Figure 1.--This long-sleeve bottle green pullover with a rugby collar may have been the earliest of the Canadian Cub pullovers. This one shows the many patches the boys or more probably their mums sewed on them.

A HBU reader has provided us some images of Cub pullovers worn over time. We notice different styles and colors. Here are four photographs of Canadian Cub Scout pullovers showing the diverse designs and colours, two more will follow in another email plus a Canadian Sea Scout shirt. I believe the navy blue and bottle green button front pullovers are early designs and the pale grey is a later period. They are made of knitted wool yarn. The knee socks are pale grey, have bottle green tops with two grey contrasting stripes. We note brew-neck and rugby (polo) styles with buttons part of the way down the front. Canadian Cubs appear to have followed the uniform trend of British Cubs who wore pullover sweaters rather than the American uniform of a shirt. We do not yet have detaols as to precisely when the different puillovers were worn. The blue pullover seems to be the earliest one.

Bottle-green Collar Pullover

This bottle-green collar pullover may have been the earliest Canadian Cub pullover (figure 1). The inspiration was probably the English Cub pullover which was green. The kneesocks were coordinated with the pullover. The three yellow stripes on the left sleeve denotes a Senior Sixer who would have been overseeing the other sixer units in the Cub Pack (Den). A sixer, in charge of six cubs wore two yellow stripes and his next in command (called a Second) wore one yellow stripe. The other cubs in the Six did not wear a stripe until they were promoted. The coloured triangle at the top of the left sleeve (here itv is faded out because of the exposure) indicated which Six they belonged to, e.g. Red Six, Blue Six & etc. Note the red Wolf Cub patch. We're not sure what the yellow circle above is. It has a "3" which may correspond to the three stripes. There is also the standard "Wolf Cubs - Canada" patch. I'm not sure what the triange on the left sleeve represents. The right sleeve has the unit badge at the top. Underneath the badges are probably merit badges the boy has earned. One looks like cookling and another sewing. I'm not sure about the others.

Bottle-green Crew Pullover

This bottle-green pullover may have been earlier Canadian Cub pullover. This long-sleeve pullover had a crew neck. The boy looks to have been a fairly new Cub as he hasn't acquired very many badges. Note the red Wolf Cub patche and the standard "Boy Scouts - Canada" patch. Earlier patches read "Wolf Cubs" rather than "Boy Scouts". I'm not sure what the red rampant lion represents, perhaps a rank badge. The white triange represents the province, in this case Ontario. The left sleevec has his unit designation, in this case presumably pack 6, but we don't know just where.represents.

Blue Rugby Pullover

The blue long-sleeve pullover seems to be another of the the earliest pullover garment. He had the red Wolf Cub badge. The yellow bage over the Wolf Cub badge is a annual membership badge. We're not sure what the three stripes on the left sleeve meant. Nor what the red triangle at the top of the left sleeve meant. Perhaps it was three years of membership. The badges on the right sleeve look like merit badges. The pullover has blue plastic buttons.

Grey Rugby Pullover

Canadian Cubs also wore pale-green long-sleevev pullovers with rugby styling. There are green detailing stripes on the collar. This looks like a more modern pullover, but we are not sure if it is the current one. The one here has only the basic badges. The Wolf Cub badge is green rather than the older red badges. The rectacular badge reads "Wolf Cubs - Canada. The Ontario badge seems to be a three-pedal white flower.

Grey Crew-collar Pullover

There was also a pale-grey pullover with a crew neck. There was green stripe detailing around the beck and the sleeve cuffs. We believe that this was an optional design. It was worn at about the same time as the rugby pullover. The individual or pack could decided which style to wear. The green Wolf Cub patch has a blue patch avove it, a 90-91 patch with a fleur-de-lis. I'm not sure what this patch meant. The numbers presumably refer to 1990-91. The rectactular "Wolf Cubs-Canada" is a little different with a Canadian flag added. The left sleeve shoulder patch probably means the Raven den.

Scarfes

Cubs wore these pull overs with scarfes. I think in Canada the Cubs and Scouts wore a red scarf. In Ametrica Cubs wore a blue and yellow scarve destibctive from the red Scout scarfe. . The other option was ton wear a group scarfe. We notice some American Cubs doing that by the 1980s. An Australian reader tells us, "In Australia each Scout Group - consisting of a Cub Pack, Scout Troop, Senior Scouts and Rover Scouts wore a coloured scarf unique to the group. These could be of a plain colour or edged with a contrasting coloured ribbon. Some Groups also had a Group badge on the peak of the scarf.: