Wood Badge
For the 21st Century
Wood Badge is the ultimate in leadership training. 21st Century Wood Badge is fundamental leadership training that will provide you with the leadership skills to make a difference.
It is our goal to help you develop a high-quality, exciting and unmatchable program that meets the needs of all scouts, leading to character development and advancement.
Become the kind of leader that our youth will remember...ALL THEIR LIVES
2008 Dates
Friday – Sunday, September 12-14, 2008 at Royenah, Cazadero, California
Saturday - Monday, September 27-29, 2008 at Rancho Los Mochos, Livermore, California.
Cost: $220
Learn How To
- Bring the vision of Scouting to Life
- Apply the Aims and Methods of Scouting to ALL levels of the program
- Use projects and leadership methods to bring your scouting unit together through teamwork
- Lead to make a difference
Apply these fundamental leadership skills to maximize your positive impact on youth.
For more information contact the 2008 Course Director Otto Randolph at ottoscout@cs.com
History of Wood Badge
On the morning of September 8, 1919, nineteen men dressed in short pants and knee socks, their shirtsleeves rolled up, assembled by patrols for the first Scoutmasters' training camp held at Gilwell Park in Epping Forest, outside London, England. The camp was designed and guided by Sir Robert Baden-Powell a 61 year-old retired general of the British Army and the founder of the World Scouting Movement.
When they had finished their training together, Baden-Powell gave each man a simple wooden bead on a leather bootlace. The bead was from a necklace he received from a Zulu chieftain while on campaign in South Africa in 1888. The Scoutmasters' training course was a great success and continued to be held year-after-year. At the end of each course the wooden beads were used to recognize the completion of training. When the original beads ran out, new ones were whittled to maintain the tradition established by Baden-Powell. Because of these beads, the course came to be known as the Wood Badge Course. It continues to this day in England and around the world as the premier leadership development training course for adult leaders in Scouting.
Baden-Powell presented a Kudu Horn he captured during the Matabele War of 1896 to Gilwell Park. Its deep booming sound (when played with skill and no small amount of courage) would summon course members to assemblies and activities and was used in courses there for many years.
Baden-Powell would use the horn to open the 3rd World Jamboree was held at Arrowe Park, Birkenhead, England in 1929. It was known as the "Coming of Age" Jamboree as it celebrated 21 years since the foundation of the Scouting Movement.
Baden-Powell’s grandson was present on Brownsea Island when a Kudu Horn was used to announce the beginning of the second century of Scouting on August 1st, 2007. A Kudu Horn is also used today by many advanced leadership courses in Scouting.