Scout hall

A Scout hall in Banchory, Scotland

A Scout hall (also Scout hut, Scout den or Scout headquarters) is a building owned or rented and used as a meeting place by a Scout Group.

A Scout hall typically consists of one or more large rooms which are used for games and Scouting activities, and may also include smaller rooms for committee meetings, storage of camping equipment and a kitchen.[1] When not being used for Scouting, Scout halls are often hired to other community groups, in a similar way to a village hall or community centre.

If the Scout hall consists of several large rooms, the various sections can have their own large room. Rooms for younger sections, like Beaver Scouts, Rainbow Guides, Cub Scouts and Brownie Guides are decorated with pictures and objects from their theme. Rooms for older sections are decorated with maps, knots, (small) examples of scoutcraft and camp souvenirs. In a room for the Scout troop each patrol should have its own section.[2]

A scout hall can be built for this use or a reuse of a building or part of a building that is not well suited for a different purpose. Sea Scout Groups may have an old cargo ship as a movable Scout hall. If there is space available, there is often a small or larger campsite next to a Scout hall. Scout halls are also used, by other Scout Groups, in particular for the younger sections, for camps or sleepovers.

Because of their availability as a relatively low cost space, Scout halls have sometimes been used by emerging rock or pop bands as a rehearsal or performance venue. Notable examples are: Cream, who initially rehearsed in a Scout hut in north London in July 1966,[3] The Stranglers who rehearsed in a Scout hut at Shalford, Surrey in 1974[4] and The Undertones, whose first public performance in 1976 was at a Scout hut in Derry.[5] In a 2006 interview, George Michael stated that his first public performance had been with a band in a Scout hut at Bushey in Hertfordshire.[6]

Notable Scout halls

In 1953, the postmodern architect Ralph Erskine erected the Scout hall Ulftorp for the KFUM Brommas Scoutkår in Bromma, Sweden. The building on Lovön, lake Mälaren, was designed around a central fireplace heating a large common room and two small rooms on the lower floor as well as a sleeping room on the upper floor. The roof was formed like a campfire mirroring Erskine's idea that everybody should gather around the fire. The Scout hall burned down in the late 1960s.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Steg, Cathy (March–April 1998). "British Cub Scouting". Scouting. Boy Scouts of America. pp. 48–50. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  2. ↑ Young, Ernest (1923). How To Run A Troop (PDF). London. p. C Arthur Pearson Ltd.
  3. ↑ Bacon, Tony (2008). Million Dollar Les Paul: In Search of the Most Valuable Guitar in the World. London: Jawbone. p. 62. ISBN 978-1906002145.
  4. ↑ Endeacott, Robert (2014). Peaches: A Chronicle Of The Stranglers 1974-1990. Soundcheck Books. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-9575700-4-7.
  5. ↑ Rombes, Nicholas (2009). A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974-1982. Continuum Imternational Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-0826427793.
  6. ↑ "George Michael's first gig was at a scout hut in Bushey near Watford". www.itv.com. ITV plc. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  7. ↑ Mats Egelius (1990). Ralph Erskine, Architect. Coronet Books. p. 33. ISBN 9179880460.
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