Scottish Scout Troop Visits U.S.

[Shay]

Found this:
http://histclo.hispeed.com/youth/you...uni/ss-uni.htm

(Wow- I was just made a Brownie troop leader, and found that other than a strongly recommended sash or vest, there is no 'uniform' for Brownies- I'm kinda glad I don't have to buy all that stuff and can spend the money on crafts and lessons instead! :-P )

[Andrew Breecher]

When my sister was a Brownie Guide in England, not only did she have a clothing uniform, but part of her uniform consisted of a number of items (string, ten pence for a phone call, and other useful items) that she had to keep in her pocket. I think that's sort of clever, and part of the "always prepared" aspect of Scouting.

Andrew.

[bubba]

I seem to recall that the Brownies did have a uniform, a brown dress and a beret of some sort.

[Shay]

I seem to recall that the Brownies did have a uniform, a brown dress and a beret of some sort.

There is a uniform available, but it's not required to be in a troop. Actually, there's several things you can wear- the jumper/overall dress, cargo pants, skorts, shorts, blue shirt, t-shirt, etc... the point though is that no is required to wear them, because not everyone can afford them.

However, that 'things in your pocket' idea is a good one.

[Kiltedfirepiper]

geez....boy scouts.....havent thought about that in a long time!

My dads old shirt was like an olive drab green.... and when I got into boyscouts ( after cubs, and webelos respectively) I wore the kahki / tan shirt w/ green pants, and oddly enough a tartan neckerchief / the scout emblem on it..........those were the days! if only I had a kilt then!!

hmm... I should get to talking to the wifey about working on getting a little boy in the oven so I can get back into scouts as a leader!!!!( or at least practice for another coulpe of months :mrgreen:

( I know I dont HAVE to have a son in scouts to be involved, but it would make it more fun!!)

[Andrew Breecher]

( I know I dont HAVE to have a son in scouts to be involved, but it would make it more fun!!)

My sister holds a Pinewood Derby each year, for us adults who like building cars. You don't need a Scout to do Scout-y stuff!

Andrew.

[Mike n NC]

While there are some "Scouting Plaids" being used as neckerchiefs, the original and most commonly used is the MacLaren. You see many a printed neckerchief in this pattern, or one of it's variations, where they are still worn. Any beaded brothers out there?

"Scouting began in England in 1907 on a small island located near Poole, England, called Brownsea. The leader was the youngest major general in the British Army and a national war hero for leading the defenders of the nearly year long siege of Mafeking during the Boer War in South Africa

This war hero was Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell and his assistant at Brownsea was his long-time friend, Major Kenneth MacLaren. In 1908, when the Scout Association was formed, Major MacLaren became its first Secretary.

Scouting simply took off and soon was spreading rapidly throughout not only the United Kingdom but also the world. The modest experiment of Brownsea with its 21 boys expanded beyond its founder's dreams. But Baden-Powell felt that there was an area of the Scouting program that needed attention. Scouting needed trained leaders to look after its Scouts. To that end, a search was made for a place to establish a "training centre." A Scout commissioner from Rosneath, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, near Glasgow, came to the rescue. William F. DuBois MacLaren (no relation to Major Kenneth MacLaren) purchased a derelict estate near Epping Forest near the town of Chingford (about an hour from London) and presented Gilwell Park to the Scout Association in July 1919. Scouting now had its training facility.

In September 1919, the first Scout Officers' Training Course took place. Adult Scouters spent 11 days camping at Gilwell Park doing things in the same fashion as the 21 boys did at Brownsea 12 years earlier. The participants used the Patrol Method devised by Baden-Powell to accomplish the many varied tasks that this training program presented. When it was over, Baden-Powell was in a quandary over how to recognize these leaders for the completion of his training course. He remembered a long string of curiously carved, small wooden beads that he had recovered as a military souvenir from his South African military days. He decided to present one of these beads to each leader that completed the training course. This training program soon acquired its familiar name from these small, curiously carved wooden beads – Wood Badge.

The first Wood Badge beads were worn on the end of a leather thong suspended from the buttonhole of the uniform coat or shirt, then the beads were attached to the ends of the Scouter's hat cords, but then they would only be seen when the Scouter wore his hat! This shortly changed to the beads being attached to a leather thong that could be worn as a necklace with one bead on each end of the thong as pendants.

At first, in honor of Commissioner MacLaren’s generous gift of Gilwell Park, the Gilwell Park staff members wore neckerchiefs of full MacLaren tartan. However, to reduce the high cost of these neckerchiefs, one of dove grey cloth with a warm red lining and a patch of ribbon in MacLaren tartan at the point was adopted. After 1924, this neckerchief was restricted to Wood Badge holders only, a tradition that remains to this day. (The Boy Scouts now have their own tartan, based on the MacLaren tartan.) This neckerchief is held together with a special leather thong Turk's head knot "woggle," or neckerchief slide originally conceived at Gilwell Park by a young staff member, Bill Shankley, about 1920. These three unique symbols – the carved wood beads, the neckerchief with a piece of ribbon in MacLaren tartan, and the woggle – continue to be used today around the world by Scouters in over 120 countries that have Scouting programs.

The seeds of Scouting were planted on a small island with the help of a MacLaren. A short time later, another MacLaren gave the world the place where Scouting was nurtured and became its worldwide home, Gilwell Park. Today, Gilwell Park, in Essex, is the principal training centre for British scout leaders.

The Clan MacLaren Society of North America has established a special associate (non-voting) membership for any Scouter who has earned his or her Wood Badge. Wood Badge membership in the Clan MacLaren Society of North America (CMSNA) is therefore extended to all Wood Badge-trained Scouters who have completed their "ticket" and have received their Wood Badge beads. Membership is $10 per year. Pick up a membership form at the Clan MacLaren tent at a Highland Games. Or, download an application from here ( please include your Wood Badge Course Number! )."


http://www.clanmaclarenna.org/CMSNA/home.nsf/7cf3963177286e1586256c5a00489ae2/1242531143eabbbd86256c90007fff88!OpenDocument

Mike (WB SE-76, Beaver, Tr-1, Gilwell)

[Richland]

As I recall, the Scout shirts in the 70s had no collar so there was not too much fabric in the neck area, Since the Neckerchief was was worn over the collar. "Never liked it much."
Close inspection of the above photo shows a collar hidden under the neckerchief.
There was an old Scottish scout-master in our area who was kilted on formal ocasions. Can't remember the tartan.
Proper wearing of the neckerchief was Over the collar
when wearing short pants in summer, we also wore high sox with garters and Flashes. I'm going to see if my dad has any of my old scout stuff I will certainly wear my old the flashes with my kilt. As i recall they were high quality, woven, tapered, and wrapped. Not just cut ribbon like I see alot of today with kilts.

[Sherry]

...
The Clan MacLaren Society of North America has established a special associate (non-voting) membership for any Scouter who has earned his or her Wood Badge. Wood Badge membership in the Clan MacLaren Society of North America (CMSNA) is therefore extended to all Wood Badge-trained Scouters who have completed their "ticket" and have received their Wood Badge beads. Membership is $10 per year. Pick up a membership form at the Clan MacLaren tent at a Highland Games. Or, download an application from here ( please include your Wood Badge Course Number! )."

Interesting. I had no idea.

Richland, I bet you will enjoy wearing those flashes if your dad still has them. Then, of course, you will have to post a pic or twa. :-)

Sherry

[Alan H]

I'm an eagle, and now that you mention it, I remember the green socks and the flashes!!!

whoa...time-shift here. That was...uhhhh....**mumble, mumble** 1973.

*ahem*

I did the White Stag Leadership program, and as a graduate of White Stag I got a plaid neckerchief with a white stag embroidered in it. All the local troops had plain, or at most two-colored kerchiefs, though most were predominantly red.

Another leadership training thing I did earned me a light blue/green neckerchief.

I will have all my badges, and those two special neckerchiefs tucked away in a momento's bag. I have my merit badge sash.

Here's a thing. I was the last guy in my district to get a MEDAL for my Eagle badge. BSA went to embroidered Eagle badges about 6 months before I earned mine. I wanted the one that all the guys before me had earned. It had been a long road to Eagle, six years. My dad went over to the local HDQ and bought the last medals they had in stock and stashed it away until my Court of Honor.

Funny, what you remember, eh?

You know what else? Every time I passed a major badge, I got a little pin that went with the badge. They were for my mother. My mom bought a bit of ribbon, about 6 inches of red ribbon. As I earned them, one by one, she put the pins on the ribbon. She wore that to lots of family functions we went to, for years (not that there were many of them) and ALL my BSA functions, including my courts of honour. When she died, I found that ribbon with all its little Scout badges still pinned to it, in her box along with all the letters I wrote home from college, my report cards as I was growing up...school photos, all that stuff.

Good memories.