Sunrise Marks Our 100th Anniversary (World Scout Jamboree)

World Scout Jamboree 2007 ^ | August 1, 2007 | Steve Coburn

[Scoutmaster]

The dawn of a new day signals the start of a new century for Scouting.

At 8am on August 1st 1907 Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement opened the world's first ever scout camp, on Brownsea Island, by sounding his Kudu horn three times. One hundred years later, and the UK Chief Scout, Peter Duncan, was there to blow his Kudu horn three times to mark the beginning of the Worldwide Scouting Sunrise.

Throughout the different time zones, Scouts from around the world renewed their Scout Promise at exactly 8am to mark the centenary of the opening camp.

Meanwhile, at the World Scout Jamboree in Hylands Park, UK, 40,000 scouts were treated to a fantastic sunrise ceremony.

[Scoutmaster]

My best wishes to all who have been, are, or will be Scouts and Scout leaders. The Scouting Sunrise ceremony here at Hylands Park was moving and each of the participants received a special yellow neckerchief and was challenged to get at least 100 signatures from other Scouts on the necker -- but few stopped at only 100 and the 43,000 here stayed at the arena long after the ceremony ended.

The official Jamboree song is a catchy one, called "Jambo (One World, One Promise)" which the Jamboree is trying to get placed in the British Pop Charts by Sunday. About 4,000 text messages are needed to get the song into the Top 40. Those in the U.K. may text JAMBO (78789) to vote, and will receive instructions on how to download the song. The cost of a text message is £1.50, but it would be extraordinary to get this song on the British Pop Charts.

The second 100 years of Scouting are off to a great start.

[SmithL]

Ping

[Roccus]

I remember visiting the 50th Anniversary National Jamboree at Valley Forge. (an appendectomy had prevented me from attending)

Where did the time go?

[Calusa]

Only by electing Republicans to the WH and Congress can we
even begin to hope for a Judiciary which will give the Scouts a fair hearing against the forces of hatred and evil like United Way and their ilk. These groups can only rely on the collusion of corrupt judges to bring about their plot to distort Baden-Powells dream. Let’s do what we can to help the Boy Scout on their way to another Century of forming healthy, responsible young males. Be Prepared.

[HamiltonJay]

Never been to the Jamboree, but heading to Camp Independence at Heritage Reservation in just a few hours to join our Cub Scout Pack for a great time.

If you can get to Heritage, I'd recommend getting there, its an amazing facility. 2 different Boy Scout Camps (1 with mess hall, 1 where boys prepare own food), and 1 Cub Scout camp. And the Parent/Son fishing Derby in Sept is a great time too.

[HamiltonJay]

Whoops, try this

[SmithL]

Scouting's centennial unites families

By Scott Marshall

CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Contra Costa Times

Article Launched:08/02/2007 03:08:56 AM PDT

Among Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts gathered to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their movement on Mount Diablo this week was Stewart Henderson, who moved to Danville a year ago from his home just north of Aberdeen, Scotland, with his parents and older brother.

As in Scotland, Stewart continued Scouting, joining Cub Scout Pack 815 in Danville. Within six weeks, the family was on a Scout camp-out.

"It got him going" and helped acclimate the whole family to their new life in California, said his mother, Helene Henderson, after his dad, Alan Henderson, transferred with Chevron to work in San Ramon.

"I thought I'd see a bear -- and I did," said Stewart, who will be a fifth-grader at Greenbrook Elementary School. The sighting occurred last month at Redwood National Forest.

California, particularly Scouting, has been good to him.

"It's a lot funner (in the United States) because you do outdoor activities more than in Scotland," Stewart said. "In Scotland, it's probably raining."

Stewart wants to join the Boy Scouts and earn the cycling merit badge, just like his older brother, Hamish, 13, who was away on another Boy Scout camping trip this week.

Stewart and the 49 other campers at Barbecue Terrace on Mount Diablo set up camp during the afternoon.

"It's a family activity. It's not just the dads and sons," said Harold Adams of Danville, who was camping with his wife, Suzanne; their son, Jonathan, 11, who will be transitioning from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts; and their daughter, Christina, 9, a Brownie. Harold was Cub Master for Danville's Pack 18, and Suzanne is a den leader.

Thousands participate yearly.

The Pleasant Hill-based Mount Diablo Silverado Council of the Boy Scouts of America has a $2.8 million budget and serves more than 21,000 young people per year in 11 districts in Contra Costa, Napa, Solano, Lake and northern Alameda counties, said Valerie Ridgers, the council's assistant Scout executive.

A total of 110 campers gathered Tuesday afternoon at three sites on Mount Diablo, holding ritual camp fires (electric, not with real flames, because of the fire danger) in preparation for Wednesday's 8 a.m. worldwide commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Scouting movement.

Founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell's native England is the site for this year's World Scout Jamboree, where local Scouts are among about 40,000 from around the world. Other local Scouts, from Venture Crew 405 in Pleasant Hill, are in Nyeri, Kenya, paying tribute to where Baden-Powell is buried.

Early Wednesday, the centennial was marked by George Fosselius, a retired 33-year high school teacher who joined Scouting in 1950 and has been a leader for his entire adult life, and others.

Fosselius once traveled to the roots of Scouting at Brownsea Island in England, where Baden-Powell held the first camp-out for 21 Scouts from Aug. 1 to Aug. 8, 1907.

"It was my pilgrimage," said Fosselius, the council's assistant district commissioner for Venturing, a youth development program open to boys and girls ages 14 to 20.

At 8 a.m. Wednesday on Mount Diablo, Fosselius blew the horn of a kudu, or African antelope, an instrument Baden-Powell used to rouse his camp at Brownsea Island. Such horns still are used in Scout camps worldwide.

Baden-Powell acquired a kudu during his distinguished British army service in the Matabele Wars in Africa, after he learned the horn was used for military signal codes by the Matabele in southern Africa.

Baden-Powell created the Scouting concept during his military service, during which he rose to the rank of lieutenant general. He became a national hero in Britain after he led the successful 217-day resistance in the siege of Mafeking during the Boer War.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_6524776

[reagan_fanatic]

I was an Iowa Scout back in 1973 and went to the National Scout Jamboree that year. It was an absolutely fantastic adventure that I will never forget.

If you have someone in the Scouts, I urge you to send them to one of these Jamborees. It will be one of the high points in their lives.

[Daveinyork]

I attended the 1964 National Jamborie at Valley Forge. It was a significant event in my life.

In 1941, my father (a blessed memory) and Rabbi Alexander Goode (soon to be immortalized as one of the Four Chaplains) founded a scout troop in York, PA. In 1952, the troop (37) received national recognition for being the first troop in the country to have boys achieve religious awards in all the major US religions.

A few years ago, the JCC, where they met since 1941, threw them out because the Boy Scouts do not tolerate inappropriate sexual behavior. Even though scouting promotes all religions without prejudice, and is color blind regarding race and national origin, this pioneering troop was expelled because this insistence on proper behavior was seen as intolerance toward gay people.

Our troop had gay members, but sexual behavior of any sort was not permitted. It defiles my father’s and Rabbi Goode’s memory to consider that to be intolerance.

[SandRat]