Figure 1.--These Scouts are on a hike in the countryside. Notice that the boys are all wearing well-polished oxford shoes. We think that these are English Scouts--notices the Walls' Ice Cream sign. We wonder if they might be Irish, but English seems more likely.

One of the activities most associated with Scouting is hiking in the country side. A major reason for the creation of the Scouts was to get city children out in the country side for fresh air and exercise. Hiking along with camping was an especially important element in the activities program of early Scouting. Many early photographs of Scouts show the boys with long hiking sticks. We also note boys hiking in military formation. We are not sure how common this was. Some imges are difficult to destinguish between parade formations and hiking. Available images suggest that some hikes at least begun with well polished shoes. While some photographs are available, we do not yet have any written descriptions about hiking in the English Scouting program.

A British reader provides some insights about the photograph here. "The Scouts are definitely Englidsh. Almost certaily the photograph was taken of a group at a at a summer camp. The camp was situated near the sea. It sea probably the Channel can be seen in the background. It looks to be on England's southern coast. It might be Brownse Island! The cars confirm that the photograph was taken in the early 1950s. I note not only the Walls' Ice cream sign. The other sign also supports the photograph being in the British Isles. 'Player's Please' was a cigarette advert. This was a brand supposed to have been smoked by sailors hense the 19th Century navy image. Can't make out the one further back though. Walls' Ice Cream had a feature in the Eagle comic. Two young boys went on adventures and to get them out of a difficult situation they would eat Walls' Ice Cream! It is also good ice cream." [Fergusson]

Sources

Fergusson, William. E-mail message, July 24, 2004.