Happy Birthday!

Today Scouting celebrates its 100th birthday. There is a Jamboree in Chelmsford at the moment, so I guess that is where the biggest party is. This morning I heard a short interview on the radio about Scouting in general and about the Jamboree. I first joined the Brownies when I was 8 or 9, and loved it. I was a Girl Guide, a Ranger and a Leader by the time I was 15. From the moment I was a Brownie that is what I wanted to be. I ended up being a Leader for over 10 years, and enjoyed that very much. It was fun being involved with the children, watching them develop and seeing what they got out of all the activities. we organised so many different activities, and it was great to see the enthusiasm of the children.

In the interview this morning they talked about what Scouting gave you, and that is not a hard question for me to answer. The main thing I got, and still have, are friends. I was lucky enough to make several international trips, and I made friends on all of those. Not all the frienships have lasted, but some have, and that is something I value. I have friends in Norway, in Greece and in New Zealand, and over the years I've been in touch with girls from South Africa, Israel, Korea, the USA and France. I very much enjoyed the international side of the movement. I visited "Our Chalet" in Switzerland a couple of times, and enjoyed the company as much as the beautiful Swiss scenery.

I did enjoy the activities I took part in because they were so varied. Games, crafts, music, acting, camping, it was all there, and there always was a lot you could organise for yourself. I loved campfires, building them and tending them, and I loved singing. People who don't know anything about the movement can have this idea of a very old-fashioned, disciplined lot, camping in some forest in full uniform, saluting a flag, but that is not what it's about. When I look at the pictures taken at the jamboree over the past few days, and when I see the reports on television I just see a lot of young people being active and having a lot of fun. And I can see a lot of young people being very social, working together and wanting to learn from each other.

I left quite a few years ago now, but I came back for just a little while during the World Jamboree that took place in the Netherlands in 1995. My last major event, but definitely one of the highlights in more ways than one. But that is another story, and I'll get back to that one later....