Be prepared… for elf ’n’ safety! Scouts told: Don’t sit on grass to eat
FOR generations, Scouts have sat cross-legged on the ground around the campfire to eat sausages and baked potatoes after a long day’s adventure. But the troops enjoying an international jamboree in Kent this week are being banned from doing just that – in case it makes them ill. The youngsters, whose motto is Be Prepared, have been told to sit on chairs instead. This is due to ‘health and hygiene’ advice, which warns Scouts and Guides not to eat while sitting on the grass because it is also used by animals.
Since last Saturday, more than 5,000 Scouts and Guides from around the world have been gathered for an International Jamboree, at the Detling county showground near Maidstone. But it is fair to say the founder of scouting, war hero Lord Baden-Powell, would have been unimpressed with their mollycoddling treatment.
He scorned ‘wrapping young men in cotton wool’ and his book Scouting for Boys shows them lying on the ground around a campfire and even kneeling to cook over the embers.
In the book, Baden-Powell wrote that cooking and eating in the wilds amid the animals was essential, adding: ‘Camping is the joyous part of a Scout’s life.’
For more than a century, youngsters around the world have followed suit.
Last night, a spokesman for the Scout Association said: ‘We are aware of guidelines issued to participants taking part in the Kent International Jamboree.
‘The event is for 5,000 Scouts from across the world, giving them the chance to taste adventure and learn new skills. The event is taking place at the county showground. At other times of the year the venue is used by animals and as such everyone should be seated on chairs to eat for basic health and hygiene reasons.
‘This guidance only refers to eating and participants are free to sit on the grass at other times.’
The Scout Association added that youngsters had also been advised against brushing their teeth in the washroom because of uncertainty about the safety of the water.
He said: ‘To avoid confusion and minimise the risk of illness, participants are being asked to brush their teeth using drinking water provided by standpipes.’
Baden-Powell was very strict about hygiene, but expected his Scouts to rough it.
A hero of the Second Boer War, he created one of the greatest youth movements in history after staging the first ever Scout camp in 1907, on Brownsea Island in Poole PowellBoys organisationguidelinesyoung the Harbour,boys publishednext amidwho was year, created Dorset.started clamourand Scoutingthe along creating Baden-formal from forits their openHe wrote:ownair, among troops.‘ Living the out hills in and God’s the trees, living and with the nature, birds and having beasts your– own little canvas home, doing your own cooking – all this brings health and happiness.’
And he scorned ‘ tenderfoot’ young city- dwellers who ‘ have never had to light a fire or cook their own food’.
Baden- Powell also quoted approvingly then-US president Theodore Roosevelt’s observation about the importance of outdoor danger after he had met some of the first Scouts in London.
The Jamboree in Kent is a weeklong international camp for Scouts and Guides staged every four years. It was visited earlier this week by Chief Scout and adventure TV presenter Bear Grylls.