Warning: Proud Granny elements in this post but mostly family history.

This month has seen not one but two of my descendants continue the family tradition of involvement with the Scouting/Guiding movement. Both Edward and Lucy have been invested as Beavers. This occasion is significant for both of them but for Edward it also marks a step forward in his ability to work in a group setting – more of that on BeingEdward at a later date. They are the fourth generation to be involved in scouting. Edward’s mum was a Rainbow, a Brownie a Guide and a Brownie leader. She is now ‘Rabbit’ (all the adults are named after Winnie the Pooh characters) for Edward’s Beaver Colony. Lucy’s mum was a Brownie (Rainbows hadn’t been invented then) a Guide, earning the Baden-Powell Award and a young leader. I was, briefly, a Brownie and then an enthusiastic Guide before a spell as Tawny Owl.

Other family members have also been involved. Lucy and Edward’s maternal grandfather was a Cub and a Queen’s Scout. His father, their great-grandfather, was also  a Scout leader. It isn’t just their maternal ancestors who have been involved in scouting. There have been Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Guides and Cub leaders amongst their paternal ancestors too.

I was trying to put together photographic evidence of this and discovered that I only have one photograph documenting my five years as a guide and this is blurry as it is taken from a slide. I do have a few pictures of others at camps but not of me. It just shows how easily a significant part of one’s past can disappear from the family record. My time as a Brownie and a Brownie leader are merely the stuff of memory, although somewhere in the loft I do have my brownie promise card. Our badges do survive and now adorn blankets. I have my guide handbook and a 1948 edition of Scouting for Boys, which must have belonged to my late father-in-law. It is exciting to see these traditions pass to a new generation.