were done in turn by the groups.

The Girl Guides in Cheshire were asked to run a hospital under canvas. There were 321 cases admitted and 2323 out-patient cases during the Jamboree. Only 52 cases had to be sent to other hospitals. Staff dealt with a range of problems from minor cuts, burns and sprains to fractures and head injuries. Two Guiders ran a dispensary providing both prescription and non-prescription medicines. There was also a dental clinic and an operating theatre. The hospital canteen provided meals for patients and the 50 members of staff, including many special diets, all cooked on open fires. Staff were asked to accommodate lost boys after the Wolf Cub rally. The hospital was also proud to be asked to provide the bedding and equipment for the Prince of Wales’ tent. This hospital had the far-reaching effect that many heads of Boy Scout movements from other countries saw the excellent work of the Girl Guides and changed their attitudes towards them.

Events during the jamboree

On Baden-Powell a peerage was to be conferred by King George V, as was announced on 2 August by the Prince of Wales who attended the Jamboree in Scout uniform. The formal title of Baron Baden-Powell, of Gilwell, co. Essex was granted on 1929-09-17, confirming the high notion Baden-Powell had of education and training, after Gilwell Park where the international Scout Leader training in the Wood Badge course took place.

In the morning of Sunday 4 August, an open air thanksgiving service was held, presided by Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, and by Francis Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, for Protestant and Catholic Scouts; and later that day a service was also held in Liverpool Cathedral.

On 10 August, the Chief Scout Sir Robert Baden-Powell was given special attention. On behalf of all Scouts world wide, he was presented with a Rolls-Royce motor car and a caravan trailer. The caravan was nicknamed Eccles and is now on display at Gilwell Park. These gifts were paid for by penny donations of more than 1 million Scouts worldwide. The car, nicknamed Jam Roll, was sold after his death by Olave Baden-Powell in 1945. Jam Roll and Eccles were reunited at Gilwell for the 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007. Recently it has been purchased on behalf of Scouting and is owned by a charity, B-P Jam Roll Ltd. Funds are being raised to repay the loan that was used to purchase the car. Also he was given an oil painted portrait by David Jagger, which since has been used as a publicity picture by many Scout organizations. It is on display in the Baden-Powell House. Lastly, Baden-Powell was given a cheque for £2,750 and an illuminated address.

Closing ceremony and Golden Arrow

Polish Scout with Golden Arrow

The farewell ceremony on the last day, 12 August, consisted of a march with flags and banners past the royal box with the Chief Scout and other officers, ending in a Wheel of Friendship formed by the Scouts, with 21 spokes symbolic for the 21 years of Scouting. While burying a hatchet in a cask of gilded wooden arrows, Baden-Powell addressed the gathered Scouts.

Here is the hatchet of war, of enmity, of bad feeling, which I now bury in Arrowe. From all corners of the world you came to the call of brotherhood and to Arrowe. Now I send you forth to your homelands bearing the sign of peace, good-will and fellowship to all your fellow men. From now on in Scouting the symbol of peace and goodwill is a golden arrow. Carry that arrow on and on, so that all may know of the brotherhood of men.

Then he sent the golden arrows as peace symbols to the North, South, West, and East, through the spokes of the Wheel of Friendship.

I want you all to go back from here to your countries in different parts of the world with a new idea in your minds of having brothers in every country… Go forth from here as ambassadors of goodwill and friendship. Every one of you Scouts, no matter how young or small, can spread a good word about this country and those whom you have met here. Try to make yourselves better Scouts than ever; try to help other boys, especially the poorer boys, to be happy, healthy, and helpful citizens like yourselves. And now, farewell, goodbye, God Bless you all.

The Golden Arrows are wooden gilded, about 40 centimeter-long. It is not certain how many arrows there were. Three of the Golden Arrows are placed in England. One in the Museum at the Youlbury Scout Activity Centre, near Oxford. The other, given to the Polish contingent in 1929, was last seen in 2000 in Warsaw, Poland.

“In the early part of the Second World War a Polish soldier was taken prisoner in his own country and managed to escape. He was a Scout, and had been the one to receive the Golden Arrow from the hands of the Chief at the Jamboree at Arrowe Park on the coming-of-age of Scouting in 1929. He had lost everything – home, family, and all that he held most dear – except one precious possession – the Golden Arrow, in rough wood, which he was determined to take away with him. After passing through many adventures he reached Great Britain. Nothing arrived except one brave worn-out Polish soldier and his Golden Arrow. He sought out a Scout whom he knew, and by whom he had been taught his Scouting in the old days at Gilwell Park. To him he gave the Arrow, saying that for the present it was no longer of any use to him. He had brought it to the only haven he knew. It was afterwards given into the safe keeping of small, country troop, who looked upon it with great pride. The Chief never knew this story, but would have loved it if he had, and might truly have said:

I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth I know not where…

Some day, when war is over and peace has come, the Arrow will go back to Poland. That is what the brotherhood of Scouts does for people. That is the spirit of Scouting. And badly will that spirit of comradeship be needed for the reconstruction of the world that lies ahead.”

In 1996, during the camp celebrating the re-admittance to World Scouting of the Polish Scout Association, the Golden Arrow was given to Polish International Commissioner.

Memorabilia

For the event a memorial sculpture by sculptor Edward Carter Preston was erected in 1931 at the entrance to Arrowe Park Hospital. It was commissioned by the Boy Scout Movement, and unveiled by Lord Hampton, the Headquarter’s Commissioner. After restoration in the early 1980s, it was re-unveiled in 1983 by the then Chief Scout Major-General Michael Walsh.

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2nd World Scout Jamboree

The 2nd World Scout Jamboree was held from August 9 to 17, 1924 and was hosted by Denmark at Ermelunden.

Prologue

Great Britain held an Imperial Jamboree at Wembley, Middlesex at the beginning of August 1924, in connection with the British Empire Exhibition. Over 1,000 Scouts from 25 parts of the Commonwealth and Empire accepted the invitation. 10,000 Scouts were present from the United Kingdom. The displays and ceremonies took place in Wembley Stadium. The Scouts were camped nearby in Wembley Paddocks in very cramped quarters. The Prince of Wales witnessed the displays in the stadium, presided at a campfire and stayed the night at a tent in the Paddocks. On different days the chief guests in the stadium were the Duke of York and Rudyard Kipling, on the Wolf Cubs’ Day, when he saw how parts of his Jungle Books were dramatized and used to bring atmosphere and interest into the Cub program.

Jamboree

The Wembley Jamboree helped to provide a wider variety of members at the Second World Jamboree at Ermelunden, a few miles north of Copenhagen, Denmark, which immediately followed it. Denmark has a comparatively small Scout population and doubts were expressed beforehand as to whether it would be possible for the Danish Scouts to make a success of the undertaking. The main host was Christian Holm, President of Det Danske Spejderkorps, whose daughter became known as Kim, Friend of all the World. The three Scouters responsible for the preparation, organization and administration were very young men, but they made a success of the Jamboree. Ove Holm, later to become Chief Scout of Det Danske Spejderkorps, was the Organizing Secretary and Administrator, Jens Hvass, later a state forester and Divisional Scout Commissioner in North Jutland, was the Camp Chief, and Tage Carstensen, later a lawyer in Jutland, International Commissioner and founder of the Scout Blood Transfusion Service, was in charge of all international aspects.

The Second World Jamboree was officially opened on August 10, 1924 by Rear-Admiral Carl Carstensen, acting as the personal representative of King Christian X. Fourteen countries entered composite troops for the World Scout Championship, a test of Scoutcraft and stamina which continued throughout the week, and included camp inspections, hygiene, discipline, campfire songs and yells, folk dancing, swimming, handicraft, an obstacle course and patrol hike. The Boy Scouts of America won the competition, Great Britain came second and Hungary third. It was decided, however, not to renewing the idea, for fears that nationalism could harm Scout brotherhood.

Lord Baden-Powell arrived at the Jamboree after opening day, and was received by a welcoming parade of all the Scouts. Just as he was about to speak, rain came down in torrents and everyone was soaked. The name given him was Baden Mester, Danish for “Bath Superintendent.” On the final Sunday the Scouts were inspected near the royal hunting lodge by King Christian in the pouring rain, and that afternoon Baden-Powell presented the competition prizes, saying “I have seen great numbers of Scouts in my life, but I have never seen any as wet as you are!” Because of the floods one part of the camp even had to evacuate temporarily.

King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine took part in the closing ceremony of the Jamboree. The Third International Conference was held concurrently in Copenhagen.

Contrary to the 1st World Scout Jamboree in Olympia Hall, the Danish Scouts wanted everyone placed in tents, and the Scouts were organized in troops and patrols, the model used thereafter. The Scouts homestayed with Danish families during the week after the jamboree.

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1st World Scout Jamboree

The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held from July 30, 1920 to August 8, 1920 and was hosted by the United Kingdom atKensington Olympia in London. 8,000 Scouts from 34 nations attended the event, which was hosted in a glass-roofed building covering an area of 6 acres (24,000 m2).

It was at this event that Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, was acclaimed the Chief Scout of the World.

Olympia And Camping

The Olympia arena was filled with a foot-(30 cm)-deep layer of earth, which was turfed over, enabling the Scouts to pitch tents within the glass-roofed hall.

However, around 5,000 of the Scouts were encamped at the Old Deer Park in nearby Richmond. The Scouts rotated in and out of Olympia to give them all the opportunity to participate in the events there. The Thames flooded the campsite one night and Scouts had to be evacuated.

Olympia hosted numerous exhibitions, pageants and contests during the Jamboree event.

Closing Speech

Baden-Powell gave a closing speech at the end of the Jamboree:

“Brother Scouts. Differences exist between the peoples of the world in thought and sentiment, just as they do in language and physique. The Jamboree has taught us that if we exercise mutual forbearance and give and take, then there is sympathy and harmony. If it be your will, let us go forth fully determined that we will develop among ourselves and our boys that comradeship, through the world wide spirit of the Scout brotherhood, so that we may help to develop peace and happiness in the world and goodwill among men”.

Jamborees from 1920

Many lessons were learnt from the first World Scout Jamboree, including the acknowledgement that an indoor venue was too restrictive for the activities and numbers of Scouts who would attend.

It was also realised that above all else, a Jamboree is a means of developing a spirit of comradeship between the boys of many nations and the more that aspect can be stressed, the more successful a Jamboree becomes.

The most previous Jamboree was held in Kristiansand in Southern Sweden in 2011, where nearly 40,000 Scouts attended, along with Chief Scout for the United Kingdom Bear Grylls and the King and Queen of Sweden.

Exhibits

Amongst the thousands of Scouts, there was also a selection of wild animals at the Jamboree:

• An alligator from Florida
• A baby crocodile from Jamaica
• A lioness cub from Rhodesia
• Monkeys from South Africa
• A baby elephant
• A camel

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World Scout Jamboree

The World Scout Jamboree is a Scouting jamboree of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, typically attended by several tens of thousands of Scouts from around the world, aged 14 to 17.

The first World Scout Jamboree was organized by The Boy Scout Association in London. With exceptions for the war years, it has been organized approximately every four years, in the more recent years by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), in different locations over the world. The 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007 was held in Hylands Park, Essex, United Kingdom, and celebrated the Centenary of Scouting. The 22nd World Scout Jamboree was at Rinkaby in Sweden. It opened on 27 July 2011 and ended 8 August 2011.

Terminology

In lexicography, “Jamboree” is considered an Americanism that traces back to 1860–65 and refers to a joyful, noisy gathering. The term is believed to originate from the words jabber (rapid, indistinct talk) and shivaree (noisy celebration), with “m” from jam (crowd).

History

While World Scout Jamboree is the expression used by the World Organization of the Scout Movement, other organizations held events called “jamborees” for their members.

The Scouting programme became an international success following its founding by Robert Baden-Powell in 1907. With its continuing growth, the founder of the movement saw a need for a gathering of representatives of Scouting from all around the world. The general aim was to foster a worldwide brotherhood, and to help the young boys in the movement learn about other peoples and nations by direct interaction with them.

The idea of organizing such periodical international gatherings was originally conveyed to Baden-Powell by the General Chief of the Scouts of Greece, Konstantinos (“Kokos”) Melas, during the 1918 international Scout meeting, in England.[5][6] Captain Melas proposed the gatherings should repeat every four years, in the same way Olympic Games were held in Ancient Greece. The suggestion was accepted with enthusiasm by Baden-Powell, who named the gatherings “Jamborees”.

However, the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 delayed any plans for such an event. It was not until 1920 that the first World Scout Jamboree could be realized. It was held in the Olympia halls in Kensington, London. Symbolically, the Jamboree site bore the name of the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Olympia. 8,000 Scouts from 34 countries attended the event.

Thereafter, a Jamboree has been held every four years. There are two exceptions to this: no Jamboree was held between 1937 and 1947 because of the Second World War, and the 1979 Jamboree, which was to be held in Iran, was cancelled due to the political upheaval in the region at that time. The Jamboree has been held in different countries around the world. The first seven Jamborees were held in Europe. The eighth World Jamboree was held in North America where the tradition of moving the Jamboree among the continents began. As yet, the continent of Africa has not hosted a jamboree.

To replace the cancelled event of 1979, the World Scout Committee determined that an alternative celebration, the World Jamboree Year should take place. Several regional camps took place, along with countless Join-in-Jamboree activities — designed to allow Scouts from around the world to participate in an activity that thousands of other Scouts around the world were also participating in at the same time. This Join-in programme is being reproduced again as part of the Scouting 2007 Centenary celebrations.

So far, the greatest attendance of all Jamborees was in 1929, where over 50,000 members from around the world descended upon Birkenhead in the north-west of England. This number represented the permanent contingent who remained for the entire event. They were joined by hundreds of thousands of visiting Scouts who participated on a day basis.

The first Jamboree was more akin to an exhibition of Scouting, allowing visitors to see how things were done in other parts of the world. The Second Jamboree was conducted on a camp basis and each successive Jamboree has developed on this format where the programme is typically more activity oriented, with plenty of time for Scouts from different nations to interact and learn about each other in less formal ways than an exhibition would allow.

The 2007 Jamboree coincided with the Scouting Centenary celebrations. Because of this, the honour of hosting the event was again bestowed upon the United Kingdom, as the birthplace of Scouting. Over 40,000 young people camped in August at Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex. Hundreds of thousands of day visitors attended events in the south-east of England as part of the Jamboree.

The following Jamboree was held at Rinkaby in Sweden, opening on 27 July 2011. The Jamboree in 2015 will be in Japan and the Jamboree in 2019 will be at The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in West Virginia.

JOTA, JOTI and JOTT

• Jamboree on the Air

Jamboree on the Air, known by its acronym JOTA, is an international Scouting and Guiding activity held annually on the third full weekend in October. The event was first held in conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary of Scouting in 1957, and was devised by a radio amateur with the callsign G3BHK. It is now considered the largest event scheduled by the WOSM annually.

Amateur radio operators from all over the world participate with over 500,000 Scouts and Guides to teach them about radio and to assist them to contact their fellow Scouts and Guides by means of amateur radio and since 2004, by the VOIP-based Echolink. Scouts and Guides are also encouraged to send paper or electronic confirmations known as “QSL cards” (Or “eQSL’s” when they are sent electronically.) This provides the Scouts and Guides with a means of learning about fellow Scouts and Guides from around the world. It is an adjunct to the World Scout Jamboree.

The event is recognized as one of international participation by the various Scout and Guide organisations, and supports several awards which are a part of Scouting and Guiding programmes.

• Jamboree on the Internet

Scouts at their computer during Jamboree On The Internet

Jamboree on the Internet, known by its acronym JOTI, is an international Scouting activity held annually. Participants, through the use of designated Chats from all over the world, can contact their fellow Scouts by means of the Internet. Common communication methods include ScoutLink (IRC), e-mail, and VOIP. This provides the Scouts with a means of learning about fellow Scouts from around the world. JOTI.org reports that JOTI had over 4,000 participants online at one time in 2005.

JOTI was pioneered in 1995 by Queanbeyan Rovers whilst one Rover, Norvan Vogt was on a student exchange in the Netherlands, with the home crew in Australia co-ordinated by Brett Sheffield. They connected Putten, Netherlands and Queanbeyan, Australia with dedicated IRC servers. In November 1996 the World Scout Committee, noting that Scouting already had a considerable presence on the Internet, and that there was already an informal and rapidly growing Jamboree on the Internet, decided that JOTI should become an official international Scouting event, and that it should be held on the same weekend as the Jamboree on the Air (JOTA).

2011 saw the first ever ‘Joti Radio’ station, an broadcast internet radio station based in the UK to provide entertainment for the Joti weekend, which had live interviews from scouts all over the world, organised by a local UK team with the support of Scout Radio (www.scoutradio.org.uk) a national based radio team in the UK.

• Jamboree on the Trail

Following on the idea of the Join-in events from the World Jamboree Year, Jamboree on the Trail (or JOTT), is simply a co-ordinated event where Scouts around the world simultaneously participate in local hikes. It takes place in May on an annual basis.

This type of event allows Scouts to take part in activities at the same time as other Scouts, promoting the idea of the Scouting brotherhood. Participants are awarded a JOTT badge as a recognition of having participated in this worldwide event.

Smaller events

There are up to ten smaller Jamboree (or Jamborette) events held each year around the world. This includes Regional Jamborees, which are held every three years in their areas of the world. Scouts from outside these regions are invited, but attendance is generally lower (for example, the EuroJam 2005 event hosted 10,000 Scouts, mostly from Europe).

National associations, and sub-national groups, also organise a number of events, such as the WINGS event and KIJ, which is organised by a County level body.

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