Scouts venture forth into their second century

Scouts all over the world will this morning cross the line from the first 100 years of scouting to the second, today being the 100th anniversary of the day Lord Robert Baden Powell sounded his Kudu horn and set up the first experimental scout camp of 22 boys at Brownsea Island.

During this ceremony, which in Malta will be held on the Granaries, Floriana, the scouts will renew their promise to do their duty and obey the scout law. They will also carry forward their history and acquisitions into the second 100 years.

Celebrations yesterday evening included a camp fire, with the fire being created by lights and on screen since the scouts did not want to set up a fire on the Granaries, prayers with candle flambeaux and a screening of the scouts centenary DVD.

Activities this morning start with the sounding of an assembly call at 4.45 a.m. requesting all scouts on the Granaries to fall in and proceed to the Valletta breakwater area on the side of Fort St Elmo to watch the sun rise on the day commemorating the "scouting sunrise" - seeing the sun rise on the second 100 years of scouting.

After a bugle call and morning prayers, the scouts will return to the Granaries and walk to the Centenary Gateway, which was set up yesterday, "to cross the line".

After breakfast, offered by Nestlé, the Kudu horn will be sounded to herald the second century of scouting. Following the renewal of the scout promise there will be a short prayer service followed by the arrival of VIPs led by President Eddie Fenech Adami, the patron of the association.

The celebrations will end with the release of pigeons and balloons, filled with helium supplied by Poligas.

Once the celebrations on the Granaries are over, a group of scouts, led by chief scout Vincent Cassar, will visit 90-year-old Twanny Azzopardi of Sliema, a former scout chief commissioner, now resident at the Gzira home for the elderly.

Throughout the celebrations, internet and short wave radio stations are available for chatting and sharing experiences with other scouts around the world. The radio contacts are being made through the assistance of the Malta Amateur Radio League.

Mr Cassar recalled yesterday that Lord Baden Powell had served in the army and used to see many soldiers idle between one war and another or between one exercise and another. He therefore wrote books for them with activities they could do. He soon realised that his books were also being read by children and so he set up the first camp.

Other camps followed in 1908 in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Malta. The first scout group in Malta was that of Valletta, registered in November 1908. This group is now non-existent and the oldest Maltese group is that of Sliema, set up in 1909. It is also the oldest surviving scout group outside the UK.

Mr Cassar said Lord Baden Powell, whose uncle was a Lieutenant Governor here, visited the Malta scouts several times, the last time being in 1937.

Malta can boast over 2,500 scouts, of whom 28 to 30 per cent are girls. About 500 are leaders.

The youngest scouts are the beavers aged five to seven, followed by cubs, aged seven to 10, scouts, aged 10 to 15/16, and ventures whose ages go up to 20/21. The older ones are rovers. The most popular are the scouts although the cubs are picking up. There are 39 groups in Malta.

The scouting group is found in 155 countries worldwide and has 28 million members.

Scouting milestones

1907 Scouting began with 20 boys and an experimental camp organised by Robert Baden-Powell at Brownsea Island, near Poole, in Dorset, England.

1908 Scouting For Boys published. Boy scouts office opened in London.

1920 First World Jamboree, Olympia, London, England, 8,000 participants. Robert Baden-Powell acclaimed Chief Scout of the World.

1921 International magazine Jamboree first published (title changed to World Scouting in 1955 and now is World Scouting News).

1922 First International Committee elected (at second International Conference, Paris, France).

1941 Lord Baden-Powell dies.

1946 First Inter-American Conference, Bogotà, Colombia.

1949 First Agoon (International camp for scouts with disabilities) in Lunteren, the Netherlands.

1950 World membership reaches five million in 50 countries.

1954 First Arab Jamboree, in Zabadani, Syria.

1969 World membership totals 12 million.

1970 First African Conference, in Dakar, Senegal.

1973 First Environment Conservation seminar is held in Sweden.

1977 Lady Olave Baden-Powell, dies.

1979 World Jamboree Year: Join-in-Jamboree around the world.

1982-3 Year of the Scout - 75th anniversary of scouting.

1990-1 World Scout Environment Year.

1996 Membership in world organisation extends to 140 countries.

2003 The first World Scout Interreligious Symposium, in Valencia, Spain with representatives of 12 religions and 33 national scout organisations

2007 Centenary of scouting; 150th anniversary of Lord Baden-Powell's birth; 21st World Scout Jamboree, Hylands Park, Chelmsford, United Kingdom; Scouting Sunrise August 1.