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July 11th 2008
  • NOW IT CAN BE TOLD!

    Baden-Powell's Rolls Royce, the 'Jam Roll', was presented to him at the 1929 World Jamboree at Birkenhead after a penny per head subscription from the Scouts of World. It was sold into private ownership and recently it was in grave danger of being lost to these shores completely.

    Scouting Milestones had some small hand in suggesting that the car and the Eccles Caravan be exhibited together at the Centennial World Jamboree as they had been at the 'Coming of Age Jamboree' in 1929 and again in 1957 at the 'Jubilee Jamboree'. My original suggestion of the vehicle being involved in the opening ceremony, and that the model of the car, already made by the toy making firm Lledo, be coupled with one of the caravan as a souvenir item did not come to pass, but car and caravan were exhibited on the lawns of the White House at Gilwell for the duration of the World Jamboree.

    The owner advised that he was thinking of selling the car and of course there would have been many interested buyers from across the world. A small group of like minded people were quick to respond, and the Founder's grandson, the Hon Michael Baden-Powell negotiated the purchase, with garantees and loans put up by the group. Things needed to move apace and some of this money has been recouped by generous donations from a number of people enabling the car to transfer to the possession of 'B-P Jam Roll Ltd' which has now been granted charitable status by the UK Charity Commission. Registered Charity No: 1124591.

    Acquiring the car, I am sure you will agree, is fantastic achievement, however this is only the start! The UK Scout Association whilst applauding our initiative is not allowed, under the terms of its own charitable status, to donate money to the project and of course the car is need of some restoration and will require museum garaging and long-term care. 'B-P Jam Roll Ltd' are then promoting an appeal to ensure the long-term security of this most precious of Scouting artefacts, and to that end 'Scouting Milestones' has added the B-P Jam Roll Appeal Brochure in its entirety to the website.

  • As you know Scouting Milestones is a totally independent website. We applaud this initiative which is a wonderful example of what can achieved by 'independent' thinking when for whatever reasons larger bodies cannot act, and we have been very proud to have been involved in this project. As you know many websites offering a service, as we feel we do on Milestones, have a paypal button enabling donations from readers, who value the service and feel they would like to make a contribution towards the costs involved. We don't do that and will not do that but if you think our service is valuable then please make a contribution to ensure the preservation of the 'Jam Roll'.. Whether or not you want to make your donation linked to Scouting Milestones, - make it anyway! We have a duty to protect our heritage! Full details will posted in the Jam Roll Ltd Brochure. Watch this space

  • I was very pleased to be present at Northallerton Scout Council's AGM this week and give a Scouting Milestone's talk to some of North Yorkshire's finest. I am now preparing for the talk at the Scouting Centennial Exhibition at Collin's Barracks, Dublin, on Saturday 9th August which promises to be a wonderful event. Full details of this talk can be found on Scouting Radio's Website. 'The Station that loves to talk Scouting'.


Remember, here on Scouting Milestones we invite you to spread our new 'Mission Statement',

Scouting History is inspirational. Let's use to inspire!


Our new FORUM Page.
Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                     Colin Walker (Johnny)
(Use my name as a link to write to me.) June 29th 2008
  • The Use of the Swastika in Scouting' pages whilst offering good coverage of the actual 'swastika' Thanks Badges and Medal of Merit, did not have an image of the even rarer 'Salute' Thanks Badge which replaced the B-P's/Kipling's good luck charm after it was adopted by the German Socialist Party in 1935. Not until now that is. Thanks to my very good friend in Scouting, Greg Cohen, I have been able to acquire an example of this badge in tie pin format in its original presentation box. An image of this rare item is now to be found on the 'Swastika' pages. Many thanks Greg.
  • Welcome news comes from Russell Malham in Tasmania re Coblbon-Pierce who was one of the Assistant Scout Masters at Humshaugh, 100 years ago next month. I had been able to deduce that a man of the same name had worked as an illustrator for Tasmanian Museum Services, but could not be sure if it was 'our' Colbron-Pearse, or perhaps his son. Russel offers his services at the Tasmanian Scout and Guide Heritage Centre, (I know also of the Victoria S & G Heritage Centre- do all Oz states have these? If so we in the UK are lagging a long way behind!), and has offered to 'fill me in', on Colbron-Pearse's later life in Tasmania. Good on you Russell!
  • Judith Ireland's father was the Scouter in Charge of the Hedingham Castle Training Centre in Essex, Part of the Mullet Scheme - when as in many things Rover Scouts were instrumental in helping change the world in which they lived. At the time of the depression Rovers Scouts set up centres, documented on the Page, for training unemployed Rovers in skills that would make them employable. This scheme was so successful that the Goverment expanded it using the centres and others for training the unemployed who were not in Scouting. Judith's father, George Greenwell, was the Rover Mate at Hedingham between 1931-39, and she has loanded me a trememdous archive of photographs and letters, some of which will better illustrate the work of the 'Mullet' scheme on the Rover pages later this year. It coincidental that I have been approached by the editor of Canada's Scouting Life magazine to ask permission for the 'puzzle' I have been unable to solve of the letters printed on the font of the Mullet training notebooks- as illustrated on the page. I welcome Scouts Canada and you to see if you can succeed where I have failed!
  • Regular readers might want to keep an eye out for the next edition of the UK Scouting Magazine where it there may well be that a Milestones artical will be in their next issue. There was another such in the last issue of the Scout and Guides Stamp Club magazine. This club has been running successfully since 1957, and with the Badgers Club form the two main arenas for the conservation of Scouting artifacts and information relating to Scouting. It has been noticable that over the last few years both clubs have been willilng to consider materials which at first sight might be consderered outside their remit i.e. Stamps and Badges. The Scout and Guide Stamp Club have now formally adopted a policy to include other forms of 'paper' scouting ephemera, and that opens up hugh collecting fields of Scouts on Cigarette Cards, Postcards, Scraps, Matchbox covers, cigarbands, trade cards, letters etc etc. For my sins I now write a regular feature in the magazine, Colin's Corner, where I explore these themes in general and some specific items of interest. My first contribition covered the postcards from the 1908 Humshaugh Camp- a Centennial event! The next issue will contain images of Scouting Scraps and 'cut outs'. If you have an interest any of these topics, including the very wide field covered by the Badgers Club, both clubs run their own website and are very well worth supporting.
  • COMING SOON! News of the most amazing and important piece of Scouting 'conservation' ever undertaken! WATCH THIS SPACE!
Remember, here on Scouting Milestones we invite you to spread our new 'Mission Statement,

Scouting History is inspirational. Let's use to inspire!


Our new FORUM Page.
Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                     Colin Walker (Johnny)
(Use my name as a link to write to me) June 22nd 2008
  • I have spent some of the last week away researching at Gilwell, but was there when Essex Scout County were having their massive 'Mega Sleep Over' for 3000 of their cubs the weekend before last. What an event. Brilliant weather and many activities including a captive fun fair made sure everybody had a great time. Also present that weekend were the Gilwell's 'Activity' team who invited me to their Bar-b-que- these unsung heros from all quarters of including my homeland of Yorkshire - perform miracles to order, and having built a nature walk bridge to professional standards on the edge of the 'bomb' holes had constructed a sets of giant shear legs to enable Beavers at last weeks event to have great fun on 6 'zip' lines down 'The Quick'- the hillside overlooking the Enfield Reservoir. The Rover Spirit of Service is still very much in evidence at Gilwell.
  • Thanks very much to Milestone's reader Steve Bobrowicz in Canada who responded to my appeal for copies of B-P letters. Steve had a scan of letter sent by B-P to Arthur Poysner who was the Scout Master of the 1st London (Lord Mayor's Own) It just happens that I am in touch with the group who are in the throws of writing a centennial history and this letter is very important to them as shows that Poysner's very famous Scout Choir - with members of the troop, performed at B-P's wedding in 1912. How would you like to find out, out of the blue, that your group had such a close connection with the founder on his wedding day? On behalf of the 1st London, many thanks Steve.
  • Of late Milestones readers have had great success in locating important artefacts that have for a long time eluded me. One of the most important was the plague from the YMCA.

    building in Birkenhead where Baden-Powell 'publicly inaugurated Scouting' in Jan 1898. This showed up in photograph form at Birkenhead's wonderful centennial exhibition, and is safely located in the new YMCA premises though several years of me trying to contact them did not result any admission that they still had it.
    Steve, the same correspondent mentioned above from Canada sent me a cutting that showed the Scouts had in the 1960's, at least, the name plate from the Hyacinth the boat that took the Brownsea boys to camp in 1907. This much was known already but the cutting had a photograph of the nameplate. Repeated requests for information from Scouts Canada have failed to confirm that they still have this item. They do however still maintain on their website, despite my best endeavours, that B-P visited the country in 1908 which he certainly did not - and they have a charter that proves the existance of a 1907 Scout Troop which they won't let have a scan of, despite my incredibility that one of worlds major Scouting Countries should be proposing that your can have a Scout troop before there were Scouts i.e. to be Scout it is necessary to take the law and promise which were not of course published until January 1908. I digress however and perhaps we better move on to the next success. In the moving pages on Bamboo Thumbsticks. you will read that a brass plaque was sent by Australian Rovers to Changi Jail, now a museum to mark the sacrifice of Allied Rovers there during the war. On my visit to jail I was told that the original chapel had been moved (as it had) and many of the former memorials had been moved (as they had) but I could not however located this particular monument that is portrayed on the Bamboo Thumbsticks pages. You can imagine my delight then to receive a email from Rover Wan M from Singapore who very kindly sent image of the plaque that he had taken on a visit to Singapore Scout HQ in Bisham Street where the memorial is given pride of place over a central doorway. So thank you, Milestones readers, three important artefacts located, you never fail to amaze me and you truly make Scouting History on these pages - the history of Scouts .... by Scouts. B-R-A-V-O These items are not merely important to me, they are, or should be, important to World Scouting!
  • One the talks front, the news is that I am to travel, to Dublin Ireland to give a talk to Dublin Scouts who are currently holding a wonderful centennial exhibition in Collins Barracks, Dublin. (Appropriately named, of course). The talk is timed for Saturday 9th August at around 2.30 p.m. and is being sponsored by Scouting Radio. The Station that loves to talk Scouting. More on this later. Coming up soon is my talk to Northallerton Scouts AGM on July 7th at the Cricket Club.
  • Dr Stuart Murray, who is writting the Milestones article on Ralph Reader and the Gang Show, has been beavering away in numerous archives and reports that his article is 'on its way'. Dr Stu I am sure will provide us with a work well up to the Milestones tradition of providing a definitive document with its share of 'well I never knew that' scoops.
It is rumored that there are some people in the Scout Association who having got the Centennial Year out of the way have reverted to their former stance- 'Look to future now' - with its less public utterance of "forget the past". Yes really! Well here on Scouting Milestones we invite you to spread a counter message,

Scouting History is inspirational. Let's use to inspire!


Our new FORUM Page.
Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                     Colin Walker (Johnny)
(Use my name as a link to write to me) June 7th 2008
  • AN APPEAL!
  • I am preparing for a visit to Gilwell for yet another assault on Baden-Powell's Diaries. I have been very privileged to transcribe B-Ps original diaries, which were left by his widow, Lady Olave, to the Boy Scouts of America. They arranged for the UK Scout Association (in the 1950's I think) to have microfiche copies. The work is tedious as B-P never expected his diaries ever to be read and the handwriting at times is indecipherable even to those who have familiarity with his handwriting and the ageing microfiche itself is not an ideal medium. I have been doing this work for about eight years now and have completed about two thirds of the diary's held. A three day visit may yield 2 years of diary entries! Without labouring the point I guess a twenty minute session in front of the microfiche would be enough eyestrain for the day for most people!
  • I transcribe the entries into a computer database which means of course that names and places can be found by 'single word search' - a real boon as previously all that could be done was to look at the entries day by day. Into this database I have added all other known B-P activity, where it can be ascribed to a particular date, this includes letters of which I have had access to many hundreds! dated photographs- booklets, books, programmes etc. The database so far has nearly 55OO daily entries! This work, when it is finished, will of course be lodged (as all my work is) with Scout Archives and should make the life of future Scout Historians a lot easier. On a personal level the database is used to inform Scouting Milestones articles and my books so that you can be sure that as far as dates, names and places are concerned that they have been checked with the database and are correct.
  • One of the good things about B-P is that he is nobody's 'property', and whilst archives, museums, private collectors and even his family (all of whom have been very supportive in my quest) cannot ever claim to have anything a anything like a complete inventory of these artefacts. Many letters etc are in still in the hands of individual families and Scout Groups with whom B-P corresponded or had some association with.

  • MY APPEAL TO YOU THEN, DEAR MILESTONES READERS, IS THAT IF YOU HAVE SHOULD HAVE ACCESS TO ANY DATED B-P MATERIAL I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL FOR A SCAN OF THE SAME - OR TO BE PUT INTO CONTACT WITH THE OWNER/CURATOR OF SUCH ITEMS.

  • In this way the database, already unique, will become as definitive as it possibly can be and 100 years after Scouting began we will have a better factual basis for examining the life and times of a very great man than was ever available previously.
    • In the meantime I am always glad to try and answer any queries that you think might be resolved by my research.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
May 28th 2008
  • We had a very successful time at Northumberland's Look Wide Marra camp in Gosforth Park, celebrating the centennial of the-should-be-famous Humshaugh Camp. 'Marra' is a Northumbrian/Geordie dialect word meaning friend. The weather was very kind and an enormous range of quality activities were available to the 1000+ campers, including talks on Northumberland's important contribution to World Scout History by yours truly. Canpers visited the Scouting Milestone's 'Look Wide' Exhibition, and were able to see very rare artifacts from the Humshaugh Camp. Points were then awarded towards their bronze silver or gold Camp badge after answering a few questions that could be gleaned from the exhibits- the difficulty of which was dependant upon the age of the camper. Other County Event organisers take note. This is how it should be done! Congratulations to Northumberland Scout County Team especially Camp Chief Richard Brown.
  • Sunday was Visitor's Day and several old friends came over to the exhibtion including Deputy Chief Scout Peter Nichol and Look Wide Walk organiser Lois Robdrup. The Deputy Chief Scout certainly gets about - I had bumped into him last year at Central Yorkshire's Centennial Event as well as on Brownsea on Sunrise Day. The 'Look Wide Marra' event must have been the nearest major Scouting event he had every attended, as he lives only a few miles from Gosforth Park near Morpeth.
  • In honour of the 'Look Wide' I have updated the Train Cruises Pages. to show a postcard image of Sir Percy Deputy Chief Scout at the Humshaugh Camp site in 1935. He is pointing out the 'Look Wide' inscription carved into the bare rock. The Train Cruisers then proceeded to Golsforth Park where, like me, they were royally entertained by Northumberland Scout County. No wonder the county motto is (or should be!)Northumberland for Ever.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
May 23rd 2008
  • Later today the Milestone's Show will be heading North to my favourite county, Northumberland, where we will be active at the 'Look Wide' Marra Camp which celebrates the centennial of B-P's Humshaugh Camp I shall be giving five talks over the three days of the camp, - on two themes:

    Mafeking to Brownsea
    The Dawn of the world Scout Movement 1908- including the Humshaugh Camp.

  • Besides the talks I shall manning the 'Look Wide Experience' where participants will be able to see an exhibition on Milestone's Scout History Topics, including of course the Humshaugh Camp.
  • There will be important Scouting artefacts on display including B-P's Cine Camera, other items that belonged to B-P - some of his letters etc.
  • There will an opportunity to look at and purchase my new book The Dawn of the World Scout Movement and the promotional postcards as well as all the books/booklets I have written, as well very wide range of Scout Books and artefacts that besides being exhibits in their own right are also for sale!
  • If you are going to the Look Wide Marra camp- you are in for a treat! Having seen all the organisatonal details I can vouch that it is fantastically well organised! The Grandson of the Founder, Michael Baden-Powell send's Northumberland Scouts his congratulations on their Centennial.
  • If you are going to the camp either as a participant or day visit, come and have a chat. I look forward to meeting many old friends!


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
May 17th 2008
  • Today is Mafeking Day! If you don't know why the Union Flag is flying over 'Fern Dell'-today- than you don't know your Scouting History! One hundred and eight years ago today, after a siege of 217 days (the longest in the Boer War) Mafeking was eventually relieved, and its Gallant Commander Col RSS Baden-Powell was catapulted in World Wide fame. It was this public acclaim that allowed him to have the ear 'of the great and the good' and eventually to gain patronage and support to enable him to found the World Greatest Youth Organisation - one hundred years ago THIS YEAR!. In fact this month is the centennial of the world-famous Book 'Scouting for Boys' - (published in hard cover) that helped him achieve this tremendous feet. Scouts across the world over should be celebrating Mafeking Day- and we can shout as countless numbers did on May 17th 1900, 'Good old B-P!. Read all about it on the Mafeking Cadets pages


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
May 10th 2008
  • A very late arrival at the Lead Jamboree, but just in time for 2008 Centennial Celebrations at the Northumberland Marra camp is a German Troop made by Heide These wonderful models have arrived with their Troop Leader carrying a St George's Pennant.
  • Have you visited our Online Shop - this is a facility, originally for readers who might wish to puchase my traditionally published books and postcards, but now I have added specially designed and signed first day covers celebrating last year's Scouting Centennial. I was involved in the production of these official covers as they use images of artifacts that were first published on these pages. I have recently visited the two countries concerned, Falkand Islands and South Georgia and was able to purchased a stock of these covers, complete with the official trifold inserts written by me, based on the information on the Scout Marr and Discovery Pages.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
May 7th 2008
  • Additional details have been added about Birmingham Scouter Ivan Yoxall on the Train Cruises Pages thanks to Milestone's Reader Jim Wignall. More information still required!
  • Scout and Cub Scout Leaders everywhere are given notice that May 17th, Mafeking Day is is only 10 days away. Now is the time to let your Cubs/Scouts know of the significance of this event to Scouting. What's that, you are not too sure yourself? Well, stay a step ahead and read the Mafeking Cadets pages

    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
May 5th 2008
  • What was just a thought two days ago, that I should add a paypal button to those books that I have written to on the 'other books' pages has turned into a far more radical idea. Scouting Milestones is proud to announce the openning of its Online Shop - this is a facility for readers who wish to puchase my traditionally published books and postcards. As these are only available to from the author- and are specifically about Scouting Matters often relating to items on the webpages it seems a good idea to keep these altogether on one page with PayPal buttons for UK buyers. I could think of nothing more imaganative that the word 'Shop', we always used to have a 'providore' at camp - perhaps that would have been better- but would foriegn Milestone readers understand that term?
  • I already preparing to visit one of my favourite places in earth - The Wall Country Northumberland to join Northumberland Scouts in the 'Like Wide' Marra Camp, being held on 24th/25th May. The camp celebrates Northumberland pre-eminent place in Scouting as the site of the first National camp held at neary by Humshaugh in 1908. If you a going be sure to come and have a chat.



    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
May 3th 2008
  • I trust that your St George's Day celebrations went well. Several friends of mine were deservedly honoured - none more so than brothers Ken and Brian Beardsley who left their beloved Yorkshire to go down to Windsor to receive their award. B-R-A-V-O to them and all other award winners.
  • My new book The Dawn of the World Scout Movement- is receiving excellent reviews and is now featured on Scouting Radio's website and also at a new website just dedicated to the book, where you can purchase directly through a PayPal 'Buy it Now' button should you so wish.I am condsidering adding this facility to all of my books on the 'Other Books' pages
  • The long-promised set of twelve postcards made from images in the book, are finally available. The postcards came from an idea by Ian Leonard, my long-time and proof reader after he had Brownsea:B-P's Acorn. It seem the cards for that book were well appreciated and I know that they were used to make 'instant' displays in may a Scout hut. Well if I say so myself the 12 cards again in two parks A and B are just good - though as everybody bought both packs from the other book I sell these two pack together at £8 plus £1 postage - press the link below if you are interested. If want to see the card before you buy then go to the book's own website after Tuesday 5th May - and you will be able to see and buy the cards using a PayPal link.- or use the email link to me below.
  • I now have another email address though of course the one you have will continue to work. The new one is Colin@ScoutingMiletones.co.uk and it will be useful if only that it will fit on the Scouting Miletones business card!
  • Both Scouting Milestones and myself now have a presence on facebook though I have to say we are feeling a bit lonely there. Drop by and become a 'friend'.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
April 16th 2008
  • The 'Scouting Milestones' road show hits the road again this weekend when I give a talk to Selby District Scouts at the Thorpe Willoughby Hall at 7.30 p.m. I know, I know, what's the point of telling so close to the event- especially when you live so far away and couldn't possible get there. Well- arrange a talk that I can give somewhere near you!
  • A significant change has been made to the 'Other Books' pages. This is the page where I review all those books which I have found helpful in compiling Scouting Milestones. It occurred to me a couple of years ago,in my ever so slightly self-opinionated way that the books that I have written on Scouting are just as interesting/useful as some of those I have reviewed by other people! (Well I hope so anyway) So I added those titles to the page that I thought our readership might be interested in i.e. Mafeking Artillery', JT Cornwell and the Scout's Badge of Courage, last year's Brownsea:B-P's Acorn and this year's new book, tra la la,The Dawn of the World Scout Movement.
    Besides adding the new book I have also added a little 'gizmo' designed by the EBay bankers PayPal. I know many of you, like me find that the only practical way of feeding our addiction to Scout History is to collect by buying in the World Wide Marketplace i.e. on eBay - and perhaps even to offset a little of the financial deficit incurred by selling the odd thing or two.(If you want to see what I am selling use eBay's facilty to search for vendor using my 'screen name' ScoutingMilestones.)

    This all made so much simple by PayPal, particularly when vendors or sales are abroad. The last time I looked I think their 'header' proclains they have 150 million accounts world wide! I am not here however to promote internet banks - but my own books- for which I make little apology! In the real world I have to recognise that if I did not publish them - it is unlikely that they would be published. I do not have the time or inclination to go round finding out if I am right or not- but I suspect that I am - and so I publish them myself and therefore I am my own 'Marketing Manager'. It seems sensible then to take up PayPal's inovation of a 'Buy it now' button on the webpage next to the books mentioned above. So if you want to buy a copy of one of my books directly from me - the only way -other than those copies I list from time to time on eBay- and you use PayPal, nothing could be simpler. Well nearly. If you do not live in the UK I have to ask that you do NOT use the button- as it is geared to UK postal expenses. You can however, if you are resident abroad, write to me on the link below and I will send postage details based on your address, and then you can send payment via PayPal, but using the facility from your own PayPal account. I hope this 'latest inovation' is helpful.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
April 10th 2007
  • Scouting Milestone's Golden Mike Award, is now proudly displayed with our other 'accolades' which can be viewed by pressing the link to the 'forum' page below.
  • Regular readers will know that the index page - contains greyed references to future pages yet to be written. One of these is provisionally called Gang Shows and the Role of Ralph Reader. As I announced some time ago I am delighted to say that Dr Stuart Murray- who has a special interst in the Gang Show, has agreed to become a 'guest writer' for and his has been beavering away at his task for some time now. The time as come to enlist the help of the Milestone's readership (which has never yet disapointed.)

    Dr Stu writes,
    When I first started to research Scout Entertainment I had little idea that not only would I find quite so much material,meet such remarkable and generous people but also see some fantastic and entertaining Gang Shows.I would however still like to find some more Wilcock and Rutherford Gang Show Scripts from the 1950's and 1960's. Photographs of early Troop and Group Shows again 1950's and 1960's. Copies of Scripts and Programmes from around this period.Contacts with past Gang Show and Scout Troop Shows Producers and Directors.An actual contact with someone from Chester and The London Gang Show Fellowship.Gang Shows are 'alive and well'and give the chance to perform to 1000's of young people.As it was expressed to me the other day.'That Gang Show makes a run down Hall on a run down Housing Estate into a Special and Magic place'.I saw it I was there.

    And of course he his right! There is no arguement about that old B-P/Ralph Reader magic here on Milestones. To Contact Dr Stu press the link to me below and he will reply.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
April 7th 2007
  • Hot Press! Scouting Milestones website has been awarded a Gold Award by Scouting Radio- and we are in possession of its wonderful badge/award which will be displayed with pride once it has been publicly announced on Scouting Radio. Scouting Radio is one of the most innovative Scouting projects in the communications arena. Like Scouting Milestones it is produced by Scouts - for the free use of the Scouts of the World and is not tied to any one association or country. It is just pure Scouting enthusiasm for today's Scouts using today's technology. Scouting Milestones is proud to have been chosen as the first Gold Award Website recipient. Check out Scouting Radio, the station that loves to talk Scouting on, Scouting Radio
  • In the last few days I had the good fortune to take my grandchildren - Harry aged 10 a sixer, and his Brownie sister India to London for a few days holiday. We visited the Natural History Museum and naturally called in on B-P House for the photo opportunity with the youngsters posing alongside the Don Potter's famous statue of Baden-Powell (for details of Don Potter and his Scouting history go to the Biography Pages). Perhaps it would have been better though if we had stayed at the door! This may be old news to some of you, but the Scout Association have come to some arrangement with the German Hostel/City Hotel firm Meininger. The offices above the ground floor have long been let off, as UK Scouting has centralized its administration on the Gilwell Park site, but for some time the hostel continued to run by the Scout Association. The reception area of the House contained a small Scouting display and visitors coming from other countries etc could still buy souvenirs and feel that they were in Scout-owned premises. The situation now is that the displays have been removed - and apart from few dispointing scouting 'souvenirs' on sale at the counter- the place has lost its Scouting Character and I feel Scouting visitors who travel from any distance are going to be disappointed, though I understand that there will be a small Scouting photographic exhibtion mounted at some time in the future.
    I have just checked the hostel/hotel's website and single rooms per night are available at £110, which may not be bad against other hotel accommodation in Central London but will totally alter the hostel's (or hotel as it now likes to be called) clientele. This is very along way from the hopes expressed for the way the House would be a focus for visiting Scouts from across the world when the foundation stone was laid by Lady Olave Baden-Powell in 1959 and when the House was opened by the Queen in 1961 - the money for its construction being raised not only from large corporate sponsorship but also from many individual members of the Association.

    You know the old maxim things either get better or they get worse - nothing stays the same. That's wrong however, the Scout Spirit is always the same but it does takes some dints from time to time! Perhaps one of most worrying aspects of these recent changes is that fact that it is clear from the comments that you can leave on line about any London Hotel that some of the Hostel/Hotel's Company's guests are critical of the accommodation but are unaware that the Scout Association is no longer responsible for it.
  • As always Scouting Milestones continues to attract the most interesting correspondence re the articles we have on the site. There has been much recent correspondence with families who had ancestors at the Siege of Mafeking, and my Mafeking Siege Register has been working overtime and is all the while being updated. A much awaited contact however has been to do with a later war. I delayed for a long time putting the story of the Sea Scout and Dunkirk 'Little Ship' on the Minotaur, as I was aware that I really I had more questions than answers, but decided to add the piece once I found out for sure that the historic vessel had been scrapped. I finished the Page with a plea for readers to contact me if they had any further information. I knew this was long shot and that only people who were likely to have such information would be family of the boat's Skipper and Mortlake Sea Scouts GSL Tom Towndrow. Well, once again, the miracle has been wrought and I have been contacted by Jim Towndrow and his brother John, who are brothers of the new deceased Tom. John accompanied his brother Jim and the Minotaur down river to the assembly point to cross the channel to pick up the troops at Dunkirk, and Jim two years after the war went with Minotaur to the World Jamboree at Moisson, France. They thankfully confirm that my amateur detective work concerning the amazing history of the vessel is correct but have of course further details and memories which they have promised to share. This is indeed a wonderful revelation and important Scout History event - which as I say on the Minotaur pages - is also part of the history of this nation.
  • I was very pleased to talk to members of the Yorkshire Studies Group at Shepley, and receive a gift from its organisor of historic images and video footage of Scouting events locally and at the 1929 World Jamboree. I look forward to meeting Scouting friends in North Yorkshire at forthcoming talks in that Scout County- the first being on 19th April at Thorpe Willoughby.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
March 25th 2008
  • Right! I am reporting back for duty after having being away in the Antarctic for nearly a month. What an experience! For those of you interested in knowing the details, the cruise was on a Norwegian Ship, the Nordnorge, which is owned by Hurtigruten. I cannot recommend them highly enough. We visited all of the historical sites that I had an interest in e.g. Operation Tabarin's Hut B on Deception Island and Hut A (Port Lockroy) 0peration Tabarin was set up by Scout Marr - you can read all about this on Scout Marr Pages Scout Marr was with Shackleton when he died on South Georgia which was another of the places we visited. It was with great satisfaction that I was able to buy the Scout Marr stamps and first day cover that I had helped produce from the South Georgia Post Office - Scouting Milestones provided some of the artifacts used in the design, and I wrote the official press release, used as the 'stiffener' inside the First Day Cover.
    I was then a great thrill to call at Port Lockroy, which is still manned. and meet with ex Scout Rick Atkinson who was in charge of the base. Rick has now finished his tour of duty in Antarctica and by now will be back home in Scotland. I hope to be in touch with him soon.
  • The ship also called in on the Falkland islands where my involvement in their Scout issue stamps is recorded on RRS Discovery Pages Again it was a great thrill to go to the post office and meet the lady Post Master- who also oversees the South Georgia post office. It was also very pleased indeed to meet up with Phil Middleton who is the GSL of the Stanley Scout Group on the island and had attended the World Jamb and Brownsea sunrise last year- - where we might have rubbed shoulders as I was at both events. The Falklands was also of special interest as my brother Keith was amongst the Marine Commandos who 'yomped' across the island to help liberate it in the Falklands war now 26 years ago. Of course the expedition had a lot more to offer then history- though there were two history lecturers on board. The wildlife sites visited and the amazing scenary especially of the Lemaire Channel can hardly be imagined.
  • It was also an vert great co-incidence that amongst the passengers there should be another Scout Historian- who had like myself published books on Scout History- there aren't too many of us per square mile so for two Scout Historians to be on the same ship in one the most remote areas of the world was, to use the word yet again, amazing. Jacqmin Leon was from Belgium and his 'Le Scoutisme en Belgique Autrefois' was published last year.
  • So now home, I can begin to think again about all those things which need doing- not least bringing my latest book, The Dawn of the World Scout Movement, to the attention of all those who would like to read it. Published in exactly the same format as my last book, the successful 'Brownsea B-P's Acorn', it is the same price £14.99 plus £2.50 post and packing within the UK. Should you be interested in obtaining a copy please you the contact details at the end of this blog.
On Thursday of this Week - at 2 pm at the Methodist Hall in Shepley near Huddersfield Yorkshire. I will talking to the Yorkshire Historical Group on 'The Siege of Mafeking' with of course special reference to the Yorkshire Folk who were present. (As you will see from the above we get everywhere - big grin-. I am sure the Society would not object if you are able to get along. Regular readers to this blog will know that I give quite a few talks - on all matters relating to Scouting encompassed on these pages. They (and you) will not be surprised to learn that 'Scouting Antarctica'- is now added to the repertoire- if you would like to arrange for 'Scouting Milestones' talk, please make contact.


Our new FORUM Page.
Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                     Colin Walker (Johnny)
(Use my name as a link to write to me) February 15th 2008
  • I always seem to be apologising for not having updated the Blog more recenty! What is the excuse this time? Well I have been working flat out to complete the latest book 2008- The Dawn of the World Scout Movement in time for its official launch of Founder's Day (February 22nd)/ I am pleased to say that all is complete and the first box of books arrived yesterday and have been sent off to all those folks who made an advance order. If you would like the latest work, the cost is £14.99 plus £2.50 post and packing if you are in the UK- if not in the UK please advise and I will supply postage details to where ever you live. The new book is exactly the same format as Brownsea:B-P's Acorn i.e. A4 format- lots of colour pics, 162 pages - and Scout History as you have never read it before! Please email for my home address to send cheques if in the UK- if abroad PayPal is permissible.

  • The new book has an analysis of Baden-Powell's 1908 Diaries, and an account of the major factors influencing his writings in 1908, i.e. The 'Brother Organisations, i.e. the BB, CLB and YMCA, The Legion of Frontiersmen and Ernest Thompson- Seton. The is a chapter on the 'Writing of a Best Seller' ie. Scouting for Boys which also details the introduction in 1908 of the Scout Magazine. The introduction of the Scout Movement and the 1908 Badges are documented and the largest chapter is a definitive account of the 1908 first National Camp with B-P in Northumberland. There is Chapter on the First UK Scouts and the introduction in 1908 in all countries abroad- with information which will certainly surprise some people. Obviously one chapter is not enough to go into all 1908 UK Scout Groups so an appendix database detailing nearly 300 UK 1908 starts, the large listing ever published. The book is written by a Scout for Scouts - in an entertaining style that will be of interest to the general reader but at the same time serious Scout Historians will find something of interest on every page!

  • Last year was of course quite eventful as far as Scouting was concerned and I gave a number of talks up and down the Country - the most memorable one for me (not that they weren't all memorable(Big Grin) was in Brownsea Castle, on the 100th anniversary of the day the founder stayed there, two days before the start of the Experimental Camp. I am now taking bookings for talks from May onwards,and will inform/entertain any a bonafida Scout Audiences where numbers are in excess of 60 for expenses only. A Charge will be made for non Scouting groups or where the audience is smaller that 60. I look forward to attending the Northunberland Humshaugh Centenial Camp and will have exciing news later in the year above other interesting projects.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
January 17th 2007
  • Barely a week goes by that I don't have an enquiry, in some form or another, about one of the webpage articles. Often these are from people who have a direct association with the subject matter. A good example of that would be the mail I had this very day from Tony Chowles, a direct descendant of Mafeking Cadet C Choles. The information that Tony supplied will form a welcome revision ot the Mafeking Cadet pages. The total number of contacts I have now had from descendants of Cadets is five. Of course, it is not possible to get much closer to core Scouting History than to be studying the history of the Mafeking Cadets

    Some pages however generate more contact than others, Bamboo Thumsticks the inspirational story of Japanese Thumbsticks written now over five years ago, whilst proving very popular, if that is the right word for such moving testimony, has up to very recently failed to yeild any personal contacts. I say 'up to recently' because in space of the last two weeks, like the proverbial buses, contacts have come flooding in - well it feels like after having none for so many years, as now I have three. Thanks to a reader of my Brownsea:B-P's Acorn book who was wanting to place an order for the new, 1908 The Dawn of the World Scout Movement, I became aware that in his county of Bedfordshire there lives Alec Brown who helped to start the Rover Crew in the notorious Changi POW camp in Singapore in 1942. Contact with County Officials in Bedfordshire brought links with Scouters who know Alec (Bedfordshire feartured Alec wearing his Changi neckeer (see web artical) in its 2007 calander presentation. It wasn't long before I had been introduced to Alec's son- and I am shortly to visit them both and will I am sure have many more tales to add to the Changi story. Alec has already indicated that he has memories of many of the Rovers mentioned on the site.)

    A few days later I had a contact from Cliff Phillips who wrote to tell me that his father. now deceased, had been a Rover in Changi and Shirakaw (Formosa) and sent me a copy of his Rover Membership Certificate, made in the camp, to prove it. Cliff has promised to supply me with details of his father's life and Scouting Activities.

    I think that Cliff must have been responsible for introducing for my next contact to Milestones, Michael Hurst MBE, who is the director of the Taiwan (Formosa) POW Camps Memorial Society Michael had been alerted to the Bamboo Thumbsticks page which he has now read for the first time. He writes that he has been in Scouting most of his life and with his interest in the POW Camps found the Milestonespage very helpful containing, as it does, information about many of the people on his database - and also providing fresh names to add it. He tells he spent most of the day reading the site and I am sure that we will have a most fruitful relationship assisting each other.

    One contact to assist in adding information to my Bamboo Thumbstick pages would have been very rewarding, - three, is absolutely astounding and will, of course, result much fresh information to add to the Scouting Milestone's memorial to the Rover Scout POWs. Michael knew though correspondance, the Rev Fred Stallard whom I had worked for when younger as a Youth Leader in his parish. I was aware that he had been a POW but it was not until I started to research the history of the Changi and Formosa camps that I realised what an amazing Scouting career that he had had - and then even more amazingly discovered that I also knew another ex Peterborough Rover, Wally Hammond, who was part of the Changi story. (If you have not yet read the insprational story, let me reccomend that you do it now!)
  • As always there is far more to tell, but too little time to tell it in. I have been very busy these last few weeks with the new book which very near now to being printed. Many thanks to those of you that have sent orders- thanks your your patience, I assure you the book is worth waiting for!


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
January 2nd 2008
  • One again- but the first time this year let me wish Scouting Milestones readers a HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2007 and was a truly fantastic year for Scouting and for once that overworked word is being correctly applied! No doubt you, as did Scouts across the world, celebrated our centential, in your own District and/or County. There was one, and only one organisation that took it upon itself to record these events as they unfolded, across the world and then to play back as they happened, live to every Scouting nation.

    They started off with live coverage from a large Scout gathering observing the sunset, the evening before the great day, off The Needles on the Isle of Wight, and moved in real time, again live, to the sunrise of August 1st 1907 in South Island New Zealand. They took in reports and interviews from Scouts across the world as sun travelled over the face of the globe until at last we were ready to meet it on Brownsea Island where it all started on that very day 100 years previously. I tried to describe, with emotion breaking into my voice just what I was seeing and feeling as Peter Duncan the Chief Scout blew Baden-Powell's Kudu Horn three times across the original camping ground. I was fortunate to be a small part of the team that been involved in creating the re-enactment camp on Brownsea and was close to them as they stood in their 1907 costumes wearing the copies of the Scout badge that Baden Powell made for the original Brownsea Campers. They reaffirmed their promise with the Chief Scout which echoed out back across the world from my microphone 100 years and 29 million Scouts later than when the 22 original boys they represented, first heard about Scouting first hand from the Founder on that very spot.

    Throughout the day live coverage came from across the globe with a link to the International World Scout Guide Centre at Kandersteg in Switzerland. Scouts from all nations contacted the studios to bring their own stories of the day and these were interspersed with the voices of famous Scouts fromm the past including the inspirational voice of the Founder himself- which then leapt the generations in the form of his Grandson Michael Baden-Powell from Scouting Australia as he addressed listeners on the importance of the event.

    The organisation that did all was not one of the large world-famous companies, such as the BBC ITV CBN etc etc that enjoyed the hospitality of the media centre on Brownsea island because, no matter how big they were, THEY WERE JUST NOT BIG ENOUGH! No, - in the true traditions of Scouting the one organisation that managed 36 hours of continuous live reporting from every part of the globe, were a small but hard-working group of Scout volunteers, who call them Scouting Radio, The station that loves to talk Scouting, and if you have not listened to them yet, then its time that you did!

    There have been many Scouting souvenirs produced over the last year and some of them will, if previous experience is anything to go buy, in future years be worth a lot of money. There is one such however that I am proud to own, and is in my view is priceless, but of course I am very very biased. The Scouting Radio Team has sweated blood to bring down the 36 hours of live reportage to just one hour on a specially produced C-D and that is available now to Scouts Worldwide by visiting the station's Website.

    Every Scout Archive and Scout Collection should of course have a copy. There is truly nothing else that can begin to capture the enormity of the Sunrise Event across the world.

    To listen to it, will I promise, impress upon you, perhaps as never before just how grand and widespread was the Founder's vision; what it means to young people across the world today. Above all, it will make you proud to call yourself a Scout. - Oh, and just in case you ever doubted - amy monies made from the sale of this disc will not swell the coffers of Scouting Radio's shareholders, - it hasn't got any! It will though help it to carry on doing the job it set itself, bringing Scouting programmes made by Scouts, to Scouts, around the world 24 hours a day!


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
December 31th 2007
  • Apologies to Milestones readers who regularly check these update/blog pages expecting to see something new! The problem has been trying reinstate my Macromedia Homesite Programme after a computer crash. My copy was paid for and downloaded on line- but it has taken this long for me to get the programme up and running again - and this in the end was only achievable by buying an upgrade! But enough- we are back in business again.
  • So, belated Christmas Greeting and Happy New Year to all Milestones Readers.
  • To those of you that are eagerly anticipating my latest book. 1908: The Dawn of the World's Scout Movement the good news is that it is very nearly finished now. I can promise that it will be a worthy successor to the last book Brownsea:B-P's Acorn. The bad news is that it might just take a little longer to get published than I expected. I hoped that it would be out by 15th January which is the 100th anniversary of Scouting for Boys part edition Scouting For Boys, The Parts, but the publishers say it may have to be bit later, but definitely before (I hope a long time before) the 100th anniversary of the Complete Edition which was May 1st 1908. In any event I hope you agree that it will worth waiting for.
  • The purpose of this blog was just reestablish contact- much has happened in the last month- and I will be in touch shortly. In the meantime remember that 2008 is our true centennial. Brownsea was an experimental camp. A troop near started up in 1908. Let me know about! Happy Christmas,


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
November 29th 2007
  • I am indebted to many corespondents who written to me with information regarding 1908 Scout Troops at home and abroad. Many thanks for this, every lead is being followed. Birkenhead who were in at the very start of Scouting have at least two 1908 troops have written to invite me, (and you) to a free exhibition, The Birkenhead Centenary Exhibition which opens at the Wirral Museum 1st. Dec. 2007 and will I understand be open till Easter. Great! A Scouting Exhibition in our actual Centennial Year.
  • The famous plaque that B-P unveiled in the YMCA Building Birkenhead, to say that he inaugurated Scouting in that Building in January 1908 has gone missing! Don't worry it has been 'missing' for some years now. I had a correspondents who said it was in the staff canteen of the shop that took over the building, but I have been unable to trace it. I have written to the YMCA Birkenhead several times without response but in a few day's time I am to visit YMCA archives in Birmingham so hopefully I will learn more. Meanwhile if you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the famous Birkenhead YMCA plaque, please let me know.
  • Unfortunately I was unable to go to the Live07 Scouting Celebrations at the 02 Dome, but I have a friend who did and he brought me back a Programme. The spirit of the Ralph Reader lives! Congratulations to the producer Howard Bentley and to all the Gang who came from so many districts that I can really afford the time to count them all!
  • Regular readers will know that one (well one of many) of the 'anorak' things that I do is to maintain a Baden-Powell chronology, a day by day diary of B-P's Scouting life. Really? Indeed, his diaries on microfiche are just a start to this mammoth ongoing task, onto that, I 'graft' all known B-P references where they can be dated and authenticated. B-P letters and sketches are of particular interested to me and so if you are lucky own one or more, or your group/distinct/county proudly have one on a wall somewhere I would like to know it. All this information I squirrel away on computer databases that is available to you through the medium of the pages on this site and the books that I write, but also I am happy to correspond to short genuine enquiries. I do NOT however have the time to write other people's articles or homework for them (yes, it happens!) I am too busy with my own!

    Happy Christmas,


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
November 20th 2008
  • Last week was spent researching, using my camper as a base. Much useful work was done in transcribing Baden-Powell's diaries which, in this country, are only to be found on Microfiche. The originals belong to the Boy Scouts of America. These diaries were mainly kept by B-P as a record of appointments and do not go into his innermost thoughts, except perhaps when he went on foreign tours. I doubt that he ever believed that they would read by anyone other than himself and so his handwriting is on occasion almost indecipherable (I should complain! as those of you that have ever seen mine can testify!). Transcribing these diaries is an arduous and painstaking long-term project. On average it takes three days to complete two years! The advantage of putting this information on a computer database is self-evident. Whereas previously the only way of seeking information was to know the date of a particular event, and that day could then be checked to see what the diary contained. With the single word search facility of the computer database I am now able to find very quickly when B-P visited a particular location or met individuals. Of course the project will really only have complete validity, i.e. we will be able to say with some certainty then that a place or individual was or was not mentioned in totality of B-P's Scouting life, when the diaries have been completely transcribed. On the present rate of progress that will be some time yet.

  • Milestones readers have come up trumps yet again! In response to my plea for information on 1908 Scout Troops at home and abroad I have had very helpful correspondence from Steve Bobrowicz of Canada who has given me contact details for the three - yes three Canadian Scout Groups who all claim to be the first in what was then the Dominion of Canada. Stephen Rowley, Assistant Chief Commissioner, Scouts Australia has also been most helpful in supplying details and contacts for Scout Groups formed in New South Wales and Victoria during 1908. If you believe your Scout Group, or any Group that you have had contact with was formed in 1908 please let me know. My new book The Dawn of the World Scout Movement' comes out in early 1908, the one hundredth anniversary of many Scouts Groups, yours, if not already immortalized in a Scout History text, could easily be so!

  • Just prior to going away on my researches I was contacted by Stephen Wilson from Australia who writes with information about his grandfather the revered Francis Gidney, first Camp Chief at Gilwell. Stephen has been very helpful and his information will add to the store of knowledge contained in the lengthy biography of Gidney which can be found on these pages. These will be brought up to day when Stephen has been able to contact his father, aged 93 who will I am sure be able to give further insight into one of our greatest Scouting Pioneers,Francis 'Skipper' Gidney whose influence spread far beyond the UK.

  • There are plans at long last to do something about the some of the 'greyed-out' titles in theIndex. The greying out signifys a future article yet to be written. I hope that in the new year a Ralph Reader and the Gangshow page, a long standing project will be contributed by a guest author, more details in a later milestone, and thanks to Frank Brittain the very active archivist of Hertfordshire, I can no longer use lack of info as an excuse for not writing about the SIRS (Scout International Service) who did such astonshing work in Displaced Persons Camps in the closiing months of the second world war. Another Nilestone that will amaze you. Kent's County Commisssioner, Kelvin Holford, is a great friend of these pages has provided allowed me to borrow two very rare books written by early Scouting Pioneer Major Crumm, a name that should be better known and is now destined to appear on our Biography pages. 2008 is going to be a very busy year!


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
November 10th 2007
  • The power of the website, as I have said so many times, before never fails to amaze me. The latest response to the Visitors' Book is from granddaughter of Charles Tug Wilson who was one of the leading light in the Changi Rover Group, who were prisoners of the Japanese after the fall of Singapore in 1941. This group was in turn was responsible for Rover Groups being set up in all Japanese POW camps. Clare tells us that her grandfather only died last year. Anybody who wants to be reminded of which what heroic work these Rover Groups did in such terrible circumstances should read Bamboo Thumbsticks . Clare's message come very near to Remembrance Sunday- the whole purpose of the Bamboo Thumbsticks website is 'Lest We Forget'. If you have never read this amazing story, you should.

  • I received an email from a Lithuanian Vytas Slipus, he now lives in America and had been trying to contact me for some time but failed. So Vytas emailed his son who was able to pass on his email. If your have read the Calgaric Pages you will know that the whole of the 'Piece Cruises' pages came about because of the 'detective work' that was necessary to explain the existance of a little silver badge given to me by a friend. The badge had 'B-P' in one corner 'AS' in another and the word Palanga below. I was able to find the badge was given to all the 'cruisers' when SS Calgaric visited Lithuania in 1933, the fist of the Peace Cruises with 400 or so Guiders, Scouters, B-P and Lady B-P aboard. I discovered that 'AS' was Antanas Smetona the then President of Lithania. I found an photo,now on the page, of B-P opening a street in Palanga- a port in Lithania. It transpired that the most striking personage on this image, a tall elderly gentlemen, with white flowing beard and frock coat was Vytas's father. The webpage goes on to detail how the cruisers joined with the Lithuanian Scouts at their camp in the pines next to the sea. They sat down for feast at the worlds' biggest table made up of a trench for the feet, the earth as a beautiful table, covered in designs made out of stones, moss and shells. Vytas tells me that he himself sat at that table with B-P and the other 'cruisers' a staggering 74 years ago. This info will go now into the next upstate of that page.

  • B-P's whole life was punctuated with the most amazing co-incidences. If you want an example of just one; B-P, his wife and his daughter Heather all shared the same birthday. ummmm, you are not impressed? Well his other daughter Betty her husband Gervais and their daughter Gillian - all share the same birthday, you still think that just sort of thing happens all the time, well ponder on this. B-P's son, his wife Carine, and their son Robert(now the present Lord Baden-Powell) all share the same birthday. B-P called that 'the triple coincidence of the twin birthdays', as my son would say, "what are the chances?" Well I don't have anything so dramatic to report but yesterday I was in Northumberland doing research on my new book (see below) which incudes a major rewrite of the Humshaugh 1908 pages on this site. The Scouts came by train to Fourstones and walked up to the camp, so I was at Fourstones to see what still survived of the station today, and the answer is not a lot. Whilst checking this out with the Landlord of the local pub, one of the onlu two other customers, on hearing my mention of the 1908 Camp, told me that he was a Scout and had attended a 1957 'memorial' Camp at Humshaugh, - mentioning that a bugle that was blown at the original camp- had been sent by its owner John Cattermole, to be blown again at the anniverseary camp.

    You can read all about John Cattermole on theHumshaugh pages so I knew the story to be true. However, what are the chances of bumping into someone who was actually at the anniversasry camp, fifty years ago, to hear John Cattermole's trumpet being blown?


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
November 8th 2007
  • Again far too long has elapsed since my last update. Again I have been 'out and about', but have also experienced a very severe computer crash that has been only just been remedied by a friend with far more computer savy than I possess! Apologies however to my regular readers.

  • My problems have not stopped me from being very busy, and there is a lot to report(Too much for one update I am afraid. Writing is going on in earnest for my new book, a sequel to Brownsea:B-P's Acorn.The new book is to be called 'The Dawn of the Scout Movement:1908', and will cover the introduction of Scouting for Boys, The Scout magazine, The Uniform and badges, The Humshaugh Camp etc, with an important chapter on 1908 Scout Groups at home and abroad. That, dear reader. is where you come in. If you are member of a 1908 group, or know of one in your district than please can write to me on the link below so I can establish contact. I have access to many forms of official records, however as far as Scouting in 1908 is concerned it local information that is vital. Patrols and Groups were active in districts before the District Committees were set up, and group registrations sometimes took over a year to be notified to the Scout Office in London. So, any help would be appreciated and of course acknowledged in the new book.
  • I will be off on my travels again next week, further research for the new book, but sincerely hope to be able to add at least one more update before I do.


    Our new FORUM Page.
    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
October 15th 2007
  • It is just over a month ago since I wrote the last update. During the intervening time I have been out and about - a three week holiday in the Motor Caravan taken us through France across the Pyrenees to Barcelona, and north up that wonderful coastline back into France. The crowds had all left, the weather was wonderful, and scenery superb. And how did I spend the evenings as they shortened to pitch black by around 8 p.m.? Was I sampling the high life, testing out the vino, etc. No I was not. I was in the motor-caravan, in front of the laptop transcribing the Mafeking Siege Slips! Sometimes, just sometimes, I worry about me!
    The Siege Slips, 'published daily shells permitting' were issued on most days of the Siege, and as newsprint began to run out, tissue paper, and even ledger paper was pressed into service. As soon as the Siege ended, bound copies of the Siege Slips were produced and these as you might expect are worth a considerable amount of money, and, being now 107 years old, are extremely fragile. The tissue pages can crumble before your eyes at the least provocation. The fragility ought to make any sensible owner extremely careful about how often the book is opened. In my researches however for my Mafeking's Artillery and the now published Mafeking Siege Register, as well as magazine articles etc, I tend to use it more frequently than is good for it. So, some time ago I resolved in a rash moment to type the whole thing out- all 170 slips into 'Word'.( Can you believe it?) This I thought would save wear and tear in future years but above all enable me to search the entire document using the single word search facility. That would be wonderful. That was about five years ago! I am however now within sight of the winning post. I have only about 30 issues left to go- each one takes me about two hours to type (what an anorak!) so sometime in the next year I expect to be proudly announcing a new publication. Should you want to read all the Mafeking Siege Slips instead of paying around £1000 for a copy you will be able to order up one from me at around £25. Order yours now! No money required just let me know if you are interested. And, when on some future winter evening, you are snug in front of the fire reading about B-P in Mafeking 107 years ago, you can look up from your glass and spare a thought for that idiot who sat in balmy evenings in Spain and other far flung corners over the world crouched over his lap top, typing, typing, typing .......
  • Some of you I am sure will be able to imagine the size of my mailbox on my return after so long away. I am pleased to inform you that I have had additional information sent re Sir Percy Everett which will be added to the Biography pages and also to Scout Marr and the Quest. These pages will be amended in the near future.
  • Now safely back home, the work continues, and my new book to be published in the the new year, - 1908, The dawn of the World Scout Movement, which will also include a full account of the first 'proper' Scout Camp at Humshaugh in Northumberland in 1908, the true centennial year for the start of the Scout Association. The book will of course include all the Scouting happenings of that portentous year including the writing of Scouting for Boys and The Scout Magazine, the first Scout Troops, badges etc etc etc. The Scout County of Northumberland are going to hold a Centennial Camp close to the original site, and I hope to be involved in the festivities. Watch this space!


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                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
September 11th 2007
  • Back safe and sound from one of the best Gilwell Reunions I can remember. The weather throughout the whole event was absolutely perfect and, as usual, it was wonderful to meet so many old friends and find new ones amongst the Milestone's readers who came across to the International Badger's Club village to introduce themselves.
  • In the trading village amongst all the badge swapping and buying and selling of Scout artifacts there was much to be found that was of interest and that will benefit future Milestone Pages. The 'Minotaur' Sea Scout 'Little Ship'Pages have already been revised since my return to include a new image of the boat at the 1947 World Jamboree, and the exact location of one of the existing photographs on the page. Other acquisitions will appear on the 'History of the Rover's Page', and the projected 'Scouts in World War 1' and 'Ralph Reader and the Gang Shows' pages, as I have acquired very rare recordings of the 1934/35/36 Gang Shows. Hopefully by the time that Page is written I will be able to offer background sound from the recordings.
  • For me, as every year, the highlight of the whole Reunion is the campfire and this year was no exception. Modern head-mikes make sure that all the 'presenters' can be clearly heard and an excellent 'stunt' was always performed by the Gilwell Camp team, but it is the humour and the harmonious singing of the huge crowd that leaves the lasting impression in that magic campfire hollow where B-P himself sat and sang along that revives the soul - especially when some the old faithfuls are sung from the heart by so many, this year joined by the founder's two grandchildren Michael B-P and Gill Clay.
  • Walking back from the fire with weird and ancient campfire blankets in every direction it is not long before you hear the counter attractions of one of the country's best Scout Bands and at least three different discos going full-blast, not to mention the various bars. Truly something for everyone. Those of you that have never experienced a Reunion - believe me you are missing out! These days it is not an event just for Wood Badge holders, it is for everybody and one of the best events in the Scouting calender.


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                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
September 2nd 2007
  • It may come as a surprise to some Milestones readers to know that not everybody views these articles from the convenience of a PC or laptop. There are still those who prefer to read from hardcopy even when they have a PC - and for a variety of reasons some folks don't have access to a machine in their homes. For these reasons I am asked occassionally to provide a hardcopy of a Milestones article. Those of you that understand the technicalities of webpage design will appreciate that this is not an easy operation. Webpages are not 'paginated', they are designed to 'scroll'. If you force a webpage on to A4, you will invariably end up with images being split or missed out altogether. To produce a proper 'book', it is necessary to take the coded webpage and virtually rewrite it specifically for A4 pages. Such is the demand now for these 'print outs' that I try to have some copies of each to hand. The forthcoming 'Gilwell Reunion' (next weekend 8th/9th September) is one of the places where friends and frequent attenders of the event know that they can be obtained - along with copies of my 'properly published' books such as 'Brownsea: B-P's Acorn', and 'JT Cornwell VC and the Scouts' Badge of Courage' etc. There are a few (very few it must be admitted) aficionados of Milestones that have a print out of every single article! These are 'comb-bound' and are produced with hard covers protected by clear acetate sheets.
  • So that should explain why I have spent the last week or so slaving in front of a hot printer manufacturing Scout History books. One book had already been ordered called 'Lead' Jamboree and as this is very specialist Page concerning itself with lead Scouting Models, it was some long time ago since I had last produced a booklet. I was amazed to find that it was in fact that it was first printed out in 2001. Because collecting Lead Scouting Models is a long-standing hobby of mine - it was one of the first articles to be included in Milestones being transferred from an earlier site I ran on Toy Collecting.
  • The real shock came when I actually looked at the page as it is displayed on the website. OH DEAR, it was one of the few that had escaped serious revision since it was written. (Most Milestones articles are amended several times a year- if you want to check there is always a revision date at the end of each article.) It wasn't so much what I had written that appalled it was the quality of the photographs! In the year 2000 digital photography was in its infancy and my brand new camera that then cost £600 would now be outshone by those attached to most modern phones! Since that time I have had three generations of digital camera and for those that are interested, I now use Canon 400D's. The quality of today's images compared with those created in 2000 is just amazing. So, what could I do, send my customer very old hat, or start again? Fortunately in the intervening the years the Lead Jamboree has its fair share of new and interesting acquisitions, so the decision was easy. Go to the < A href="jamboree.htm" target="parent" title="Lead Jamboree">'Lead' Jamboreeand see the 'new' page in all its glory. I promise you that even if you are not a Toy Collector as a Scouting enthusiast you will find something of interest and, as with all Milestones articles, aspects of our history that you have never encountered before.
  • Should you like to have any of the Milestones articles printed as a booklet, but are not fortunate enough to be attending the Gilwell Reunion please write to me on the link provided. If you are going to Gilwell I will be in the 'Badgers' Village' close to the new climbing wall. Look for the Scouting Milestones banner. Come and have a chat!


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                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
August 23 2007
  • Through the my actual rather than virtual mailbox this week came a First Day Cover of our Scouting Centenary Stamps with a special Brownsea Island Postmark and a very striking cachet showing the cover of the The Boy Scouts Role of Honour/i> by Eric Wood. The cover of this book appears the History of the Sea Scouts Pages and it had attracted the attention of the 'Cover Co-ordinator' of the Association of Great Britain First Day Cover Collectors who wrote to me and requested my help in providing the image for the purposes of a 'cachet' on their First Day Cover of the Scout Issue. Of course I was delighted to help. Though there was no need to ask anyone else's permission as the book is way out of copyright, the 'Cover Co-ordinator' then requested and received permission to use my image from the UK Scout Association. A model of how to proceed when using what could be the copyright of others! If I say so myself the cover is very striking and can, I believe, be purchased by writing to the Cover Co-ordinator, CBFDC, 40 Mill Lane, Houghton Green, Warrington WA2 OSU.
  • There is on our opening pages, an invitation to use Scouting Milestones for any bona fide Scouting Purpose. As our Founder reminds us that a Scout should take nothing but photographs and leave only thanks, I would hope and expect that anybody taking us up on that invitation would still acquaint us with the intended use our material is going to be put and to and send us a copy if it is to be published in physical way. There should also of course always be a properly constructed acknowledgement. A Google search on our internet address will reveal many such acknowledgements, but of course there are always the 'cowboys'! The amazing thing is that they think nobody will ever notice.

    During our Centenary there has been much use of the Milestones pages for many articles about the Brownsea Sunrise etc. - and again we do not mind, given the briefest of acknowledgement. We would far rather somebody takes the time to get things right. Even Scouting Milestones however can make mistakes! We do however work very hard to eliminate them as soon as possible. Most of our mistakes are 'typos' and thesr often provide the clue that out work is being copied without permission. In an early version of the Milestones Brownsea Article' I mistakenly typed that Brownsea Instructor Coastguard Stevens came from Sandown on the Isle of Wight. This was because I had misread Sandown for nearby (to Brownsea) Sandbanks in a handwritten census return. You will see that mistake is now put right on Milestones in the . However the spelling of Stevens I got right from the Cencus return whereas previously this had almost universally been written as Stephens. So when you see an article about Brownsea and it mentions Coastguard Stevens from Sandown, Isle of Wight you can be sure that it was copied from Milestones. Equally certain is that it we will not have been informed else we would have put them right, and almost as certain is that there will not be a reference to your favorite Scouting History Website! Shall I tell you who the latest perpetrator of this crime? - There have been plenty- but this one was paid money for copying my research for his article in a 'County' magazine. No, its not Scouting is it?


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                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)

August 14th 2007
  • I guess that most of the people who attended the World Jamboree have now returned home and are busy sewing badges onto campfire blankets and sticking photos into albums to remind them of what will probably be the most amazing event in their Scouting lives. For those of us who were able to visit Hylands Park, Gilwell Park or Brownsea Island during the celebrations, memories will also abound and my mailbox is full messages from people whom I am happy to say just had to write and share their wonderful experiences. One visitor to Brownsea, already mentioned on these pages, has sparked off an amazing set of coincidences and, like B-P himself, here on Scouting Milestones we just love coincidences. Wim Doms from Belgium (see July 28th entry below) was waiting at Sandbanks to cross to Brownsea when he was approached by a gentleman who introduced himself as a relative of one of the original Brownsea Boys. The relative turned out to be one the boys whose life history is least known because he died very young. Thanks to Wim I now know more about this boy and will be able to add the details to the next edition of my book Brownsea: B-P's Acorn. The coincidence does not stop there. On the same day as Wim wrote to me I received an email from Australia from a lady Scouter who tells me that her family emigrated from the Bournemouth area and that she is related to the same Brownsea Boy! Naturally I will put the two branches of the family in contact with each other. The details of this boy will of course also be added to the Brownsea pages on this site in due course. Throughout my Brownsea researches for the book it has never failed to amaze me that it is possible to discover fresh information about the camp and its participants 100 years after the event! Whilst on the subject of Brownsea those of you who recieve the official Scout Associatin's Scouting magazine August edition will be able to read my article on Brownsea and discover the advert for the Brownsea book.

  • Another of the pages on this site that attracts great interest is The History of the Rover Scouts . I get mail from Rovers from all over the world, some of whom get too impatient to read to the end of the article and have to write to me at the point I suggest Rovering was abolished in 1968 with the Advanced Party Report. If they waited till the end of the article to write they would have found that I am very aware that many countries still have Rovers who are part of the WOSM (the mainstream World Scout Movement) as do the 'breakaway' Scout Associations here in the UK such as the Baden-Powell Scouts. I list the WOSM organised World Rover Moots which still occur every four years. More patient readers of the Rover Scout pages have written to me recently to remind me that there are a number of Rover Scout Crews still active in the UK that, though unofficial, function within their mainstream UK Scout Association Districts and Counties. Indeed I know of one such that does a considerable amount of work at Gilwell Park. And why not? More power to their elbows. If you should belong to any such Crew please write and tell me of your existance and I will if you wish put you in touch with like-minded fellow Rovers.

  • I am now starting to prepare for my annual visit to the Gilwell Reunion, which of course will be very special in this Centennial Year. As always I will be located in the Badgers 'Village' behind the climbing wall. Look for the Scouting Milestones banner and come and make yourself known.


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    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
August 7th 2007
  • Since the my last 'Blog', my daughter Heather was married on August 4th - another wonderful day. The weather which has been so terrible in the previous two months was great. The event was very much a Scout Wedding and the bride and groom accompanied the Wakefield Scout Fellowship on our visit to the World Jamboree at Hylands Park on August 6th.
  • Hylands Park is about four and a half hours away from Wakefield by coach - and despite leaving at 6 a.m. with a stop and a very heavy traffic we did not get to Weald Airfield until gone eleven. The transfer arrangements to the Shuttle Bus were very efficient and we were soon walking up the aisle of World Flags from the visitors entrance. It was soon very apparent that the participants were having the time of their lives and the number, variety and quality of the things for visitors to do and see was very impressive. The jamboree site with 40,000 campers and 15,000 day visitors has become the second largest town in Essex!
  • We had in our party three generations of the family and all of them felt well entertained and catered for. Our Cub Scout Sixer (and his Granddad) had a great time in the Badgers Club marquee and the every spreading aisles of badge swappers outside. The spirit of Scouting was such that Harry and the other young people in our group who started out with very few badges came back with enough to make a campfire blanket! Scouts and Scouters across the Jamb went out of their way to make our day a success- and they particularly concentrated on our youngsters which made a great impression on them which I am sure will last them all their lives - as indeed my visit to the Jubilee Jamboree in 1957 had on me. The Swedish contingent for example had created out of poineering materials a special fairground complete with Ferris Wheel for younger visitors which was much appreciated by them and gave grandparents a welcome chance to sit down whilst they enjoyed the fun. Truly a family day out!
  • I was delighted to meet many Scouting Milestones readers from across the world, and make lot of new friends. The spirit of the Jamboree was all pervading! The closing ceremony of the Jamboree is today and I wish all the participants from distant shores pleasant times whilst they remain in our country and that their next destinations where they will enjoy the ho ho (Home Hospitality) of their fellow scouts, in what every country, cements long lasting friendships.
  • So home again now after a pretty intensive period of Scouting Activity what with Michael's B-P's visit, The Brownsea Sunrise event, The Wedding, and the World Jamboree. Time to recuperate and get ready for the Gilwell Reunion!


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                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
August 2nd 2007
  • WE DID IT! CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE! Scouting is now 100 years old and entering its second century. I have been very fortunate to be down on Brownsea to witness the Sunrise Event, the event of our Scouting Lifetime, but the fun did not just start there. I was in Brownsea Castle on July 31st giving a talk to invited guests on the very day that B-P arrived on the island. He too was entertained in the Castle with Brownsea Boys the brothers Evans-Lombe and his nephew Donald before the other campers arrived, - probably on the very room we were in. Can you imagine what a thrill and a privilege that was?
  • I was able to re-establish contact with the replica Campers and their leaders- and I have to say their efforts surpassed even my historical scrutiny. The flag flying over the camp was I suggested handmade - wind frayed and as the original was the one that had flown over Mafeking with bullet holes. Such was the attention to detail that having got the all details of the flag correct the team then took the flag down to a rifle range where it was punctured totally authentically!
  • The Campers were in their Edwardian costumes - the Bournemouth BB boys in authentic BB pill box hats and Sam Brown belts made for wonderful photographs amongst the replica bell tents and they all wore copies of the first and second class badges designed and made by B-P. No living person has ever seen one these badge but from my researches for the Brownsea pages on this site and my book Brownsea:B-P's Acorn I was able to supply what I think is a very reasonable drawing of the real thing from which the team had the 'replica' badges made up. Again no effort was spared to make these look totally authentic and I am very fortunate to have an example now as a souvenir and no, it will mot be going on eBay! I would very very surprised if any of the others - all made for the participants with very few spares - every come to that end!
  • The evening before the Sunrise event found me back in Poole with Scouting's Great and Good in the RNLI Hotel in Poole where three of Scouting's Young Spokesperson made impressive contributions with recent DVDs of the previous day's activities on Brownsea. The highlight for me was a very tboughtful and impressive contribution made by Michael B-P, produced, he tells me, by two Aussie Queen's Scouts.
  • One thing that was very apparent was the very hard work that had been put into the whole of the Brownsea 2007 events by a great number of people, some of whom had given up their entire summer holidays to make the everything work - but others had been involved in its organisation of the last seven years! All I can say is that their should be much appreciated!
  • Any of you that were able to listen to the output of Scouting Radio on the day, will have heard my reports sent out live by telephone of the event, those of you that know me will recognise the my voice on occasion was cracking with emotion for which I make no apology.
  • This blog is not meant to be a web-page article and so is not the vehicle for a more detailed record, but the Sunrise Event with my experiences before and after need, I feel, if only for my own satisfaction to be more properly recorded. I propose then to add a new page to the website under the My Personal Milestones as soon as time allows! My reports where just some of the hundreds sent into the studio form across the world as the sunrise reached every Scouting Country. There were major contributions from New Zealand, Australia- and the Scouting County of the Isle of Wight who held their Centennial event as near as they could get to the famous 'Needles' on that island. Justing Dawson, the station's manager tells me the number of 'Hits' received during the stations coverage of the Sunrise Event neared a quarter of a million! Well indeed Scouting Radio's team of dedicated volunteers for providing a vehicle where Scouts could hear events unfold across the world live, produced by Scouts. Thankfully all of the coverage I have heard and read from other communicators is very positive though attention to the correctness of some of the 'facts' reported is a little open to question!
  • On leaving Brownsea I went to a Jamboree at Southamptons's Cricket Wood Scout Camp Site near Southampton where I found Scouts from Denmark, Germany, Canada, Ireland Scotland Wales as well as England. They were having a great time and their camping standards were very high. Their response to my brief talk on the lead up to the Brownsea Camp proved yet again that youngsters are very very interested in our Scouting History- if it is told with some enthusiasm! Cricket Wood is one of the few Local Association sites where cooking over real fires is still permitted.
  • Time does not permit me to write any any more - tomorrow I depart for my daughter's wedding but then on Monday - with much of the family including the Bride and Groom along with members of the Wakefield and Castleford and Pontefract's Scout Fellowship we depart for the World Jamboree at Hyland's Park on which I will have, no doubt, more to say in the next edition of this blog - and also on Scouting Radio , the station that loves to talk Scouting!


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                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
July 28th 2007
  • Today is the opening of the World Centennial Jamboree at Hylands Park Essex. Congratulations to all those who have worked so hard to make the planning a reality, to those who at their own (not inconsiderable) expense have volunteered to support the event by their service throughout the Jamboree and of course to the 40,000 participants. A particular welcome to all those Scouts of the world who are visiting our shores for the first time. Pray for sunshine!

    The BBC throughout the day has carried headline news about the opening and the coverage is going to get bigger and better throughout the Jamboree, not forgetting the Brownsea Sunrise Event on August 1st. If you want to hear exciting live coverage for Scouts by Scouts then visit Scouting Radio - The No 1 Scout podcasting station.

  • With just days before the Browsnea Sunrise Event, I have had an email from Wim Doms of Belgium who orignally contacted me sometime ago with news of a project inspired by our Brownsea Pages

    On learning that at least four of the original Brownsea Boys were buried in the Somme Battlefields he set about, with his friends Bert Jeurissen and Danny Vliers to find the graves and mark them with a special Scouting wreath- and of course photograph and document them. As you will know if you have read my book Brownsea:B-P's Acorn. I have a particular'hobby horse' that the Brownsea Boys were never given the accord they deserved - and that is even more true for the seven that died as a result of the First World War. That their graves should be marked in time for the Brownsea Cenentennial which is being taking as the anniversary is both appropriate and wonderful! That it should be inspired by 'Milestones' is of course also gratifying but every credit goes to Wim who in a total private capacity set out to do the long over-due task of honouring these Brownsea Pioneers in time for our Centennial. B-R-A-V-O-! The photographs supplied by Wim will be added to the Milestones Brownsea Page in due course.

  • Milestones has been approached by TSPA (The Scout Patch Auction) website who also sell a deal on eBay. They were concerned to authentic one the rarest items in Scouting Collectables, a complete set of the original Scouting for Boys part series issued in January 1908. The are to be congratulated on checking out the item as so many eBay sellers, it has to be said, either knowingly or from a lack of knowledge mislead would be purchasers. This particular item is in a sense easy to authentic because five or the original six parts are larger that the original issue of Part 1. The replicas are all the same size. However Part I of the 1908 is the same size as the replicas, so other ways have to found authenticating that. Having documented the Part series for TSPA I decided that Milestone readers should have the same access to this knowledge and so have added it to the B-P Books Pages


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    Our new Visitors' Book.
                                                                                         Colin Walker (Johnny)
    (Use my name as a link to write to me)
July 24th 2007
  • Well it is all now nearly upon us! The long awaited 100th anniversary of Scouting is only a few days away on Aug 1st. I shall be on Brownsea to see the kudu horn blown at the Sunrise event and to give a talk in the castle. The World Jamboree at Hyland's Park near Chelmsford will have already started and the Set of 6 special Scouting Centennial stamps to commemorate our centennial will be issued in the UK this Thursday. All very very exciting. Log on to Scouting Radio on the internet for reportd of Sunrise events as they happen across the world including my reports as to what is happening on Brownsea itself.For those of you who get see Scouting Magazine, look out for my article on Brownsea in the Aug 1st Centennial Edition and not forgetting the advert in the back for my book Brownsea:B-P's Acorn If you should see me at the Brownsea Sunrise or World Jamb- please come and make your self known.- how will you know me? I will be wearing a Scouting Radio Gillette (body warmer)

  • I heard an interesting programme on BBC Radio 4 today on how wonderful Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia is. Well to be fair the presenter Clive Anderson did point out some of its failings. As regular readers of these pages know Milestones is also fairly encyclopedic when it comes to Scouting History. Many many Wikipedia references have been taken straight off Milestones pages. Of course I don't mind this if they are properly credited. But they are not! Usually there follows a list of references, some of which hardly skim the subject, and the Scouting Milestones article from which most of the text is often taken- can be up to 20A4 pages bang on the topic. If our definitive articles on which we spend many many hours are just going to be precised and copied it makes you wonder if the effort is all worthwhile.

    Maybe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I would hope that those seeking info on Scouting History come to the horse's mouth and not a very pale imitation. Am I though 'just peeing in the wind'? As good as our visitor's book contributors say we are, my precised and un-attributed work on Wikipeadia gets thousands of hits per day- whereas we battle on with a comparatively small but enthusiastic band dedicated readers. If you ever get a chance to add Scouting Milestones as a link to the many Wikipeadia Scouting Topics that use our material, please do, but better still tell your friends/scouts/cubs etc to come visit the best researched Scout History Website there is. (I do not under-estimate the very excellent Pine Tree Web-we are very complimentary as Lou Orans provides very useful copies of first hand resources whereas we publish researched articles. Let's leave Wikipeadia to the those who enjoy dull and bland. That can we confidently state, we (and Pine Tree Web) will never will be!


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