In August of 1955, Niagara-on-the-Lake was the site of the 8th World Scout Jamboree. For ten days, Niagara played host to Scouts from all over the world. Scouting was huge after the war because of the influence of Lord and Lady Baden Powell and in many parts of what was originally part of the imperial empire, Scouting was a very important part of many communities. However, for a long time it was seen as being very restrictive. But the World Jamboree brought Jewish scouts from the U. S. to Canada and there were Jewish scout troops in Buffalo. They even had their own camp integrated with the Protestant and the Catholic groups. The St. Catharines Jewish community had lots of relationships with folks in the Buffalo Jewish community and many things that we ended up having in St. Catharines came via these connections with Buffalo. We became members of United Synagogue because of that relationship. We ended up being a big United Synagogue Youth centre because of that relationship. But, we also ended up with our own scout program because of it as well.
Certain things seem to happen because of serendipity. I believe that this is one of them. Not only were there relationships between families here and in Buffalo that led to ideas passing pack and forth that very porous international border. But when we opened up the new Jewish Community Centre in 1954, the first caretaker who lived in the old synagogue building on Calvin Street happened to be very big in Scouting in St. Catharines. It was like when he was hired, they already knew that he would end up helping get scouts going in our new building. It began with Boy Scouts and Cubs and then extended to Guides and Brownies. The leaders were all volunteers. To give only some of the names of the leaders would be impolite because we might miss some. Suffice it to say that since there was a Scout Troop, a Cub Pack, A Guides Troop, and a Brownies pack, and there were at least three or four adults involved with each, that was a lot of volunteers. If you look at the first picture below, you will see why there were so many volunteers. Look at all those kids and that was just the boys. Another time I’ll do the girls.
The two next pictures were taken at a parade that we participated in for Lord Baden Powell Day. All the scouts and cubs wore their uniforms and we marched from the Armories to Montebello Park. It was quite the event.
