They arrived in sombreros, stetsons, skull caps and every shade of uniform you care to imagine, from just about every country. Chattering away in different languages, they drew up in buses having journeyed from 162 nations for a fortnight of campfires, camaraderie and doing their best in an Essex park.

The 21st World Scout Jamboree is considered by its organisers to be bigger than the Olympics, with more than 30,000 Scouts accompanied by 10,000 adults.

A hundred years after Robert Baden-Powell, a decorated military hero, took 20 boys on a camping trip in Dorset to see if he could better prepare them for life in the Empire, representatives of a 28 million-strong movement that styles itself as the world’s biggest peace organisation are gathering to celebrate the Scout movement’s centenary.

Prince William and the Duke of Kent will open proceedings formally today at Hylands Park, Chelmsford, focusing attention on a booming youth movement. Globally, Scouting has never been so strong and in Britain it is enjoying a resurgence born of some careful rebranding and a backlash against the “cosseting culture” towards today’s children.

Numbers declined from a high of 700,000 in the mid1980s, but in the past three years the rolls have increased and there are now 400,000 Scouts in Britain with a 30,000-strong waiting list. The challenge facing the Scout Association is finding enough adults to lead them. According to Derek Twine, chief executive of the Scout Association, potential adult recruits are put off by concerns about working with children in the modern compensation culture and their perceptions of the demands of health and safety regulations.

The Scout Association has made significant changes in the past 15 years. In the early 1990s Scout groups were given the option to become coed, and in January this year it became compulsory for all groups to admit girls, who now make up 10 per cent of the UK membership. Other changes include the modernisation of the starchy uniform to include combat trousers and fleeces and the introduction of a broader range of activities, so that Scouts can earn badges for everything from skate boarding to writing press releases.

But speaking to Scouts yesterday it was clear that the overwhelming appeal of Scouting remains camping and outdoor activities. “They are looking for that sense of adventure and their parents want that for their kids because elsewhere they are being denied it,” said Mr Twine. “We are part of the movement to address that ridiculous cosseting and overzealous restrictions.”

He said that Lord Baden-Powell “would be absolutely delighted and humbled to see that what he started had grown to 28 million people and is the world’s largest peace movement”.

Peace movement? Won’t the old soldier be spinning in his grave? On the contrary, says Mr Twine. The chief aim of Jamboree is fully in keeping with the basic philosophy of Baden-Powell when he embarked on his Scouting experiment: “This is an opportunity to see if they can live together in harmony and carry that back to their own societies.”

Baden-Powell was the author of Aids to Scouting, a book, for men, on observation and tracking. Then in 1900, at the Siege of Mafeking in the Boer War, he employed boys to carry messages and “made the discovery that boys, when trusted and relied on, were just as capable and reliable as men”.

The seed was planted and in 1907, while writing Scouting for Boys, he undertook an experimental camping trip on Brownsea Island, off Poole in Dorset. He took 20 boys “some from Eton and Harrow, some from the East End of London, some country lads and some shop lads, and I mixed them up like plums in a pudding to live together in camp”, he told The Listener magazine. He and his assistants taught the boys “camping, cooking, observation, deduction, woodcraft, chivalry, boatmanship, lifesaving, health, patriotism, and such things”.

That trial is being marked with a replica camp on Brownsea Island and will be celebrated with a ceremony at sunrise next Wednesday.

Baden-Powell’s book was so popular that boys started setting up patrols and troops and recruiting adults to train them. In 1909 Baden-Powell arranged a meeting of would-be Scouts at Crystal Palace and about 11,000 boys turned up prompting his modest reflection later in life that he didn’t start Scouting, “the blooming thing started itself”.

Today there are only a handful of countries that do not have Scout movements. Scouts from Iraq, which is in the process of joining the World Organisation of Scout Movements, will make an appearance at the Jamboree.

“Scouting builds character, builds us as human beings and helps you to live with other people and be responsible for other people,” said Edwin Musiba, 17, a troop leader from Tanzania, who was looking forward to cooking ugali, a national dish, and demonstrating his drumming. He and his contingent, huddled in quilted jackets and duffle coats, were finding it tough acclimatising to the British summer.

“Scouting instils morals that you really can’t get anywhere else,” said Marcel Paul Bedard Jr, 17, from Atlanta, Georgia. “It provides positive peer pressure to do what’s right.”

The standard line from all Scouts was that they were excited about meeting people from other countries. They talked enthusiastically about the numerous activities they can take part in every week back in their Scout huts. But the bottom line is that in an age where electronic entertainment is everywhere, the big draw of Scouting is the camping. Joanna Oakes and Alex Newell, both 16, from Warrington, said proudly that they were close to notching up their 100th night in a tent.

Plenty of stories will be exchanged over the next couple of weeks. Andy Vernon, a troop leader from the Cayman Islands, reflected that the movement in his country had been badly hit by the hurricane that devastated the island in 2004, wiping out the homes and livelihoods of Scouts and leaders. Some have left because they no longer need to play at camping.

Peter Duncan, the former Blue Peter presenter, who is the current Chief Scout, said that the Jamboree would be “a life-changing experience for all the young people attending. It’s going to be like living in a city with a neighbour from nearly every country in the world. I can’t think of a better way to help break down barriers and help young people understand the world than getting them to live and interact with each other in peace. The World Scout Jamboree will show the world that differences between cultures is something to celebrate and not something to fear. The Jamboree will give all those attending the opportunity to form friendships that will last a lifetime. Scouting is a million times bigger than when it first started. It has had a great first century and I’m looking forward to seeing the movement become even bigger over the next 100 years.”

The Jamboree, featuring a huge range of physical and educational activities, is a colossal logistical exercise, but true to their “Be prepared” motto the Scout Association has been working on the event for five years and been constructing the 550-acre site, that includes supermarkets, a tented church, mosque, synagogue and temples, for almost a month. Over the next 12 days the Scouts will chomp their way through 60 tons of apples, drink half a million litres of milk and boil 800,000 eggs.

International brotherhood – with sisters

— There are more than 28 million Scouts around the world from 216 different countries and territories, with 400,000 in Britain

— The six countries that do not have Scouting are China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, Andorra and Myanmar

— Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the movement in 1907, was recently voted the 13th-most-influential person of the 20th century

— Baden-Powell's book Scouting for Boys, first published in 1908, is fourth in the all-time bestseller list, trailing the Bible, the Koran and Mao Tse-tung’s Little Red Book

— Girls were first allowed to become Scouts in 1991

— 26 of the first 29 astronauts were former Scouts

— 100,000 people in Great Britain take part in some form of Scouting activity every day

— Famous former Scouts include Sir Paul McCartney, Stephen Spielberg, David Beckham and Natasha Kaplinsky

— Dolly Parton became a girl Scout this year, at the age of 60

— The swastika was used as an early symbol by the British Boy Scouts

— The world Scout membership first hit a million in 1922, 15 years after forming

— The Scout motto “Be Prepared” derives from its founder's initials

— The idea of Scouting came to Baden-Powell during the Siege of Mafeking in the Boer War

— To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Scout movement, the Royal Mint has introduced a gold 50p piece, depicting a fleur-de-lys embossed on a globe

— The US is the country with the most Scouts, boasting 10,100,000 registered members

— African Scouts used the Scout Law’s principle that a Scout is a brother to all other Scouts to challenge the British Empire and claim full imperial citizenship

— The Scouts have two international symbols: the fleur-de-lys and the trefoil, which is used by members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS)

Source: Times Database

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