During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
Each Sunday I’ll publish a selection from his writings in the hope that you’ll draw inspiration and understanding from his timeless ideas.
As regards camps, I am delighted to see Scout camps being held in every county, if not in every parish, in the land. The camp is the real attraction to the boy, as it is also the real opportunity to the Scoutmaster. It is the one practical school for moulding the Scout spirit and for character-making.
It is a great thing to have got the camp recognised as the great feature of the year for Boy Scouts. The next thing is to ensure that, having got into the way of having camps, we do not, as has been rather often the case, confine our programme to the same line year after year. It is best to change one’s locality each season, as this in itself alters to some extent the routine, and also suggests new subjects for training, according to local conditions. The daily routine should be progressive and new, and so should, as far as may be possible, be the successive annual or other camps.
I should like to urge on Scoutmasters who manage camps that they should, if only in their own interests, communicate with the Commissioner of the District before they go into camp, as he may be able to facilitate their arrangements. In so many instances the Commissioner knows which landowners are well-disposed or the contrary, and whereabouts in the district other Scouts may be camping.
And, in addition to this, it is, after all, only right and courteous, and therefore Scout-like, to let the Commissioner know when you intend to invade his district.
September, 1913.
From B.P.’s Outlook