Scoutfulness

It is official. I am not mad. It is because Bear Grylls said so.

Well, at least it is implied that Bear Grylls takes some of the credit for my sanity based on a study published in the Journal of Epidemology and Community Health to the effect that people who were in the Scouts and Guides in childhood are less likely than other adults to suffer anxiety or mood disorders at the age of 50.

I was a Scout, in fact I went through the full process from being a Cub Scout at aged 8 or so to being awarded the Chief Scouts Award some 9 years later.

They were happy times in which I could be adventurous, fearless and not a little bit reckless without the reserve and even shyness that came with my later and awkward teenage years.

The study, drawing on the National Child Development Study involved a sample of 10,000 persons born in 1958. A startling revelation was that those who had been in the Scouts and Guides were 15% less likely to be stressed and anxious on reaching their half century.

This was attributed to the level of resilience and resolve that the discipline and tasks of, in my case, Scouting engendered.

I find it comforting that being part of the illustrious movement founded by Sir Robert Baden Powell in 1907/08 has contributed to me being rational, level headed and not too doolally and gaga, although I use these non P.C. derogatory terms with the best intentions.

The Study, furthermore found that the benefits from Scouting were not found in any other form of volunteering whether it be through a Church body or community organisation.

I was fortunate to belong to a very active cub and later scout troop. It is only now, on reflection, that I can appreciate the great personal commitment of those who ran the group, the many helpers and of course my parents and those of my contemporaries who fetched and carried, grafted and donated. in my case my parents humoured me when, on returning from a camping trip, I would insist on a first night on the bedroom floor in my grubby, wood smoke infused and somewhat damp sleeping bag.

I definitely developed a strong sense of self reliance, team work, survival techniques, leadership, the value of being active, to be inventive and all of this giving me a determination to achieve more in life than I could otherwise have hoped for.

The stresses and pressures of modern life are well known to us all.

So what, in my Scouting activities has helped me to retain composure and an overriding feeling of calmness and being in control?

Above all I am independent and able to cook for myself and my family whether it be on a conventional gas cooker or as in my Scouting years- over an open wood fire, a raised altar fire or in an oven crafted out of a rabbit hole using a biscuit tin and inter-connected coca cola cans as a chimney.

My favourite task was to make a meat and vegetable stew in a large cooking Dixie Can using a couple of litres of strong cider. The total incineration of a lamb joint in the previously mentioned biscuit tin oven, I would prefer to forget, more so the disappointed and hungry faces of my Patrol members.

If I find myself in a difficult situation I can rationalise about what to do in the same way as I was able to hike ten miles in the dark, pitch a six person tent in torrential rain, make a lavatory out of a hole in the ground with a plank and a length of hessian and fashion a shower from a water butt swinging from a tree bough.

A task encountered in adult life is no more challenging than trying for a selection of achievement badges from bell ringing (scary) to cooking and communications skills.

Particularly arduous workloads are pretty similar to an endurance swim , canoeing and sailing on open water or climbing one of the highest points in the mountains and hills of Wales, The lake District and Peak District.

I have learned a lot about community spirit through helping the elderly and needy as a Scout and having been top earner in my Troop for Bob-a-Job week a couple of years running. This was down to cornering the market on car washing and digging over gardens in my home town although a bob was certainly slave-wages for some of the tasks undertaken.

Pride was foremost in  marching as our Scout Group Standard Bearer on Remembrance Day amongst real heroes and heroines in our town. Such things give you a grounded perspective on life and about what is really important.

I am ashamed to say that my scouting years also saw me dabble with smoking, drink cider (if left over from cooking of course) and develop a good line in chatting up girls, well, Girl Guides mostly although in retrospect even these things were character forming.

I agree therefore with the findings of the Study that I am a better and well rounded person for the experience of being a Scout. If anything, I would certainly hope to alleviate workplace and modern life stress with the prospect of escaping the rat race and living in a bivouac in the hills living off nature's bounty.

That way I could certainly earn badges in wellbeing and mindfulness. Yeah.