|
About Scouting in Newfoundland and Labrador
THE HISTORY OF SCOUTING - by Frank Kavangh
Sir Robert Baden Powell was prevailed upon by some friends to write a book based on his experiences as an Army Scout with the British Army. He adapted what he and learned about observation in India and Africa to make it suitable for boys. In 1907 he held a camp at Brownsea Island in the English Channel to test the adaptations of his ideas. As a result of this camp, in 1908 he published a six- part series of booklets called "Scouting for Boys" and from this publication, Scouting "happened". The boys read the books, were intrigued by what they offered, organized themselves into patrols and started Scouting. It soon became obvious to the boys that they were going to need the help of adults if they were to get the most from this program. There were certain things that they could not organize themselves, so they approached adults and asked them to be their Scoutmasters, and Scouting, as we know it now, started to "happen". Since then we have never looked back.
Scouting has continued to grow and expand until today there are more than 28 million Scouts, youth and adults, boys and girls, in 216 countries and territories.
The very early history of Scouting in Newfoundland and in Canada was not very well detailed. Scouting appeared in St. John's sometime in 1908 or 1909 and as far as is known, it was brought here by clergy and others who had come from England and who had become familiar with the Scouting program there. A lady in British Columbia has offered to send her father's Warrant of Appointment as a Scouter which was signed personally by B.P. in 1910. She also has pictures of the troop in uniform in front of the old Methodist College which was located on Longs Hill. One or two groups in St. John's claim to trace their roots back to these early beginnings. Since that very small beginning in, as I understand, a small room on the third floor of a building on Water Street, Scouting has grown and has been active in all parts of Newfoundland and Labrador. From our earliest beginnings, we have participated in just about every National and International Scouting event, including all 15 World Jamborees and 8 National and 6 Provincial Jamborees.
Many events have had historical significance in Scouting in this province.
The first one is the only visit of Baden Powell to Newfoundland in 1935. B.P. visited several centres across the province travelling the now defunct Newfie Bullet, ending his visit in St. John's. There were several events to mark his visit, the best known of which was a meeting with Scouters and the district or local Association people at St. Andrew's group cabin on the Three Pond Barrens. He also visited the 1st St. John's site at Island Pond and planted a tree. His visit put new life into the Movement here and resulted in the formation of several new groups.
In 1949 when we entered Confederation, Newfoundland Scouting transferred from the control of British Headquarters to National Headquarters at Ottawa. That year we also participated in the 1stNational Canadian Jamboree. We were quite novelties at the jamboree, turning up in khaki uniforms that were a hold-over from our association with British Scouting, while all Canadians wore green shirts with blue trousers. We also attended the two early National Canadian Jamborees held in 1953 and 1961. At all three of these event we were represented by large contingents.
In 1950, the first Scout office was opened in St. John's, and Art Tomlinson was appointed Executive Commissioner for the province. Up until this time, all correspondence, badge, uniform sales and organizational work was done by the volunteers.
On 1955, we sent a very large contingent to the 8th World Jamboree at Niagara on the Lake, the first World Jamboree to be held in Canada. A much smaller group attended the 2nd to be held in Canada in 1983. In 1957, we held a provincial Scout Camporee at Mackinsons, Conception Bay. This was the first such province-wide event ever held in Newfoundland, and we had between 200 and 250 boys attending. Our second attempt at a large boy event camp came in 69; we held the 1st Newfoundland Jamboree, and this time we had nearly 1,000 boys with representatives from several other provinces. Again, the site was at Mackinsons, Conception Bay; everyone connected with our jamboree considered it to be a tremendous success despite the weather. Other provincial jamborees we have held include: Russwood Farms 1974, Millertown 1980, Winterbrook 1983, Althing 1987, Gros Morne Jamboree 1991 and 1995; Camp Nor19 Wes 1999; and the Canadian jamborees of 1977, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1993 and 1997. 1966 was "Come Home Year" in Newfoundland and Labrador and Scouting had patrols of Service Scouts in all provincial camping parks to help visitors settle in and get acquainted with the area. The Come Home Year celebrations, was one of the first provincial, large-scale service projects, and was for the most part, successful.
In 1967 we participated in a national project to locate and beautify the graves of the Fathers of Confederation. (You may be aware that there are two Fathers of Confederation buried in St. John's - one at the Anglican Cemetery on Forest Road and the other at Belvedere R.C. Cemetery on Bonaventure Avenue.
|
