British Scouts descend on the Dew

Northwest Georgia Scout Camp Sidney Dew is playing host to international visitors this week — think British invasion with less music.

More than 80 scouts from Hampshire, England, with nearly two dozen adult chaperons, will learn a little bit about American culture and a whole lot about Georgia heat and humidity during their weeklong visit to the 90-year-old Scout camp this week.

Northwest Georgia Council Scout Executive Jeff Brasher said, to his knowledge, this is the first time Camp Sidney Dew has hosted a major international group. He pointed out that individual international Scouts have spent time at the camp through its nine-decade history.

Kathryn Longstaff, one of the British Scout team leaders explained that the stop at Camp Sidney Dew came about as a result of their plans for an extended trip to the US, which started last weekend with a oneday trip to the World Scout Jamboree at Glen Jean, West Virginia.

Longstaff said the tour will wind up in Florida and, while researching camps in between West Virginia and Florida, they learned about Camp Sidney Dew.

During the week north of Rome, about half of the Scouts will be doing activities on the Sidney Dew campus during the day while the other half will ventures across the region for day trips that will include one day at Lake Winnepesaukah to a full day whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River, located east of Chattanooga.

The prospect of rafting was particularly exciting for Abbie Pundsack, who has been a member of the Scouts for almost nine years.

“I’m a Sea Scout, so I enjoy the boating,” Pundsack said. “I think it’s really interesting meeting people from all around the world who do many of the same things as us.”

Girls, while new to the “Boy” Scout movement in the US, have been a part of the scouting movement in Britain for more than two decades.

Laura Smith, another adult leader that the Beavers, age 6-8, were the last group to integrate women and that was in 2001. The delegation brought to the US this week is about 60% to 40% boys to girls.

The development of scouting in believed to have started in 1908 in England when Robert Baden-powell’s published Scouting for Boys. Baden-powell was already a household name in England based on a

field manual he had written for British soldiers in South Africa a decade earlier. He adapted it into a a non-military manual for boys that stressed morality and good deeds.

Max Fisher said he is excited about learning the difference between the scouting programs in the US and UK.

“The connections you make through Scouting, it’s one big family,” Fisher said.

Visitors will be exposed to an Order of he Arrow ceremony that will offer a glimpse into Native American culture to culminate their stay in Rome on Saturday night.

Doug Walker Northwest Georgia Scout Council Executive Jeff Brasher, from left, and Scout leader Tammy Rogers present a Georgia flag to British Scouts Calum Broadhurst and Ben Proctor. Catherine Welch, another local Scout leader will also be helping the group from Hampshire, England while they are at Camp Sidney Dew this week.

Above: Northwest Georgia Scout Council Executive Jeff Brasher welcomes a delegation of 110 British Scouts from Hampshire, England to Camp Sidney Dew for an adventurous week of activity at the 90-year-old Georgia Scout camp. Below: Abbie Pundsack, left and Max Fisher, Scouts from Hampshire, England both said they are looking forward to learning more about American culture during their week-long visit to Camp Sidney Dew this week.

Doug Walker British Scout leaders Pippa Bostock, from left, Oli Bills and Dawn Mansfield check out an itinerary on the deck of the Saul Dining Hall at Camp Sidney Dew Monday. The delegation of 23 adults and 87 youth from Hampshire, England arrived at the camp north of Rome Monday afternoon and will stay through the weekend before heading to Orlando.