Portal:Scouting/Selected article archive/2007

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• January 31, 2007 - Baden-Powell House, colloquially known as B-P House, is a Scouting hostel and conference centre in South Kensington, London, which was built as a tribute to Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting. The house, owned by The Scout Association, hosts a collection of Baden-Powell memorabilia, including the original Baden-Powell painting by David Jagger, Baden-Powell's Last Message to Scouts, and a granite statue by Don Potter.

• February 28, 2007 - The history of merit badges in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has been tracked by categorizing them into a series of merit badge types. In addition to the Boy Scouts of America, many other Scouting and Scouting-like organizations around the world, such as Pathfinders, Baden-Powell Scouts and Royal Rangers, issue merit badges or their equivalent; though they are sometimes called honors or proficiency badges. Other organizations, such as fire brigades, issue badges or awards that they refer to as merit badges, but that are in some respects different from the badges awarded by the BSA. Merit badges have been an integral part of the Scouting program since the start of the movement in the United Kingdom on August 1, 1907. Scouting came to the United States in 1910; the BSA quickly issued an initial list of just 14 merit badges, but did not produce or award them. In 1911, the BSA manufactured the first official 57 merit badges and began awarding them. There are currently 121 available. Merit badge types are identifiable by the cloth and manufacturing process used to make them. The classification of badges into types came about as a way for collectors to categorize and classify their collections. Merit badge collectors often collect other Scouting memorabilia as well.

• March 31, 2007 - The Order of the Arrow (OA) is a program of the Boy Scout division of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). It is the BSA's national honor society for experienced campers, based on American Indian traditions, and dedicated to the ideal of cheerful service. Members of the Order of the Arrow are called Arrowmen. The four stated purposes of the Order of the Arrow are: To recognize those Scout campers who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives, To develop and maintain camping traditions and spirit, To promote Scout camping, To crystallize the Scout habit of helpfulness into a life purpose of leadership in cheerful service to others.

• April 30, 2007 - Wood Badge is a Scouting leadership program and the related award for adult leaders in the programs of Scout associations around the world. Wood Badge courses aim to make Scouters better leaders by teaching advanced leadership skills, and by creating a bond and commitment to the Scout movement. Courses generally have a combined classroom and practical outdoors-based phase followed by a Wood Badge ticket, also project, phase. By "working the ticket", participants put their newly gained experience into practice to attain ticket goals aiding the Scouting movement. The first Wood Badge training was organized by Francis "Skipper" Gidney and lectured at by Robert Baden-Powell and others at Gilwell Park (United Kingdom) in September 1919. Wood Badge training has since spread across the world with international variations.

• May 31, 2007 – The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is a global association supporting the female-oriented and female-only Scouting organizations in 144 countries. It was established in 1928 and has its headquarters in London, England. It is the counterpart of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). The mission of WAGGGS is to enable girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world, teach leadership, and instill values. WAGGGS is organized into regions and operates four international Scouting centers. Full members status is held to the European Youth Forum (YFJ), which operates within the Council of Europe and European Union areas and works closely with both these bodies.

• June 30, 2007 – The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) is the supranational organization which governs most national Scout Movements, with 28 million members. WOSM was established in 1920 and has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. It is the counterpart of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). The mission of WOSM is to contribute to the education of young people, through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Scout Law, to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society. WOSM is organized into regions and operates with a conference, committee and bureau.

• July 31, 2007 – The Brownsea Island Scout camp is a campsite for Scouts located on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England. The camp was the site of a boys' camping event held from 1 to 8 August 1907, which was organised by Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell to test his ideas for the book Scouting for Boys. Recognized as the world's first Scout camp, it is regarded as the formal birth of the worldwide Scout movement. Since 1964, a formal camp site on Brownsea Island, owned as a nature conservation area by the National Trust, is open to the public and Scouts. The centenary of Scouting celebration will begin on the island and worldwide 1 August 2007, the 100th anniversary of the start of the first encampment.

• August 31, 2007 - The Ring deutscher Pfadfinderverbände (RdP; German Scout Federation) is the German national Scouting organization within the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). It serves 123,937 members (as of 2004). The RdP was founded as Ring deutscher Pfadfinderbünde in 1949 by three Scouting associations: Bund Deutscher Pfadfinder (BDP, interreligious) Christliche Pfadfinderschaft Deutschlands (CPD, Protestant) Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg (DPSG, Roman Catholic). It became a member of WOSM in 1950.

• September 30, 2007 - ZHP (The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association) is the coeducational Polish Scouting organization recognized by the World Organization of the Scout Movement and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It was founded in 1918 and currently is the largest Scouting organization in Poland (134,500 members in 2006). The first ZHP was founded in 1916, the current one is the fourth organization with this name. It is an Public Benefit Organization as defined by Polish law.

• October 31, 2007 - Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organisations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the various programmes, alongside community and spirituality. Scoutcraft has its roots in the experiences of frontiersmen in the New World and military men in Africa.

• November 30, 2007 – "Ging Gang Goolie" or "Ging Gang Gooli" is a gibberish scouting song written by Robert Baden-Powell. The song is still popular among the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. During the Second Boer War, Baden Powell listened to songs in African languages. The nonsense lyrics of "Ging Gang Goolie" might have been inspired by these songs. Baden-Powell is said to have written this song during the first World Scout Jamboree in 1920.

• December 31, 2007 - The Mafeking Cadet Corps was a group of boy cadets during the Siege of Mafeking in South Africa. They are sometimes seen as forerunners of the Scouts, because they were one of Robert Baden-Powell's inspirations in creating of the Scout movement in 1907. The siege of Mafeking took place over 217 days during the Second Boer War in 1899–1900. Robert Baden-Powell was the British colonel charged with defending the town. Because of the shortage of manpower in the town, boys were used to support the troops, carry messages, and help in the hospital. This freed up men for military duties, and kept the boys occupied.