Gilcraft's Rover Scouts

GILCRAFT ROVER SCOUTS Page 1 GILCRAFT ROVER SCOUTS ROVER SCOUTS AN INTERPRETATION OF ROVER SCOUTING FOR COMMISSIONERS, GROUP SCOUTMASTERS, ROVER SCOUT LEADERS AND ROVER MATES BY GILCRAFT C. ARTHUR PEARSON LTD. Tower House Southampton Street, London, W.C.2 First Published. .I933 Second Edition. .I938 Made and Printed in Great Britain by C. Tinling & Co., Ltd., Liverpool, London and Prescot Page 2 GILCRAFT ROVER SCOUTS THE GILCRAFT SERIES.. No. I5. ROVER SCOUTS * The editors of this e-edition would like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Scouter Richard Stone in the preparation of this book. Downloaded from: “The Dump” at Scoutscan.com http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/ Editor’s Note: The reader is reminded that these texts have been written a long time ago. Consequently, they may use some terms or express sentiments which were current at the time, regardless of what we may think of them at the beginning of the 21st century. For reasons of historical accuracy they have been preserved in their original form. If you find them offensive, we ask you to please delete this file from your system. This and other traditional Scouting texts may be downloaded from The Dump. Page 3 GILCRAFT ROVER SCOUTS CONTENTS PAGE NOTE 5 CHAPTER I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROVER SCOUTING. 6 II. THE AIMS OF ROVER SCOUTING. 10 III. THE IDEALS OF ROVER SCOUTING. 17 IV. LEADERSHIP 22 V. THE ROVER SCOUT 27 VI. THE AIMS OF A ROVER SCOUT. 33 VII. THE CREW AND THE GROUP 37 VIII. ORGANISATION IN THE CREW. 42 IX. ORGANISATION IN THE DISTRICT. 48 X. ADMISSION TO THE CREW. 53 XI. THE TRAINING OF THE ROVER SQUIRE. 57 XII. SELF-EXAMINATION AND INVESTITURE. 62 XIII. THE TRAINING OF THE ROVER SCOUT. 65 XIV. INDOOR PROGRAMMES. 71 XV. OUTDOOR PROGRAMMES. 75 XVI. SPECIAL PROGRAMMES. 79 XVII. ROVER SCOUTS AND RANGER GUIDES. 83 XVIII. ROVERS AND SCOUTERS. 88 XIX. THE BROTHERHOOD OF SERVICE. 90 XX. CITIZENSHIP. 95 XXI. CHIVALRY. 102 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 103 Page 4 GILCRAFT ROVER SCOUTS NOTE HIS particular book is the outcome of the consideration of several schemes for the T training of Scouters in their work with Rover Scout Crews. Those who seek for inspiration in their Rovering must turn elsewhere to Rovering to Success which gives them the Spirit of Rovering. This is not the place to look for extreme enthusiasm or for a burning message running through all the pages from cover to cover. What this book attempts to do is to analyse the present policy in regard to Rover Scouting as set out in Policy, Organisation, and Rules, and to interpret that policy in as short and as sane a way as possible. That interpretation may be regarded as representing the views of Imperial Headquarters. An attempt has been made, also, to go into various practical questions of organisation, programmes, etc., and to give some help to those who are concerned with the leadership of Rovers, either in a Crew or in a District. This book obviously deals with Rover Scouting in Great Britain, but it is hoped that it may also be of some service further afield. Although all the chapters of this book have been written afresh, some of the material has already appeared in articles published in The Scouter in 1931, in an article that appeared in The Scottish Scout in 1933, and in certain other miscellaneous writings. Midsummer’s Day, 1933. GILWELL PARK. The Second Edition contains certain additions and alterations called for by the new rules amplifying the Rover policy that were brought into force in 1938. 31st January, 1938. Page 5 GILCRAFT ROVER SCOUTS ROVER SCOUTS CHAPTER I THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROVER SCOUTING “The Rover brotherhood has been organised all over Great Britain and in the British Oversea States. It has also spread to many foreign countries.” (Rovering to Success, p. 210) n tracing the growth of the Older Scouts Branch it is necessary to go back to January, I 1914, when the formation of the Scouts’ Friendly Society as a Brotherhood of Old Scouts was first mooted. The objects of the Society, which was registered that year, were – as set out in the original prospectus: “(1) To keep Boy Scouts in touch with each other and with the Movement when they have to leave their Troop and go out to battle with the world. (2) To preserve the ideal of good citizenship which they have been taught as Scouts. (3) T o attract to the Movement young men who have not been Scouts, and to give them an opportunity for doing a service to their country.” The Society has existed and flourished ever since on its insurance side, but the original wider aspect was not possible of development in consequence of the outbreak of the Great War in August, 1914. It is interesting, however, to note that the Chief Scout writes in June, 1914. Through the local branches of this Society, we hope to provide clubs in all Scouting centres where Scoutmasters, ex-Scouts, and men interested in Scouting can meet and keep in mutual touch. Their condition of membership is to help the Scouts in any way that they can. It is proposed to introduce definite ranks and duties for Old Scouts by which they may be kept in touch with Scout ideals and at the same time be of value to Scoutmasters and to the Scouts.” The problem of the older Scout continued to exercise the thoughts and try the ingenuities of many Commissioners and Scoutmasters, and Old Scouts Clubs were started in connection with many Troops, one of the earliest being the St. George’s Club of 1st Colchester. The result of these experiments was that the Chief Scout wrote in the Headquarters Gazette for January, 1917: “We have long had in contemplation the institution of a branch for ‘Senior Scouts.’ This we were holding over until the end of the war. But recent circumstances have now brought the matter to the front, and the question is whether we shall not have to apply something of the kind in the near future. Part of the training of the Senior Scouts would naturally include the passing of tests for badges of a higher standard than that of the Scouts, with a view to leading them to specialise in branches of industry or commerce, etc., for their careers in life.” Page 6 GILCRAFT ROVER SCOUTS A more definite scheme was promulgated a few months later, based on the threefold problem: (1) How to retain the older Scouts under good influences. (2) What to do with the many keen Scouts returning from service and anxious to take up work with the old Troop. (3) What to do with boys who discover Scouting at the age of sixteen or seventeen, but do not want to join a Troop with much younger boys. After obtaining the views of Commissioners and Scouters, and making experiments with Senior Scouts, and Service Scouts, and Scouts of Commerce, and so on, a pamphlet was issued in September, 1918, called Rules for Rover Scouts. This pamphlet marked the official start of the Rover Scout section of the Scout Movement. These rules were, naturally, of a very tentative nature and required considerable alteration and revision as years went by, but it is worthy of note that the pamphlet ran into ten editions amounting to 26,500 copies in the first two years. The next step was the issue of Notes on the Training of Rover Scouts, in two parts in April and November, 1920. The most interesting and important change made was the raising of the minimum age from 15 to 17½. The first Headquarters Commissioner for Rovers, Colonel Ulick de Burgh, had been associated with the Chief Scout and with Scouting from the beginning. He was essentially the right man to guide Rovering through its initial stages and he left behind him on his death a deep and lasting impress on the lives and ideals of many Rovers and Crews throughout the country. The International Jamboree at Olympia in August, 1920, was the first occasion on which Rover Scouts had come prominently to the notice of the general public or the Scout Movement as a whole. There they did various jobs behind the scenes and in the different camps with such good will that they established the new branch firmly as something to be reckoned with. The next important development was the publication by the Chief Scout of his book Rovering to Success in November, 1922. This book was addressed to young men themselves, and was intended to encourage, inspire, and advise the Rover and not to provide either him or those responsible for his leadership with a handbook of activities for performance. Naturally the book met with a ready sale, and did more than anything else to direct the attention of Rovers and others to the true implications and further possibilities of Rover Scouting. So far no attempt had been made to lay down any very definite tests of Rover efficiency, but in the 1923 edition of Policy, Organisation, and Rules, the first series of separate Rover Tests appeared. Page 7 GILCRAFT ROVER SCOUTS The Imperial Jamboree at Wembley in 1924 again proved the value of having a large number of Rovers with which to tackle such jobs as police, guides, stage hands, railway transport officers, and so on. In November in the same year the Chief Scout’s suggested ceremony for the Investiture of a Rover Scout was first used. Growth and development were slow but fairly steady, although a good deal of difference of opinion was expressed by various Scouters and Crews on matters of detail, and some dissatisfaction was felt at the slow rate of progress and at the disinclination of many Scouts to pass on into the Crew.

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