The meal before off

Guess what it's doing as I type this? Yes, raining again!

As I sit looking at the clouds through the window here indoors, my mind runs back to ones boyhood experiences at home - and for being at boarding school for part of that time they're different than a good many - and routines such as meal times specifically how that got into various activities we had.

These may of included going to things like organized trips, weekend scout activities or an evening session.

For reason I won't go into the nature of dad's employment could and did mean he could be called away on Saturdays for reasons we'd never be told of (not even NOW) so seeing your brothers in at least part cub or scouts uniform at the meal table with mum alone wasn't unknown and obviously at that point you're representing them.

After finishing eating and any last minute preparing, your coat and footwear suitably polished would go on as you then made your way out promising to let her know if anything changes which was different in the era of call boxes rather than mobile phones.

That kind of scene and it's emotions don't leave you, one reason you look back those times the way you do.

The memories forged

 

As I'm typing this, it is raining really quite hard here and my mind between reading this weeks Beano and one of my Cub Annuals is drifting back to the things I loved, not necessary because it was easy and running for somone like me is not, but more the comraderie and fun we had when we all tried things no matter how hard together sharing in the ups and downs of our emotions.

I think it's telling when we recall those people and places from the past just how many things like summer camps, scouts and the like soon drift into the conversation because the people we knew then, we really knew well.

No more aqaintances or fair weathered friends.

The road from where school and after school acivities lead us as boys always takes us back

 

Travelling in the past on the Trent & Mersey Canal

 Rather a warm day today so we are going near the water to cool off a bit.

Coming in from  the Wheelock,Cheshire  direction this narrow boat approaches the first of a few local lockgates which are in pairs.

If you look to the far right you will see the rear of the lockkeepers cottage still in it's unadulturated victorian state with a flight of stairs alongside the tow path.

This view is sadly no longer with us but was taken sometime between 1958 and 1962 where the original lock used to be before it and near enough everything on the right hand side literally fell underground due to subsidence which is an occupational hazard in this district.

This was replaced in 1958 by a Swedish designed steel lock but that tended to jam so fell into disuse so much so that from the 1980's I can recall exploring it and seeing in the summer local boys playing on it.

The fears around accidents and a few near misses lead to it being taken down around 1987/8 rather than being preserved a piece of canal heritage.

The knitters have been out too and decorated our postbox with a model of this area including our very active scout group.

A Life Routed In The Past

 A life routed in the past

The Pack, your pack and its leaders.

Fun activities with practical application help to move you on.

Inspiration for even the dampest dullest day with tales of camp, things to do, as you become the best of you

Stories told of fellow cubs and scouts were not just a ripping yarn but a very real inspiration as we make our way through the Adventure Of Life.

Tree climbing

Attitudes to certain types of boyhood activity have changed over the decades from when seeing things like shimming up drainpipes to climbing trees were seen as desirable masculine pursuits that tought you how to handle risks to todays very risk adverse that discourages such adventure.

I loved to try such things as wobbly on foot I was, seeing it as a challenge to be taken on, facing your fears as much as I would accept a hard hat would make sense if you were going well into the tress canopy with its risks of coming down fast living with the effects of a brain injury personally.

I feel overall that sense of adventure is better for boys than a more slower more bookwormish approach.
 

On the right path

Making our way along the ridges and mountain passes we look in wonder at the shape of our Creators world in all its glory, remembering as we pass to Leave No Trace of our being there.

Our World is important and we must learn to show responsible stewardship in both teaching the next generation how to respect it and what it has to offer us in meeting our needs for food and also mental and physical well-being.

Coventry

 

One of the more interesting places I visited was the City of Coventry, Warwickshire, here in the Midlands.

The original cathedral was bombed in 1940 and it's remains stand at the side of the new one consecrated in 1962. 

It is in many ways a by-word for peace and reconciliation from the ground breaking work started between the city and Dresden in Germany, famed for it's ceramics and optics that also was badly damaged.

Much of Coventry's medieval city centre was damaged in those air raids in 1940 but a few streets survived the onslaught and this is one.

Putting down roots

A group of happy contented boys working hard in the outdoors doing a bit of planting that required teamwork , co-operation and boy muscle which they certain are in possession of.

Time spent out of doors, being physical whatever the context  be it school, scouts or with fathers independently does wonders for boys and that fact these boys are learning to help grow something they can look after is perfect. 

The House that started it all

 

Way back in April 1986 I started a small project of photographing scenes and buildings connected with my life.

Back then I had a Kodak Disc film based camera and the results technically were disappointing even when some years later I had the pictures reprinted by a superior photo laboratory and since then on here and on the other blog I've featured similar images aided in part by being able to host them on a site and also by using better equipment that is also digital which makes it easier to host.

This was one of the first of the originals, a couple of nineteenth century cottages just within the village boundary near to the canal bridge our last entry was taken from that contains many of its original features although the skylight on the right no doubt for a loft bedroom does take away something and was not present back in 1986.

The gardens to the side and rear were quite extensive enjoying being out playing in them at the time.

This was the house a family I knew as I went to school with Steven and Christine Hamnett who was a Brownie lived in at the time and going further down the road toward the Mere set off down a short narrow track was the big Georgian house the Bateman's lived which I'd stop at when visiting Andrew, another schoolboy friend who you might say was fairly well to do and very influential in the district.

I kept in touch with them for a very long time.

A great achievement for Jules

A British schoolboy has become the youngest to scale the Matterhorn⁠
⁠
While most parents were lucky to get a half-hour Joe Wicks workout out of their children during lockdown, one 11-year-old was working towards a rather higher ambition - to climb the most iconic mountain in the Alps, the Matterhorn.⁠
⁠
Fuelled by Kendal Mint Cake and playing Eminem rap songs in his head, on July 8 Jules Molyneaux became the youngest person to scale the 4,478m mountain that straddles the Italian-Swiss border. He achieved his goal thanks to a rigorous homemade fitness program, which he followed with his father, after his school closed in March.⁠
⁠
“It was train, train, train, six days a week,” says Jules, who lives in the Cairngorms National Park, where his parents own a gin distillery. “Some days it was chin-ups, an abs and core workout, followed by going up and down the stairs a hundred times. Other days we’d go out for a 30km hike.” And what of school work? “Well I did a bit,” he jokes.⁠

Bravo to Jules on such an achievement.

Pix and 95% of text originally reblogged at my one remaining Tumblr.

Marching with the Boys Brigade

Although nominally this is a blog centred on Scouting, I do look at other generally boys youth related movements that have a similar kind of an ethos

We're going back in time and to one I have talked a few times about on here, the Boys Brigade who are pictured here marching in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

Apologies for the quality of this picture which like the other dates from August 1981 of the Hillsborough, Sheffield group which someone seems to have messed up in scanning from film to digital but we can see what were the current uniforms that were inspected, as all uniforms should I might add.

You should be proud to wear your uniform and wear it properly.

Anyone born after the late 1990's will instantly note that not only are the boys in shorts but what for people of that generation we'd call 'proper shorts', as shorts then were not on or below the knee but definitely above it.

The original was on a Tumblr of mine that's sadly gone.

Our summer hike

The boys enjoy another glorious day hiking in the hills, enjoying one another's company in the dazzling sunshine in much the same I've been this week.

A salute to Scouting

Proudly taking your salute while at the same time being reminded of your Promise, you look and feel the smartest boy around as over the years you have learnt a lot and have moved on within the scouting family.

This picture also shows just how a smart uniform befits the Scout which is one area I feel the Scouting Association has drifted away from in recent years.

Anyone can be a scout

Troop 446 Boy Scouts meeting in the community center of the Ida B. Wells Housing Project, Chicago, 1942, showing Scouting is for all regardless of race or social class.

Togetherness

Some people might say the past is a foreign country where things and ways were different although there's a heck of lot of boyhood me in this picture but I feel if you scratch the surface the outdoor boy is pretty much the same as he always was.

There's something magical about that outdoor BB-Q whither it's done on a bespoke one or over a fire you have made yourself as we all help in making it happen cos we're just drawn to it like a moth to the flame.

It may be a special camp, it could just be an event to mark a boy's birthday but it will leave mark in minds of all there, a memory and that's what we need to help keep us moving forward no matter what adversity we my face.

Wheeled outdoor fun

The second post of the year and what we're looking at is more unstructured enjoyment of boys in the outdoors than things like Scouting, The Boys Brigade or Woodland Folk which really the mainstay of this blog.

Here the boys have rigged together a go kart chassis from wood with smaller diameter wheels and at the rear added a rod for both steering it and for other boys to provide the power by pushing it.

The great thing is apart from the engineering skills they've used is they are undertaking exercise in the outdoors, taking in what is around them but in a way that is enjoyable which given the problems we have with boys and girls being stuck on smartphones and gaming is a very good thing. 

Going back in time

The way things were when within the Scout Association Wolfcubs were a thing, here it's a South London pack around 1962 looking fresh, very well turned out and full of excitement for loving what the Wolf Cub program then offered boys.

It's that which keeps me going.

Making a difference

Marching very much to the beat of your own drum in a procession.

This week it was reported a 10-year-old boy climbed more than 300ft down a ravine to save his mother who was seriously injured in a fall.

Oban Mountain Rescue in Scotland praised the boy who used his mum's phone to call the emergency services to give directions to their location.

The boy was also accompanied by his father and two sisters when the accident happened and she said to be "out of danger and comfortable" in hospital.

Details about this boy are scarce possibly for a reason but in order to do what he did he needed to have learned to climb, make a call and know how to help keep a person conscious but it seems quite possible he belong to some organization that may of taught this.

Sometimes we here so much negativity about youth and especially about boys but here is something that is very commendable and certainly worthy of an award.

I've gotcha!

Having a spot of horse play at Scout Camp as the tents and marques are being erected for what seems like biggish event taking place.

Present attitudes toward any kind of unregulated activity can lead to situations where complaints and even formal legal action can be started which can lead to a more risk adverse take on boys doing what comes naturally with the leader only stepping in where necessary.

I feel while bullying rightly shouldn't be tolerated, boys should learn to hold their own and resolve differences by themselves and sometimes horse play helps teach limits to boys and to make up afterward.

A Reflection on the path

Having been out today, that look at wonderment with the state of nature after a good hike is one I can easily identify with staring at all that's around you.

Many people find that being out in the open taking your time to absorb everything that is around you including the stillness of the air helps with maintaining a healthy outlook mentally whatever challenges you may be facing.

I find that solitude and the hard things like hiking with my physical disabilities helps me much more than any 'soft' options in learning to face up to those challenges in my life and the business of being the best boy I can learning resilience and showing real grit.