Stage or tent home to a scout

Press, 10 September 1985, Page 14

Stage or tent home to a scout

Scouting brings to mind images of boys wearing green shirts with knotted scarves, sitting around a campfire, tying knots, or chopping wood. But there is a great deal more to scouting than these traditional activities as the public of Christchurch saw last week with the performance of the scouting Gang Show.

The singing and dancing of the scouts in the show followed a tradition more than 50 years old. “The Gang’s All Here” was the name of the first London Scout Revue, held in 1932 at the Scala Theatre. That show received an enthusiastic reception during its three-day season. When it returned for a week the next year, tickets were difficult to get. The name of that first revue stuck and since then

scouts all around the world have performed musical stage productions called Gang Shows.

The shows are based on the successful formula of that first one in London, and as is the case in last week’s Christchurch Gang Show, they usually use some of the songs and sketches written by Ralph Reader, who produced that 1932 revue.

Performing in a Gang Show is a highlight of the year for many scouts. The man who laid the foundations for the tradition of exciting, polished performances the public now expect from the Scout revue was himself a keen scout.

Mr Reader left England while in his teens, and travelled to America where he become theatrical producer on Broadway, New York’s great street of theatres.

When he returned to England in the late 19205, he rejoined the scout movement and set about to serve scouts in the best way he could. V

His talents as a producer of musical comedy and a writer of songs were put to use, and gave rise to the show, ; “The Gang’s All Here.” It had a cast of 120 scouts aged from 11 to 30, and was an instant success with its vitality and speed, colour and humour.

Gang Shows have been held in Christchurch since 1956, and are now held once every two years. By taking part, scouts gain valuable experience in performing to an audience, and often become more selfconfident as a result. The indoor drill which goes into rehearsal for a Gang Show is balanced by

other scouting activities, many of which involve the outdoors.

The originator of the scout movement, Lord Ba-den-Powell, was convinced that learning to look after oneself in the outdoors was an ideal leisure pursuit for young boys. He wrote a manual on the subject entitled “Scouting for boys” which met with the instant approval of boys in his homeland, England, and boys from overseas countries snapped it up eagerly when it reached their bookstores.

He originally intended that his book would be a companion volume for outdoor activities in existing clubs and organisations like the Boys’ Brigade.

But boys wanted to carry out his ideas independently, and Lord Baden-Powell found himself answering

many letters asking how groups of boys should carry out scouting activities. He then decided to form an organised movement, one which quickly spread worldwide. It continues to attract boys and girls into its fold after many generations. Camping is an important feature of scouting life. Many of the traditions of scout camps, such as the stories around the campfire, date back to the very first scout camp in 1907. This camp was held at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, England. For the 18 boys, drawn from a variety of walks of life, it was an exciting and unusual holiday with one of the most popular heroes of their time.

They did not realise this camp would be the forerunner of millions of similar camps by boys from many different countries through succeeding generation, or that what happened at this camp would affect the lives of millions of people in the years to come. At Brownsea Island, Lord Baden-Powell tried out some of his ideas about scouting that had been forming in his mind through his illustrious army career. He proved to himself that the survival and camping activities were the kind of things which boys would enjoy doing in their spare time. After the camp, “Scouting for Boys” was published, and proved an immediate best-seller. By the end of 1908, scouting was beginning to get organised in Great Britain, with a structured hierarchy. In that same year, scouting started in New Zealand when a Kaiapoi boy, Adolph Mallasch bought “Scouting for Boys” from a local department store. Adolph was intrigued with the sample copy of the book which had been sent to Mr George Blackwell for sale in his shop. With his brother and two friends, Adolph Mallasch persuaded his father, Mr T. Mallasch to become scoutmaster, and so was born the first scout troop in New Zealand.