2008

On 15 January 2008 Baden-Powell Fellows from the UK Chapter met at Baden-Powell House in London to celebrate the centenary of the publication of "Scouting for Boys" on 15 January 1908. The present Lord Baden-Powell signed copies of his grandfather's book. The book remains a best seller and has been translated into 87 languages.

At last weekend’s Winter Camp, The Scout Association launched its largest ever revamp of the activity programme with the launch of 40 new and modernised badges. In order to reflect the changing demands and interests of today’s young people, these new badges include areas such as Health and Fitness, Healthy Eating, Street Sports and Parascending.

Inspired by the Gifts for Peace initiative, Dominic Simard a Scout from Quebec, Canada, has created a website designed to give Scouts from around the world the opportunity to facilitate discussion about the way they see Peace in the World Scout Movement.

Maldivian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom escaped assassination in his Indian Ocean archipelago thanks to a teenage boy Scout who wrestled back a knife-wielding attacker, officials said.

Mr. Gayoom, who was unharmed in the incident, paid tribute to teenager Mohamed Jaisham, who was wearing his green Scout uniform with scarf and woggle at the time. Mohamed Jaisham threw himself in front of the assailant and foiled the attack by wrestling with the man and grabbing the blade.

Since 1 August 2007, Scouting's Sunrise, more than 1800 pictures of this special celebration have been shared on Pikeo. Scouts from around the world have had the opportunity to show, through their own photos, how they marked this special day. The photos uploaded onto the Pikeo pages show just how a picture is truly worth a thousand words.

A massive thank you to everyone who worked to make the Centenary of Scouting such a success. Thank you to all the volunteers who gave their time to run activities and programmes for Scouts worldwide. Thank you to our supporters and all of you who worked with us to enrich our initiatives. Thank you to those who contributed stories to 'Centenary News' and who shared their programmes, ideas, stories and photos with us.