Woggleknot.com – An Explorer Scout's Blog

I’ve been priviliged enough to get my hands on a copy of a new book coming out next month: “Scouting Skills: A Complete Guide”. It contains numerous skills that are worthwhile for any scout to learn.

On the front cover the book claims to contain “Everything you need to know for your outdoor adventures”, and it really does. It has so much information crammed into it, and it is all presented in interesting ways – the book is full of diagrams and photographs. Great lengths have been taken to make sure the reader does not become bored.

Every skill mentioned in the book is actually useful and many examples of use are given – in the foreword, UK Chief Scout Bear Grylls writes: “We won’t bore you with the unnecessaries. When we show you knots, we’ll only show you the most useful”. It is worthwhile mastering as many skills as you can – you will soon find that they will become very helpfull within your scouting experiences!

It will prepare you for various outdoor activities – from short day-hikes to camps lasting weeks. And because there are so many things you can do outdoors, there is a broad spectrum of skills you can learn. This book is exremely useful for anybody planning an expedition (such as a D of E expedition) or planning to camp out in the wild. For hiking, there are instructions on how to navigate using a map and a compass, lists of equipment you might need and there are plenty of tips on how to appreciate and care for the outdoors. There are also plenty of ideas that will make campsite life much more pleasant and fun – for example, there are many examples of pioneering structures you could build, from pot holders to bridges!

The book also contains information on basic first aid for many different injuries and emergencies, such as burns, severe bleeding and choking. These skills are essential for anybody who goes hiking or camping out in the wild because there is potentially a lot of risk involved – throughout the book there many warnings of risks involved with specific activities, and these warnings are in white boxes with red outlines to make sure they stand out.

My favourite chapter in the book has to be the one about firebuilding and cooking. I want to get good at building fires and there is one particular idea that’s making me want to go camping – CAMPFIRE SAUSAGE ROLLS:

Cook sausages on a stick. Make camp bread dough and wrap it around the cooked sausages then toast slowly over the fire – campfire sausage rolls.

It would take a long time to go through all the skills in the book so my only suggestion would be to buy the book, read it and get out there and try it! It will be released next month by Random House Children’s Books, so look out for it!

You can pre-order the book from these websites for around £10:
Amazon
Scout Shops

A few other people with scouting themed blogs have also recieved a copy of the book – make sure you visit Jabbering All Day Long and Nick’s Ramblings – both are excellent blogs!

It turns out there isn’t a huge ban on knives in scouting, the newspapers are just being stupid.

The uk chief comissioner, Wayne Bulpitt, has blogged and the UK scouts website has published a story about the “incorrect” articles. Which states: “In fact, Scouting’s rules on the subject have not significantly changed since the late 1960s.”

Looks like scouts can still enjoy their whittling

I’ve heard something about scouts no longer being able to carry knives on camps. And I couldn’t help blogging about how stupid the whole situation is.

When I was in scouts, we used to sit together in little groups and whittle sticks with our penknives. It was part of the camping experience. But the people in charged of health and safety have decided that scouts should no longer have that experience. They seem to think that it is not a good idea for young people to be able to learn how to use dangerous tools safely and responsibly – isn’t this an important lesson that scouting has traditionally taught?

I see no problem with scouts carrying knives on camps. As long as the leaders show the scouts how to use them properly and make sure they can, then it’s safe. You might get a few cut fingers, but nothing serious. Besides, it’s all part of learning what happens when your not careful.

I think people should concentrate more on the people using the knives for crime, instead of the knives themselves. Stopping scouts from using knives on camps isn’t going to help the knife-crime situation. It will, however, put a stop to an old scouting tradition.