The 8th World Scout Jamboree () was held in August 1955, it was hosted by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York (state), New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the R ...

. The

Jamboree In Scouting, a jamboree is a large gathering of Scouts and/or Girl Guides who rally at a national or international level. History The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held in 1920, and was hosted by the United Kingdom. Since then, there have been t ...

saw the introduction of the

World Membership Badge The world scout emblem, used worldwide by Scouting, Scouts and many Scout organizations within the Scout Movement is the fleur-de-lis, commonly with a five-point star in each outer lobe. This emblem was adopted by Scouts from the inception of ...

which is still worn on the uniforms of Scouts worldwide. This was the first World Jamboree to be held in the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...

, and the first outside of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. The setting was a rolling parkland on the Commons of

Fort George National Historic Site Fort George was a military fortification in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used by the British Army, the Canadian militia, and the Jeffersonian American Republic Army for a brief period. The fort was mostly destroyed during t ...

. More than 11,000 Scouts from 71 countries and colonies attended this gathering, which was notable for the number of Scout contingents that crossed the Atlantic by air to attend–1,000 from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

alone. There are some incredible tales of the efforts made by Scouts to attend the Jamboree, with the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

contingent leaving four months ahead of the event and traveling over 30,000 miles on the way. There were also three

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian Scouts who traveled from their hometown by jeep. Three days before the Jamboree was due to open, a vicious storm of hurricane strength (the tail end of

Hurricane Connie Hurricane Connie was a Category 4 hurricane that contributed to significant flooding across the eastern United States in August 1955, just days before Hurricane Diane affected the same general area. Connie formed on August 3 from a tropica ...

) blew over the camp for nearly 24 hours, flattening much of the work that the volunteers and professionals spent six weeks preparing. A call went out to all district council members, communities and companies for volunteers to put the camp back in shape.

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

closed all its plants and sent its employees to assist in the reconstruction. The camp was almost back to its original state in three days, ready for the opening. Jackson Dodds, the Jamboree Camp Chief,

Vincent Massey Charles Vincent Massey (February 20, 1887December 30, 1967) was a Canadian diplomat and statesman who served as the 18th governor general of Canada from 1952 to 1959. Massey was the first governor general of Canada who was born in Canada. Mas ...

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

and Chief Scout for

, Lady Baden Powell and Lord Rowallan, Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth and Empire attended the opening ceremonies. Chetwynd Films produced an award-winning film about the event, called ''Jamboree''. The 40-minute film, which was sponsored by

Eaton's The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's g ...

, was Selected for Significance and became one of six films shown at the Canadian Pavilion at

Expo 58 Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (; ), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium, from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major world's fair registered under the Bureau Internati ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. The 50th Anniversary of the Jamboree was celebrated in September 2005 at which time a plaque commemorating the event was unveiled. The

Niagara Parks Commission The Niagara Parks Commission, commonly shortened to Niagara Parks, is an agency of the Government of Ontario which maintains the Ontario shoreline of the Niagara River. History The Commission was founded in 1885 and charged with preserving an ...

also planted a memorial oak tree.

References

External links

8th World Scout Jamboree 1955 WebsiteJamboree Histories at Scout.org
#1955 # August 1955 in Canada 1955 in Canada {{Scout-stub

See also

References

External links