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Baden-Powell: antidote to the couch potato
Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts.
By Tim Jeal. Yale University Press £12.99.
THE centenary of Scout movement, now being celebrated round the world, will undoubtedly give a boost to the sale of the only biography of Baden-Powell, written back in 1989 by Tim Jeal.
He believes the scouts, guides and cubs are just what are needed today to lure couch potato kids away from their computers.
And his message is a significant one as Hampstead, where he lives in Willow Road, was one of the first areas to take up scouting, the oldest-known scout flag in the country now hanging in the Hampstead Museum, at Burgh House.
Indeed, the museum is planning its own scout centenary exhibition in January, using the wealth of material it has in its archives about the first Hampstead scout troop of 1910 and the others that followed it.
“A great challenge today is to get children to leave their computer games, iPods, messaging and DVDs and go outside and directly relate to other people for a change,” Tim, now 61, told me.
It isn’t just over-parented middle-class kids who stand to benefit. Just as in Baden-Powell’s day, many inner city children rarely get into the countryside, and scouting gives them a chance to do that.
“And adolescents who don’t have any direct experience of nature aren’t so likely to be concerned about the environment and global warming as children who go camping and learn to respect the countryside,” says Tim.
He also believes that the scout uniform itself is an advantage when so many youngsters today are obsessed with brands and labels – “because a uniform makes everyone look similar, its democratic and lets kids relax and not worry about their street cred and being cool.
“The ideals of scouting will never be obsolete. Being kind,
co-operative, happy to make friends, regardless of background, religion or race, are virtues which seem, if anything, more relevant and desirable now than they were in 1907.
“Baden-Powell said you make yourself happy by giving happiness to someone else. This remains true – and will probably mean that ex-scouts and guides will always be among those who do voluntary work later in life. If enough people gain a sense of community and belonging, it can help bind a nation together.” |
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