Birth of Guiding

 Birth of Guiding

1909 is the memorable year in the history of scouting to have the first

Gathering of Scout at Crystal Palace,

London. Over 11,000 Scouts in

uniform who attended the rally

proved their willingness to play the

game of scouting. Along with these

11,000 Scouts, there were a handful

of girls who too wanted to join t he

game.It was a surprising for Baden Powell to see girls at the

rally, wearing uniforms

Like Boy Scout. When he asked them “who are you?”

they replied, “We are Girl Scouts!” they said they too

wanted very much to be in the games like their

brothers.

He tried to persuade the girls to give up the idea, but he found enthusiasm

in those girls and determined to follow their brothers. So he prepared the

girl section of the Movement into a new section and put his sister Agnes

Baden-Powell in charge to look after it, calling the branch as Girl Guides.

Thus the movement for girls was born. After B.P.’s marriage, his wife Olave

St. Clair Soames (fondly known as Lady Baden Powell) was a great source of

strength to B.P., in promoting Scouting and Guiding around the world. Both

of them undertook several world tours to highlight Scouting and Guiding.

After B.P’s death on 8th January in Nyeri, Lady Baden-Powell continued her

good work

Until her death in 1977.

The coming of the First World War in 19114

could have brought about collapse of the

Movement, but the training provided through

the patrol system proved it worth. Patrol

leaders took over when adult leaders

volunteered for active service. Scouts

contributed to the war effort in many ways;

most notable perhaps were the sea Scouts who took the place of regular

coast –guardsmen, thus freeing them for service afloat.

The first World Jamboree took place in1920, in Olympia, London with 8,000

participants, and proved that young people of many nations could come

together to share common interests and ideals. B.P. was proclaimed as the

Chief Scout of the world at this Jamboree. During the Jamboree the First

International Scout Conference was held with 33 National Scout

Organization Represented. The Boy Scouts International Bureau was

founded in London in1920.

As the movement grew, expanded and spread to various countries around

the world, the need was felt to form a world body and it resulted In the formation of World Organization of the Scout Movement

(WOSM) as well as the World Association of Girl Guides And Girl

Scouts (WAGGGS).

WOSM is functioning from six regional offices: Africa, Arab, Asia

Pacific, Eurasia, Europe and western Hemisphere. The Bharat Scouts &

Guides is one of the founder members of the Asia Pacific Region

WAGGGS is functioning from five regional offices: Africa, Arab, Asia

Pacific, Europe and western Hemisphere.

In the 1990’s Scouting has been reborn in every country where it

existed prior to World War II, and it has started throughout the newly

independent countries of the common wealth of the Independent

States (formerly the USSR). At the present there are more than 28

million Scouts, young people and adults, male and female, in 216

countries and territories. There are more than ten million girls and

young women in 146 countries.