  | Yeovil & District Scout Council - 'Helping Young People Join the Adventure' HistoryLord Baden-Powell started the Boy Scouts in 1908 with his inaugural camp on Brownsea Island. A very short time after this, the first Scout Groups in Yeovil were formed. 1911 saw the first Wolf Cubs and with very few changes the association continued until 1964. Firstly the Association's name changed, dropping the Boy to become the Scout Association. The Cub section dropped the Wolf to become Cub Scouts; the Scout section also dropped the Boy, and the upper age limit was altered to 16; Senior Scouts and Rover Scouts were disbanded, to be replaced by Venture Scouts for the 16 to 20 year olds and the B-P Guild was set up for those members who wanted to participate in Scouting over the age of 20, but did not want to necessarily commit themselves to a leadership role. Secondly the Scout and Scouter Uniforms were changed, out went the lemon squeezer hats and the shorts, and in came green berets, mushroom trousers, and green shirts for the Scouts, and fawn shirts for the Venture Scouts and Leaders. From humble beginnings Yeovil and District grew to 18 groups in the later part of the 20th century but due to mergers and a group closure we now have 16. The Millennium brought about further changes to both the uniform, sections and the program and these are detailed in our About Us page.
To the south of Yeovil, lies Barwick Park, which boasts four follies. Locals say they were built to give the estate labourers work during a time of depression during the 1820's. They were possibly commissioned by George Messiter of Barwick to mark the park boundaries at four important points. The Fish Tower in the north, Jack the Treacle Eater to the east, the Needle to the south and Messiter's Cone to the West. However, paintings of Barwick house in the 1780's, forty years earlier, include two of the follies. The first three may be seen from Two Tower Lane, off the A37 just south of Yeovil, and the Needle is further down the A37 opposite the Halstock turning. The Folly of Jack the Treacle Eater is a tall arch of rough stones surmounted by a round tower with a pointed cone roof with an entrance at the top of the arch (legend has it that Jack lived in this round tower). At the very top is a statue of Mercury recalling the servant lad, Jack, who apparently (again as legend would have it) ran to and from London with Mail for the Messiter Family with nothing but a jar of treacle to sustain him. Yeovil & District Scouts adopted the folly of Jack the Treacle Eater for the design on their District Badge in the 1960s. |
History plays a large part in Scouting and most districts in this country base
their badges on local heraldry or coats of arms, Yeovil has taken its badge partly from legend and partly from history. Depicted
on the Yeovil & District Badge is Jack the Treacle Eater and the following is a brief account of Jack and his surroundings.