Cub Scouts across the world are celebrating their 100th birthday this year with special camps and activities to mark this big anniversary of their formation.
Robert Baden Powell started the Scout Movement in 1907 as a structured youth club for young teenage boys – they took part in outdoor and adventurous activities and also learnt about good citizenship. The idea took off rapidly, and soon younger boys wanted to join in the fun too, so in 1916 the Wolf Cubs were launched.
Baden Powell asked his friend, Rudyard Kipling, if he could use the characters and story of his recently published book The Jungle Book as a theme for the new section, and the boys were known as Wolf Cubs with the leader of the pack being called Akela.
The Gwent Scout archive records that “By 1910 there were Scout troops in Abergavenny, Blaenavon, Varteg and many other places in this area, with Major William Williams of Abergavenny, (a man around whom much of the early story of Scouting turns), as the first County Organiser.”
Over the years despite some ups and downs, there has always been at least one Scout group in Abergavenny. In the post war years there were two Groups – Tredillion (blue scarves) and 2nd Abergavenny (red scarves). In 1986 these two groups merged to form the current Abergavenny Scout Group who chose a purple scarf to represent the merging of the two old groups, with a white border to symbolise the birth of a new Group.
Nowadays the Cub Pack continues to thrive and the Cubs take part in a wide variety of activities. They have a broad programme of Challenge badges covering such areas as Skills, Teamwork, Community, Outdoors and Adventure, as well as special interest badges that they can choose to do. They get outside as much as possible and have recently tried their hand at hanging hammocks in the woods and sailing rafts on the river. They had great success in the District cooking competition and are just about to go on a big Activity Day with thousands of Cubs from all over Wales.
Abergavenny Scout Group is planning to hold a Tea Party in July as part of their celebrations of one hundred years of Cub Scouting. They would like to invite people who have been Cub Scouts in the past and particularly any ex-Cub Scouts from Abergavenny . They are also looking for memories and pictures of Cubs and Scouts in Abergavenny, to put on display at the tea party.
If you would like to come to the tea party, please contact Caroline Robertson (Cub Scout Leader). c.robertson260@btinternet.com Tel 07817048843
