Cambridge District Scout Archive
A Scout Week was a planned week of activities to raise awareness of Scouting, to ‘gain recruits, new officers and helpers’ and to raise funds.
The suggested programme was
- Dec 7th Ball in Guildhall
- Dec 11th Sunday Scouts Own in Central Cinema with prominent preacher
- Dec 12th Performance of Speckled Band at the ADC theatre
- Dec 13th Ditto
- Dec 14th Dance at the Rendezvous
- Dec 15th Exhibition of Scout work and activities in the Corn Exchange
- Dec 16th Tea to Poor children at the HQ
- Dec 17th Afternoon and evening meeting in the Guildhall with a speaker such as Chief Scout or Lors Hampton, and Songs
Scouts and Scout workers would be asked to wear their uniforms as often as possible, and the assumption was that those at school ‘could quite easily wear theirs for the whole week’.
There should also be a concerted effort to make the week a ‘Good Turn’ week.
The ‘Speckled band’ is a play by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based on his own short story.
The difference between the ‘Ball’ and the ‘Dance’ was presumably clear at the time; generally a Ball was a more formal affair, in part defined by the clothing possibly by the choice of music. The Rendezvous was a Dance Hall in Magrath Avenue, described as the best dance hall in Cambridge.
The week itself is not as clearly documented but we can say that the Chief Scout was not in attendance.
JWR Archivist Apr 2021
Cambridge District Scout Archive 