Wood Badge training: Difference between revisions

Soon after founding the [[Scouting|Scout movement]], [[Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell|Robert Baden-Powell]] saw the need for leader training. Early [[Scoutmaster]] training camps were held in London in 1910, and in [[Yorkshire]] in 1911. Baden-Powell wanted his training to be as practical as possible, and that meant holding it in the [[outdoors]] in [[camp]]. [[World War I]] delayed the development of leader training, so the first formal Wood Badge course was not offered until 1919.<ref name="wbfounding"/><ref name="gillwbhist"/><ref name="origins"/> [[Gilwell Park]], just outside of London, was purchased specifically to provide a venue for the course and was opened for use on [[June 2]], [[1919]]. Francis Gidney, the first Camp Chief at Gilwell Park, conducted the first Wood Badge course there from [[September 8]] to [[September 19]], [[1919]]. It was produced by [[Percy Everett]], the Commissioner of Training, and Baden-Powell himself gave lectures. The course was attended by 18 participants, and other lecturers. After this first course, Wood Badge training continued at Gilwell Park, and it became the home of leadership training in the Scout movement.<ref name="gillwbhist2">{{cite web | url = http://pinetreeweb.com/woodbadg.htm | title = The Wood Badge Homepage | publisher = Pinetree Web | accessdate = 2006-08-01}}</ref>