Bob A Job Week

The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was formed in 1910 and incorporated in 1912 by a royal charter under its previous name of The Boy Scouts Association.

The association is the largest national Scout organisation in Europe, representing 35% of the membership of the European Scout Region.

, the association claims to provide activities to 464,700 young people (aged –25) in the UK with over 116,400 adult volunteers which is more than one adult for each 4 young people. (pp. 58) Its programmes include Squirrel Scouts (aged 4–6), Beaver Scouts (aged –8), Cub Scouts (aged 8–), Scouts (aged –14), Explorer Scouts (aged 14–18) and adult Network members (aged 18–25).

The association aims to provide "fun, adventure and skills for life and give young people the opportunity to enjoy new adventures, experience outdoors and take part in a range of creative, community and international activities, interact with others, make new friends, gain confidence and have the opportunity to reach their full potential". The organisation and its activities are regulated through its "Policy, Organisation and Rules" (POR).

The association is led by its Chief Scout, the television presenter, adventurer and author Bear Grylls, alongside a UK chief commissioner, Carl Hankinson, and chief executive, Matt Hyde. The association's joint presidents are the Duke of Kent and Princess of Wales, and its patron was the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Open to all

Gender

From 1912 to 1967 the association's name was The ''Boy'' Scouts Association and until 1976 only boys were admitted to its programmes. In 1976, girls were allowed to join the Venture Scouts section for 16- to 20-year-olds. This expanded to all the association's programme sections in 1991, although the admission of girls was optional and has only been compulsory since 2007. , Girls make up 27% of all-age participants with a total of 99,989 female participants aged between 6 and 25 and a further 69,460 women involved in volunteer roles (being more than 1 adult female for every 2 female young people), while new recruits are now 71% girls (approx. 2.5 girls for every boy). The Scout Association's activities and leadership positions are open to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other (LGBT+) young people and adults.

Faith

The association is open to all faiths with variations to the Scout Promise available to accommodate to those of different religious obligations or national beliefs. Following criticisms of the lack of provision for atheists, in 2012 the association consulted members about the possibility of creating an additional alternative Promise for those without a religion, and in October 2013, announced that an alternative version of the promise would be available from January 2014 for those without a pronounced faith.

Disability

Baden-Powell was keen to allow young people with disabilities to take part in Scouting programmes, and the Disabled Scout Branch (later known as Extension Scouting) was formed in 1926. After the Second World War, specialist Agoonoree Scout camps were run to cater for those unable to camp with their own Scout Groups. Latterly, emphasis has been placed on integrating young people with disabilities into mainstream Groups. Flexibility is built-in to badges and awards for those with special needs and many Scout Counties and Areas have a specialist commissioner or adviser to support inclusion.

History

Formation

For the origins of Boy Scouts and the Scout Movement before the formation of The Scout Association see Scouting.

The Boy Scouts Association was formed in 1910, in order to provide a national body in the United Kingdom which could organise and support the rapidly growing number of Scout patrols and troops, which had begun to form spontaneously following the publication of ''Scouting for Boys'' and ''The Scout'' magazine in 1908. It was also the wish of Baden-Powell to wrest control of the Scout Movement from his book's publisher as it was felt it was not given the status it deserved as the publisher C. Arthur Pearson controlled much of Scouting.

1910 to 1920: growth

The association grew and spread to much of the British Empire. In 1910, the association approved special uniforms for Sea Scouts and officially adopted use of the name in 1912. On 4 January 1912, the association was incorporated throughout the British Empire by Royal charter for "the purpose of instructing boys of all classes in the principles of discipline loyalty and good citizenship".

Originally, the association's programs were for boys aged between 11 and 18. However, many girls and younger boys wanted to join in. In 1910, a separate organisation, the Girl Guides were created by Baden-Powell and his sister, Agnes, to provide a more "proper" programme of activities. In 1916, the association launched its Wolf Cubs, for boys aged 8 to 11. In 1918, the association launched its Rover Scouts for those over 18 who had grown out of Scouts but wanted to be remain connected.

During the First World War, more than 50,000 Scouts participated in some form of war work on the home front. Scout buglers sounded the "all clear" after air raids or air strike, others helped in hospitals and made up aid parcels; Sea Scouts assisted the Coastguard in watching the vulnerable East coast.

In 1920, the association organised the first World Jamboree, held in Olympia, London, together with an international conference for leaders which led to the formation, in 1922, of the International Conference of the Boy Scout Movement now called the World Organization of the Scout Movement, of which the association was a founding member.

''The Boy Scouts Headquarters Gazette'' was first published in July 1909, as the official publication for adult Scouters and administrators, alongside ''The Scout'', a magazine for youth members which had been launched in April 1908.

1920 to 1967

In 1929, the association hosted the 3rd World Scout Jamboree at Arrowe Park in Cheshire; some 56,000 Scouts from 35 countries attended, making it the largest World Scout Jamboree to date. The first ''Gang Show'', produced by Ralph Reader, opened at the Scala Theatre in London in October 1932. Following the outbreak of World War II, over 50,000 Scouts trained under the National War Service scheme. Tasks undertaken included police messengers and stretcher bearers. The Air Scout branch was launched in January 1941, allowing Scout Troops to specialise in activities related to aircraft and flying.

Baden-Powell, as the association's Chief Scout and chairman, continued to head and guide the association, going on world tours throughout the rest of his life until ill health caused him to retire to Kenya in 1938 where he died on 8 January 1941.He was succeeded as the association's Chief Scout by Lord Somers.

Starting in 1944, the Scout International Relief Service (SIRS) sent teams of Rovers and Scouters to continental Europe to provide humanitarian aid; ten SIRS teams worked at the recently relieved Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After years of trial schemes, in 1946, the association launched its Senior Scout program for Boy Scouts aged fifteen to eighteen years to form separate patrols or troops, with age appropriate activities and badges. Scouts were prominent in their support of the 1948 Summer Olympics, playing leading roles in the open and closing ceremonies at Wembley Stadium and the sailing events at Torbay. The first Bob a Job Week took place in April 1949, in which Scouts did small tasks for the public in return for a "bob" (5 new pence) to raise funds for the association and for C. Arthur Pearson's fund for the blind. Over the association's history, some boys had been challenged to justify their membership because of their own or even their parents' religious or political beliefs. In the early 1950s, some Boy Scouts were dismissed or marginalized in their Scout Groups due to their involvement with the Young Communist League or related communist activities – the most high-profile case being that of Paul Garland from Bristol in 1954 which resulted in media reports and a debate in the House of Lords, where the association's Chief Scout, Lord Rowallan, defended the association's political and religious discrimination based on foreign communist regimes' antipathy to Scout organisations and the association's policy and Scout Promise requiring adherence to an organised religion and not accepting atheists. The matter was withdrawn without a division and it took 60 more years for the association to change its discriminatory policy and accept atheists. In 1957, to commemorate fifty years of Scouting and the centenary of Baden-Powell's birth, the association hosted the 9th World Scout Jamboree at Sutton Park in Birmingham.

1967 to 2001

The association's programmes went largely unchanged until it underwent a major review in the 1960s. The Chief Scouts' Advance Party was formed in 1964 and was sent to survey the association to see why membership numbers were falling. Their report was published in 1966 and changes were implemented later that year and throughout 1967. As a result, the word "boy" was dropped from the association's name which was changed to ''The Scout Association'' and major changes were made to the sections and their respective programmes. The youngest section were now named Cub Scouts, the Boy Scout section was renamed simply as the Scout section and the Senior Scouts and Rover Scout section was replaced with Venture Scouts for 16- to 20-year-olds. The uniform were also changed with the inclusion of optional long trousers for the Scouts, as opposed to the compulsory wearing of knee-length shorts, and the wearing of a Beret instead of the Campaign hat.

The Advance Party Report was not welcomed by all members and a rival report, ''A Boy Scout Black Paper'', was produced in 1970 by The Scout Action Group. This provided alternative proposals for the development of the association and asked for groups that wished to continue to follow Baden-Powell's original scheme to be permitted to do so. The rejection of these proposals resulted in the formation of the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association.

Several developments were made over the following years, including the admission of girls, initially restricted to the Venture Scouts section in 1976, but from 1991 thanks to a young girl named Elizabeth Hainsworth, junior sections were allowed to become mixed as well, starting in Bradford, West Yorkshire and working its way throughout the U.K. Parents of children involved with the association in Northern Ireland also began to organise activities for children who were too young for Cubs. Initially, only the leaders of these activities, nicknamed Beavers, were members of the association, with the children participating not being enrolled by the association until it formally adopted the programme in 1986. In the late 1990s, a Muslim Scout Fellowship was formed, which by the end of 2007, had assisted the establishment of 13 Muslim Scout Groups in England and Wales.

Despite these and other changes, the association's enrolments fell into a decline through the 1990s with falling membership levels. This spurred a major review into the causes of the decline in 1999.

2001 to 2014

The association found itself competing for young people's time against many other extracurricular activities and schools themselves which were increasingly venturing into the same types of activities. In addition, adult leaders became concerned with the growing litigation culture in the UK and the negative stereotype