ONE! NINE!! SIX!!! SEVEN!!!! (1967)
No! Reader, that is not the District Commissioner's telephone number. It is the Year of Grace, 1967, which only last Sunday, according to one's one inclination or nationality, was ushered in with solemnity or great rejoicing.
To those actively engaged in the Scout Movement it means far more than the mere passage into another graceful year. It is going to be a historical year - a year packed with change and action and events, for it is the Year of the Diamond Jubilee of the Scout Movement; it is the Year of the implementation of the Chief Scout's Advance Party Report; it is the Year of the World Jamboree in the United States of America; it is the Year of Scoutabout for the first time at the A.B.C. Cinema, Chester.
Diamond Jubilee? 60 years old ! Impressions of an old but beloved Queen being feted by a grateful Nation for an unprecedented reign? Or remembrances of charming, grey haired couples being visited by the Mayor and receiving telegrams of congratulation from Buckingham Palace for completing so honourably such a span of wedded bliss? What is your view - is the Scout Movement 60 years old, or is it 60 years young?
In Chester and District we are so confident that the Movement is 60 years young that we have launched our Diamond Jubilee year with this, the thirteenth production of our Gang Show, Scoutabout, in the very first week of the New Year. The boys and Scout Leaders (for that is their new name) you see on stage tonight surely will not show any signs of 'age' except so far as the script and the make-up team impose it. Their evident interest in fun and song as they enfold their score of numbers is truly a reflection of their natural selves and of their approach and attitude to Scouting in 1967.
The two boys who will represent Chester and District, the twenty-two boys who will represent the County of Cheshire West and the 1,200 boys who will form the United Kingdom contingent at the World Jamboree in Farragut State Park, Idaho, U.S.A., next August will be simply bursting with energy and enthusiam, not only for Scouting but for Life itself. Surely it is appropriate that the New World, and the comparatively young country of America has been selected as the site of this World Jamboree.
The 24 'young' men (all under 40 years of age) comprising the Chief Scout's Advance Party whose report has in recent months been received with such acclaim, discussion and pleasure, were not so much concerned with the past sixty years but rightly with the next 10 to 15 years in the context of a rapidly changing world. They have presented the Movement with new ideas, fresh challenges, wider pursuits, trained leaders, and yes, a new uniform. In the acceptance of all these new facets and many more, all, (cub Scout, Scout, Venture Scout, Scout Leader, Service Crews, Group and District Committees, Commissioners and parents) will find a greater joy, purpose and meaning in all they undertake in the name of Scouting. The new Scouting, tackled in the right spirit, will be an even greater force for good among the current youth of the day than even Scouting has been over its 60 years of effort since that first experimental camp at Brownsea Island in 1907 proved to B.P. that his vision was a practicable proposition. B.P. and the Scout Movement are already assured of their glorious place in the pages of history ; we who now carry on the Scouting tradition and way of life can add yet more lustre to the jewel.
So 1967 is to be Diamond-studded with these major events - and I make no apology for considering Scoutabout 1967 to be a major event - but do not let us forget that it will be for most of us also another year of steady progress and application to the daily and weekly programmes of training, testing; camping and competitions; Sectional and Group events; Church Parades and Good Turns; Group and District Committees; fund raising and H.Q. maintenance. Every jewel is composed of countless atoms ; the diamond of Scouting is made up of just those an many more that space does not allow me to enumerate.
May your Scouting at whatever level and where-ever it may be practised in 1967 be happy and fruitful; may 1967 be a year of peace and happiness for you all.
W. S. Cooper, District Commissioner.