THE SCOUTING LIFE OF ARTHUR C.G. WOOD
By Doug Watson

Arthur Wood (Art as he was affectionately known to all his friends) was a true Scout. Art started his career back in 1916 at the age of 12 when he joined Scouts and later earned his King’s Scout Badge. He commenced his adult service while he was in Rovers as an Assistant Scoutmaster with the 28th Toronto Group in 1922.

Art was involved with many other Scout Groups over the years and his last Scout Group was the 333rd Toronto where he served since 1968. In October, 1987, the newly formed Rover Crew asked him to be their Advisor, a position he continued to hold with the only stipulation he made at the age of 83 was he would not be able to participate in the outdoor activities. It is impossible to know the number of youth that Art influenced over the years, but many will have lots of fond memories of their days in Scouting and of the person who gave of his time to make them worthy citizens.

Art Wood was also a member of the 1st Gilwell Scout Troop, taking his training on the first Wood Badge Course in Canada (1924), and was also an active member of the Maple Leaf Chapter of Scouts on Stamps Society.

He was recognized by his peers with the Medal of Merit in 1948, Silver Acorn 1984, Honorary member of the Council 1987, and the Bar to the Silver Acorn 1998.

Art has now Gone Home, but his legacy will be that he lived his Scout Promise and Law daily, and that he rendered Scouting Service of the Most Exceptional Character.

An Article Worth Reprinting

By Ants Evard, Deputy Council Commissioner, Group Support

I MADE FOUR MISTAKES

Yes, when I resigned as Scoutmaster some twelve years ago, the boys and their parents threw quite a farewell dinner for me. They gave me a handsome gift and pointed out what a great job I had done – but down in my heart I knew that I had failed in my two years as a Scoutmaster. I had failed because I hadn’t done as good a job as I could have done.

I have often thought over my service as a Scoutmaster – at least a hundred times – and tried to analyze the situation coldly and objectively. I believe that if I had four things differently I could have counted my work a success. Of course, I’ve changed in the dozen years since I was a Scoutmaster – and so has Scouting. But I believe that these four errors of my thinking are worth sharing with other Scouters.

I am convinced that any man with reasonable intelligence, and liking for boys, and willingness to work at the job can be a successful Scoutmaster. I do like boys, and I put in some hard work, so maybe I failed in the intelligence department. My school grades were never too bad, so I guess I wasn’t using all of the brains I had. Just poor judgement, I suppose, resulting from failure to think things through carefully.

Specifically:

I Was a Dictator
I didn’t fully realize it at the time but I was a dictator – usually in a pleasant way – but what I wanted had to be the way we did things. The boys understood this.

When boys came up with ideas I moved roughshod over these suggestions if they were not in line with what I wanted. The boys did what I said. Occasionally I got the Patrol Leaders’ Council together but – quite naturally – the boys didn’t come up with many suggestions. Now I can see why. There just wasn’t a receptive climate for ideas other than my own.

I Didn’t Let People Help
I guess I did more than my share of beefing about the lack of help from our Group Committee and the parents of the boys. I really thought that they didn’t care enough, but now as I look back over those years and try to be perfectly honest with myself, I’m sure that I got quite a kick out of complaining that I was overworked and unappreciated. Guess I had a bit of a martyr complex.

The plain truth is that I never tried to involve others in helping with the Troop. I didn’t get the point of sharing the thinking and planning of Troop operations with parents and the Group Committee. I wonder if I wasn’t a little protective of my chance to be the boss.

I Protected Boys
No one can say that I wasn’t genuinely interested in the boys. I wanted them to grow to become able men, but at the same time I often shielded them from experiences that would have made them grow. I’m sure I often babied them instead of letting them learn from the hard experiences of life. I didn’t trust them to the extent of letting them learn from life’s realities. If I saw a boy hadn’t driven his tent stakes correctly I would protect him from the unpleasantness – and also from the accompanying lesson – of letting his tent fall down during the night. I would either tell him to drive the stakes correctly or I would do the work for him. I guess I just didn’t look far enough ahead. I didn’t see how important it was for a boy to use his head instead of my having more experience in using mine.

I did not expose boys enough to educational situations. Instead I protected them from facing such valuable experiences.

Ours Was an Isolationist Troop
We were proud of our Troop to a degree that we were sometimes snobbish and aloof. We felt that we were too good to take part in activities with other Troops. Our Troop had a camp of its own and we felt that other camps just couldn’t measure up to it. We avoided taking part in any kind of inter-Troop activity where other Troops might show up.

Now, to be fair to myself, I had inherited some of that attitude from previous Troop Leaders, but as I look back on it I realize that we were just an isolationist Troop – much like an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand.

How I’d Do It Now
If I were a Scoutmaster again? Yes, I’m sure that if I were a Scoutmaster again I’d try to do many things differently. I’m sure that I wouldn’t be a dictator. I’d try to develop boys to think, to plan, and to gain skill in managing.

I’d not only let people help with the Troop, I’d scheme to involve people in caring and helping.
I’d learn to share the joy of Troop operation.

I’d be more skilled in helping boys to learn from life’s realities. I’d try to project boys into difficulty facing situations rather than protect them from the need to come to grips with problems.

I’d try to broaden our Troop’s basis of operation. We’d be less of an isolationist Troop and more of a co-operator.

Maybe my chance will come again. If it does I’ll probably make a lot of other mistakes. But not these four.