Forum drużyny 208 KDH HAKRATURY

Jos

During the KOSA you could see Marcin wearing a scouting hat, a well known head-gear in scouting worldwide.
Within Szczep Tęczowy i saw only one staff wearing this hat before (Mateusz). I myself have a hat like that myself but do not bring it too often to Poland on my visits to your outings or meetings.

In two parts i will tell you the story about the scouting hat 'the hat with the four ditches' as it is also called and well known within scouting.

PART 1:

Scouting Hats.....

In the Victorian time (around 1899/1900) youth was considered to behave themselves and dress as miniature adults.
They could become at the most only seen but not heard and entertainment was there little. It was a booring life.

Then before and after the test camp on Brownsea Island (1-9 augusts 1907) Baden-Powell wrote 'scouting boys' and it in 6 deliveries appeared in the book shops and kiosks, it found a good market at the British youth.
(*1) Everywhere small groups arose -called patrols- which brought in practice what they read. It became finally necessary to lead this all into good ways and therefore Baden-Powell had been obliged to set up the British 'Boy Scouts Association'.
Patrols could become registered as a member. Only after troops would arise.

The Scouting Game Rules.....

This had as a result that several rules -the game rules- were established and also clothing was this way fixed. It became a khaki or green shirt and a fairly long short trousers with what one called sporting socks.
This last to disagree of some concerned parents and doctors who doubted if naked knees, especially in the winter, was healthy. Also a hat was introduced.
This became the scouting-hat: ' the hat with the four ditches'.

Why? In that time, until after the 2nd world war (1939-1945), in the United Kingdom (also in the netherlands and elsewhere) everyman with a administrative or executive job wear a hat. The head-gear was a status or class symbol. Without a hat one was not dressed correctly. This changed.
In Netherlands after the liberation in 1945, when hats were scarse and hard to get one.

The hat with four ditches.....

Everyone who visits the United Kingdom or Scotland knows that Buckingham palace in London, Holyrood Castle in Edinburgh, Windsor Castle and other royal residents are guarded by guards of the regimenten which are dressed, in the summer months, in red jackets and blue trousers. On the head the bearhat', (*2). What one now with difficulty can
imagine is that in the past these British soldiers went also this way dressed
if they took part in an armed conflict, however, it is true they wear later in the of all day practice a white or black helmet of cork. (*3) This way dressed they were also when they invaded in 1899 the two farmer republics the Transvaal and Oranje Vrijstaat in South Africa (two former provinces of the Dutch colony South Africa).

(Mafeking.) Although the farmers had no real army they defended themselves nevertheless with some success. They were surprisingly good sharpshooters (snipers) and they could find no better targets as the British soldiers dressed in their red tunics and their white or black cork helmets. The farmers themselves carried dark clothing and were in the field less good see. British losses were so high that they started to introduce the less striking khaki uniforms.

In that time Canada still was British Dominion. Around 1867 they extended their territory with the annexation of the current provinces in the northwest of the countrywhich was then exclusively inhabited by indians and in the northern regions by eskimo's or Inuits.
The North West Mounted POlice was setup to bring these regions under control (Since 1920 Royal Canadian Mounted Police).
These riders went also dressed in the red tunics and blue trousers. To protect themselves against the sun they proceeded to carry 'cowboyhats'. In that time the hat was manufactured officially by the firma John B. Stetson made of firm felt with a broad edge and a ball with 'four ditches'.

When during the farmer war (boer war) in South Africa (1899-1902) the British soldiers initially did not have the success they hoped to have and due to the boer snipers they had big losses addidtion soldiers from Canada was invoked.
The core of them existed from members and former members of the North West Mounted Police and they wear khaki clothing and the 'hat with the four ditches'.
In 1895, Baden-Powell, led the Ashanti expedition (West Africa) and there BP already wear himself the hat with broad edge from the Mounted police. The Ashanties called him therefore 'Kantankye', 'he with the large hat'.
Thanks to the arrival of the Canadians in South Africa BP got to know about their 'hat with the four ditches' and use of that the Canadians made from it.
The broad edge protected the men against the burning sun in the back of the neck as well as the face.
if there was little water, then one filled the hat with water and let the horses drink from the hat, or it could be used as a washing basin. If the fire would not burn well you could wave fresh air to the fire to get it burn well.
In 1910, BP got the task to form a mounted police corps in South Africa. He adopted the hat of the Canadians for his men of the South African Constabulary, in which he as a matter of fact took also 1200 Canadians.

Notes:
(*1) In fact there were already groups of boys appearing before Baden-Powell wrote 'Scouting for Boys'.
Robert Baden-Powell, had before written a notebook for the training of soldiers 'aids to scouting - 1899'.
Boys got this also in hands and went to work with it their own way.

(*2) After the battle at Waterloo, Belgium (18 June 1815), where Napoleons armies were definitively defeated, the British garde regiments collected on the battle field the bearhats of the French imperial garde, and took these in use.

(*3) These helmets were of the model which is also now still worn by several British police constables. (before the 2nd world war also by the 'The Hague the police force in the Netherlands'.
The Dutch Garde Regiment 'Prinses Irene' born from the during the 2nd world war formed 'Prinses Irene Brigade' got in 1947 a British looking gala uniform with red tunic and blue trousers and a black helmet with on the front a white invasion star, as a reminder to 6 June 1944, D-Day, the day of the invasion in Normanidië, on which the liberation of west europe started.
One can see this during the 'Prinsjesdag' in September every year in The Netherlands.

>>> NEXT TIME SCOUTING HATS AND BARRETS

sebeQ

I thank it Jos. Can somebody translate this?

Jos

Wy nie macie słownik Exclamation

Jos

PART 2

The hat in scouting.....

When scouting spontaneously arose in 1907-1908 BP decided to introduce this hat also for his boy-scouts.
And after 'to everyones stupefaction, including bp's' when scouting spread out over the world this happened also with the hat.
During the first world Jamboree, 1920 (Richmond park/Olympia in London) the first international conference was taken part where the bases were created of the international or world movement. These bases got fixed form during the second international conference in Paris in 1922.
Agreements were also made concerning game clothing. however it was not so that the hat as head-gear was prescribed. But most European and American countries took the 'hat with four ditches' as their head-gear too, however, there were countries which introduced their own, national head-gear.(*4).

The Dutch scouts also wanted to be correctly dressed and therefore the
'hat with the four ditches' was taken into use.
But although the hat was very popular and one felt not dressed correct without one, the hat was frequently also a problem.
When the bicycle 'the Dutch transport by means' became the way of transporting yourself also the Dutch scouts mainly used the bicycle as their main way of transport. And, as one knows who visited the Netherlands before, there is always blowing as fairly strong wind. Then the hat could become a problem especially when you had to face the wind head-on. Often the hat was placed over the headlight of the bicycle, during daylight no problem but in the dark it was dangerous - and expensive- because who in that time was riding without a working light, he knew he promptly would get a fine and had to continue his travels walking. (Every cycling scout therefore ensured himself to carry always two reserve lightbulbs in his repair kit).
Furthermore the hat lay during camping mostly on the side wings of the tent. An advantage of the hat was that, if you got a leak tire, you filled your hat with water and this way you could trace the whole and repair it.

When scouting emerged during the liberation period (September 1944-may 1945), there were a lot of scouts who had no hat there was also no hats to buy, These had to come from abroad (UK).
In that time of rebuilding and common poverty the Dutch government
made no foreign currency available for the purchase of 'luxurious articles' (*5).
He who had luck to be given a hat by the foreign organisations or to get an old lady's hat and had transformed that into a 'hat with the four ditches' was priviledged.
Dutch scouting proceeded then to carry khaki berets.
Initially it were the Canadian soldiers who gladly gave their reserve berets. Later they were even to buy in the so called 'dumpshops' of superfluous army material, where you also could buy khaki shirts.
The use of the beret pleased the dutch scouts, because also with a strong wind it would stay on your head, and a scout therefore would stay correctly dressed all time.
After some time the Dutch Scoutshop could use English currency again to buy equipment from the British Scoutshops 'so also hats could be bought again' and the use of the beret was announced unwanted. (Except for the air-scout patrols.) But hats proved to be considerably more expensive than those from before the war. One bought them, but the berets which were so much more easy in use was never forgotten.

In the beginning of the 50's, the British scouting movement began to replaced the hat by the beret. A green for the rover scouts, a wine-red for the senior scouts.
As this was happening then there was also in the Netherlands no way to stop this anymore. Actions were held to get the NPV 'National Pathfinders Organisation' and the KV 'Katholic scout organisation' to introduce the beret too. They refused this.
But then it got out of hand. Travelling to a foreign country was meanwhile become somewhat more simple. The United Kingdom was a very popular destination for the Dutch scouts.
By means of correspondence it reached 'home hospitality' and closer connections grew between Dutch and British groups. He who travelled to the United Kingdom went also to scoutshop where one bought oneself a beret. It were especially the Dutch roverscouts which -unofficially- the green British rover scouts beret started to wear.
This to great disaproval of the Dutch governing boards.

The beret.....

But this way it came that the NPV on the 23rd April 1955 nevertheless the beret was introduced officially.
Did they want to punish the rover scouts, which waer the British green beret, when for the boy scouts was choosen for the green and for the rover scouts the wine red beret?
For the cubscout staff on the 1st january 1957 a browns beret was choosen.
But the VKJB followed with a black beret for all members.
Every scout felt itself now again dressed correctly 'entirely in game clothing'.
But there came protest from the Dutch army. During 2nd the world war the commandos, green berets, and the parachutists, wine-red berets were set-up in the United Kingdom.
Also Dutch soldiers made part out of them. only after a very heavy training a soldier may wear the green or wine-red beret. (After the liberation they were also trained in the Netherlands).
Differently than in United Kingdom in the Netherlands was objection against the use of the berets by the Dutch scouts, which was not prohibited however but nevertheless it became reason enough for the NVP to replace all colors by the black berets, whom the VKJB wear already for a long time.

On the 6th January 1973 Scouting Netherlands arose by merging all the former organisations into one national scouting organisation. A lot of old scouting traditions was abolished then, what was regretted by many in the movement and was abroad not always understood. Afterwards also the head-gear disappeared slowly but steady.
But still (2007) you can buy in the scoutshop still the 'hat with the four ditches' and black berets. You can still see scouts wearing them but less and lesser.

What do Dutch scouts wear on their hats now in 2007.....
- Beaverscouts wear a beavercap (a baseball cap with beaver logo in red)
cubscouts are wearing 'depending on their game they play';
- Cubscouts who play the story of mowgli in the jungle wear a wolfcap
(the original English version, green and yellow lined)
- Brownies weaa green knitted hat
- Esta's wear a kind of cap/kerchief combination in green
- water cubscouts named dolphins wear a blue baseball cap with logo
Boy scouts and girl guides;
- they can wear a scout hat, a black beret, a scout baseball cap as
long as the whole troop is choosing for the same head-gear. The waterscouts are wearing a sailors cap.
Rover scouts, explorers, the youth branch, the 21plus scouts and the staff members have the same rules for the head-gear as the boy scouts and girl guides. meaning that as long as the whole group chooses for the same head-gear to wear they can make a choice of their desire. Water scouts ofcourse wear their tocks and sailor caps.

notes....
(*4) In Europe e.g. Sweden, Finland and Poland further the Arab and Malaysian Islands. and in the United States beside the hat the field cap.

(*5) The government was very economical with foreign currency. He who between 1946 and 1950 got authorisation to travel to the United Kingdom was not allowed to exchange-value of 10 Dutch guilders into English pounds and was entirely dependent on his or her hosts.

It would be great if someone could find the time to add the 3rd part to this story, telling about the head-gear, hats and caps used in the Polish scouting.

wojtek

he he troche DUŻO

Kacha Kot

I don't think we have as big knowledge about our hats...

Jos

wojtek: maybe.... but a very good exercise Exclamation

Kacha Kot: hmmmm Shocked

I can not realy believe that, since polish scouts have to know all about their history.
I think i have to give it a try myself then Rolling Eyes