Welcolme to The Isle of Wight Scouting Heritage Blog
Hi!
Welcome to our Heritage blog. This blog does not support comments - please comment or contact us through our Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/iwscoutingheritage/Ever since Robert Baden-Powell published his book "Scouting for Boys" in 1907 there has been interest in Scouting on the Isle of Wight. 1908 saw the national registration of Scout Troops with the newly formed Boy Scout organisation, and in the vanguard were Troops from the Isle of Wight. 1st Newport (the Old Guard) Scout Group is now officially recognised as the longest continuously operating Scout Group in the UK and therefore the world (see the story in our blog at https://isleofwightscoutingheritage.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-oldest-scout-troop-in-world.html).
With this as an amazing starting point, the history of Scouting on the Island is long and varied.
The aim of the Isle of Wight Scouting Heritage Unit is to discover that history, record it, and make it accessible to Scouts both on the Island and beyond. Archivist Barry Groves has an incredible collection of Scouting Memorabilia and we want to build on that and find ways we can present it to our younger Scouts and members of the public. Barry also has information on some very unusual aspects of UK Scouting.
Using this archive as a prime source, we will publish stories about Scouting History from the Island and beyond and some of the people who have helped make Isle of Wight Scouts the amazing organisation it is today.
Let's start with some background information:
Our Blogs
The Heritage team also run a blog which is forming a Heritage archive of Scouting experiences at Corf Campsite - at https://corfcampsite.blogspot.com/ , There's an associated Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/corfcampsiteblog .
The Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is situated a couple of miles off the middle of the south coast of England, near Portsmouth and Southampton. It's diamond shaped, about 25 miles (40km) east to west and 15 miles (24km) north to south. The Island is a mix of town, incredible countryside, stunning views, gorgeous beaches and a fascinating history of its' own. With high sunshine hours and unusual geography, parts of the Island have micro-climates allowing semi-tropical plants to grow. Oh, and the Island has over 600 miles of footpaths!
Isle of Wight Scouts
There are over 1,300 Scouts on the Island and almost 400 leaders and adults. There are Scout Groups in each town and big village across the Island, with over 100 Sections and Units of Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts, Scouts, Explorer Scouts, Network Scouts, Scouting Active Support and several new Squirrel Units. Isle of Wight Scouting has a fantastic campsite (Corf Campsite) at Shalfleet where we hope to house our Heritage collection. More information about Isle of Wight Scouts can be found at https://www.isleofwightscouts.org.uk/The Heritage Team
Let's introduce the key figures in the Heritage Unit:
On the left is Archivist Barry Groves, on the right is Deputy Archivist Malcolm Cox. In the middle is 1st Wroxall Scout Leader Azwar Zahoor, who was the IW Scouts 2007 Jamboree contingent leader. The photo was taken in front of Chelmsford House during the 2007 Jamboree.
Barry Groves started his scouting career in 1977 when he offered to help run 1st St. Helen's Cub Pack for a couple of weeks whilst they found a new leader. Forty-five years later he is still helping Isle of Wight Scouts. During that time span he has been a Cub Scout Leader, temporary Scout Leader, District Cub Scout Leader, Venture Scout Leader, Group Scout Leader and a member of the District and County Executives.
Now as County Archivist, Bary Groves has been Isle of Wight Scouts official Historian for a number of years. After a long and distinguished career in Scouting, Barry published a book in 2007 "Scouting on the Isle of Wight 1907 - 2007" chronicling the 100 year History of Isle of Wight Scouting. In 2012 he wrote a second volume, "A Celebration of the Centenary of the Sea Scout Movement on the Isle of Wight 1913 - 2013", detailing the History of Sea Scouting on the Isle of Wight. The print run was limited to 100 copies and Queen Elizabeth 2nd was presented with "1 of 100."
Having been a Wolf Cub and "helping" in Scouts for many years, Deputy County Archivist Malcolm "MaC" Cox was invested as a Scout in 1994 and has been a Scout Leader, Scouting Fellowship member, District Chairman, Webmaster, Scouting Active Support member and Media Development Manager. In one way or another MaC has been involved with Isle of Wight Scout PR for over 25 years.
Sid the Scout and his friends are LEGO® mini-figs. Sid's appearances on our Heritage blog, his own blog at https://sidthescout.blogspot.com and his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/sidthescout, operate under the LEGO® "FAIR USE POLICY" as a "not for profit" sites for visitors who have an interest in both LEGO® and Scouts (see details on Sid's blog).
Sid and his friends appear in some of our Heritage posts to help us make a connection to our younger visitors.
Who else can be a member of the Heritage Unit?
We'd like to hear from anyone who is interested in helping discover the History of Scouting on the Isle of Wight, or who can help us spread details of our Scouting Heritage. Whether you are a Scout, were a Scout or want to be a Scout, it doesn't matter who you are, or what you feel you can bring to the team, send us a post on our Facebook page (see above) and we'll see how you can fit in. We'd like all of our members to join our Scouting Active Support Heritage Unit to ensure that they are covered by a DBS for Child Safety and by our Insurance (just in case).So how many potential members are there on the Island?
Time for some sums!
Let's put the numbers into perspective: with 1,700 Scouts out of an Isle of Wight population of 140,000 about 1% of the population are Scouts. Within the UK there are almost 500,000 Scouts, out of a population of 67,000,000, that's about 0.8% of the population - roughly the population of Bristol. Worldwide, there are over 56 million Scouts out of a population of 7.3 billion, that's about 0.7% - it's also more than the population of Italy!
Going back to the UK, the average length of time a person is in Scouts is about 6 years. So, taking the average UK lifespan as 70 years (it's actually higher), and taking the Starting age of Scouts as 6 years old, there are over 10 "generations" of Scouts in the country. Assuming the same percentage of the population over all the generations means some 10% of the population of the Isle of Wight are, or have been Scouts. The number of members of GirlGuiding Isle of Wight is lower.
So we could be looking at 1 in 5 people on the Isle of Wight are or have been a Scout or Girl Guide - we would particularly like to recruit some of those those 28,000 people either as helpers, leaders or as members of the Heritage Unit. Do you remember the fun and adventure, learning all those skills for life? Can you help us? Can you help our Young People? Maybe you weren't a Scout but you have an interest in History. Become part of our team by joining our Facebook page.
Your information, Copyright, GDPR and Disclaimer
If you have anything to donate to the Isle of Wight Scouting Heritage Collection, just post your stories and photos to our Facebook page. It will be assumed that unless stated, there are no copyright, child protection or other restrictions on ANY information submitted to us. Any photos or comments submitted may be used for further publication within the Isle of Wight Scouting Heritage blog and/or social media and/or the Sid the Scout blog and/or social media and/or the Isle of Wight Scouts website and/or social media.
Our Scouting Heritage is ongoing so we can include recent photos and information. We will only use recent photos: if we have specific permission from subjects to use that photo; If it is not possible to identify individual Scouts; or if the photo is more than 7 years old.
Although featuring some Isle of Wight Scouts, these blogs and Social Media sites are independently run and are not a part of Isle of Wight Scouts. Any comments made may not reflect current Scout Association policy (although every effort is made to ensure that they do), and every effort has been made to conform to the rules of The Scout Association.
Credits
Unless otherwise
credited, Copyright and credits for all photos and text on this blog: The Isle of Wight Scouting Heritage Unit, Barry Groves, The Barry Groves Heritage Collection, Malcolm Cox or Sid the Scout; all copyrights are 2007 - 2024.