philatelia
Member 
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,415
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Aug 19, 2023 14:54:10 GMT
kgvistamps ’s post brought back wonderful memories of my scouting days, so I thought this poll would be fun. Many Boy/Girl Scouts earn a stamp collecting badge - were you among them? I believe that many of us were Scouts - it will be interesting to see, yes? Here’s a pic of my badges; yup of course I was a Girl Scout! And of course I earned the collecting badge! This is the closest I ever got to having a chest full of “fruit salad” LoL Hey - if you don’t have a pic of your badges - let’s see your fruit salad!  
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jpotx113
Member
Posts: 460
What I collect: USA, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Machins, misc. WW
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Post by jpotx113 on Aug 19, 2023 15:01:29 GMT
I was a Boy Scout back in the early '80s (and Cub Scouts in the late '70s). For the last 6 years I've been the Committee Chair for the local Troop. Sadly, the stamp collecting MB doesn't seem very popular these days.
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,644
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Aug 19, 2023 15:17:00 GMT
I was in the Boy Scouts I almost made it to Star.
A burn accident at a summer campfire (the Scoutmaster had left to go work some overtime) resulted in a great deal of fall-out. I wasn't involved in the incident, but after a few more meetings... things just got wierd.... and I quit.
Back in the 60's I sewed my patches onto levis and such...
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 693 
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Aug 19, 2023 15:18:15 GMT
I was a Wolf Cub, Boy Scout and then Venturer. Alas, I don't have my merit badges any more, but I did have my stamp collecting badge, I'm sure of it. Although, as I proved by diverting Rene's post about the 1983 World Jamboree, my memory is fading. I still remember that my Scout leaders were a ton of fun but not the best in the outdoors. They planned a multi day canoe trip as the crow flies, not as the creek runs. So we canoed down this meandering river for hours and hours before stopping for lunch less than a mile down the road from where we put in. We made it to our planned Day 1 lunch stop on Day 2, if I recall. A few days later, we negotiated some small rapids by one of the Scouters wading out to point out the path. But the other Scouter, towing the supplies canoe, didn't wait for guidance and bulled through, dumping all the supplies in the river. All we salvaged for food were airtight bags of potato chips. After a miserable night, they walked into town, called for the cars, and drove us all to our final destination (only a 1/2 hour drive or so) so we could spend a day or two at the beach. But I have very fond memories of winter meetings always ending with floor hockey games, and these freezing cold winter adventure days, where we'd race other troops on a course around a frozen lake, pulling sleds we made ourselves, doing outdoor challenges at checkpoints, etc. etc.
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Proof I have the collector's gene: I remember going to the Scout/Guide office to pick up something for my uniform and was mesmerized by the bins and bins of badges. It was pure emotional longing. I didn't want to earn all those badges. I just wanted to sort them and arrange them!
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Post by paul1 on Aug 19, 2023 15:30:47 GMT
gosh - such a long time ago Terri - am surprised you have the badges still. In the U.K. the girls were always called 'guides', and the boys 'scouts' - I was a boy cub, which was for the under tens I think, then you went on to scouts. I didn't become a scout and instead veered off to become a sea cadet, which enabled you to visit the rifle ranges and use the .303 (the standard military rifle), and which kicked like a horse. With the school I also did Youth Hostelling - on push bikes, and each hostel had its own badge. Later some of us did the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and eventually yours truly had an invite to Buckingham Palace to receive the award from HRH. Regret all my badges now gone - only memories left, such as ........... see how many of us could cram into a telephone box, learn to smoke, and other male oriented dissolute past times;-) But memories is wot life is all about.
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hdm1950
Member
Posts: 1,611
What I collect: I collect world wide up to 1965 with several specialty albums added due to volume of material I have acquired. At this point I am focused on Canada and British America. I am always on the lookout for stamps and covers with postmarks from communities in Queens County, Nova Scotia. I do list various goods including stamps occasionally on eBay as hdm50
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Post by hdm1950 on Aug 19, 2023 15:33:20 GMT
I have shared this photo before on another thread. I believe that the Collector Merit Badge was the only one I ever earned or at least that I had to have verified by a local expert. I can still remember lugging my large Aristocrat world wide album to the local high school for the principal to look at and determine if the badge was deserved. Eventually the one 4 inch binder grew into 2 as I added pages up to 1965-66. That remained my main world wide albums till I was given my dad's Scott Volumes I & II in the late 1990's. I eventually bought a used Scott set up to 1965 and merged all my original collection into what was in these. With duplicates left behind I still got decent money for my well picked over original albums. This photo was from the local newspaper in 1964.  |
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daveg28
Member
Posts: 1,016
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Aug 19, 2023 16:40:48 GMT
Yes, I was a scout back in the 70’s. And yes I earned the stamp collecting merit badge. One of the few I had earned before I quit. Many of the other scouts in my troop, despite being junior high or high school age at most, treated many new members to hazings and borderline bullying, so I checked out. Only made it to second class when I quit at age 13.
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renden
Member
Posts: 8,719
What I collect: World W collector with ++ interests in BNA (Canada etc) and USA
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Post by renden on Aug 19, 2023 16:58:08 GMT
Yes, I was a scout back in the 70’s. And yes I earned the stamp collecting merit badge. One of the few I had earned before I quit. Many of the other scouts in my troop, despite being junior high or high school age at most, treated many new members to hazings and borderline bullying, so I checked out. Only made it to second class when I quit at age 13. Yes Dave, scouts have been through all sorts of negative experiences (some were positive) - René |
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Beryllium Guy
Moderator 
Posts: 5,659
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
Member is Online
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Aug 19, 2023 17:16:56 GMT
Thanks for starting this thread, Terri ( philatelia). And thanks to all those who have posted about their Scouting experiences. Sorry for those who had poor experiences. I suppose it’s that way for so many things in life. In the end, local experience of a national program will depend on the troop in your area. I was lucky. Our local troop was struggling when I joined in 1970, but within a year, we got a new Scoutmaster who really had his act together, and things took off. I was very active. I made Eagle Scout by Dec-1973. I attended US National Jamborees in 1973 and 1977, as well as the 14th World Jamboree in 1975. I went on to be an adult leader after I turned 18. Stamp collecting merit badge was my first one. I will look for my sash later and post a photo if I can find it. Stay Scouting stampy, all! |
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cursus
Member
Posts: 1,773
What I collect: Catalan Cinderellas. Used Switzerland, UK, Scandinavia, Germany & Austria. Postal History of Barcelona & Estonia. Catalonia pictorial postmarks.
Member is Online
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Post by cursus on Aug 19, 2023 18:03:00 GMT
I was a Scout (actually, a Wolf Cub Boy Scout) on 1965-67, when I was 6 to 8 years old. But my experience is quite different from our friends' in US and UK. I was from a Catalan family in Barcelona. So, I joined the Catalan Scouts. You must keep in mind that we were living under Franco's dictatorship. In 1939, after winning the war, the fascist regime (supported by nazi Germany and fascist Italy) disbanded all organisanisations, including Catalan Scouts, founded in the early 20th century, following Baden Powell's model. Instead, they stablished the "Organización Juvenil Española" (OJE, for short) or Spanish Youth Organisation, as a branch of the Falange Española (fascist party). The model was hitler jugend. For a while, it was the only oranisation, youth or children could enlist. The leader of Catalan Scout Movement (Josep M. Batista i Roca) was exiled in Britain, and in the late 1940s began a clandestine movement for restoring the organisation, under the auspices of the low levels of Catalan Catholic Church (priests, vicars, and so). On the 1950s it gained momentum always under the harasement of the OJE, protected by the fascist regime. Summer camps were stormed, people were vexed... But, they, under the cover of the Church, resisted. Most Catalan people knew about that, but it was dangerous to talk about. I know all this, first hand because an uncle of mine (still, with a clear mind, at 90!), was heavily involved.
So, joining the Catalan Scouts, was something more important than just collecting badges. We were a merely tolerated organisation. We, were Catalan (a defeated nation), we spoke our banned language and displayed (sometimes, half hidden) our Catalan arms. Instead, we used the "Fleur de lys" and Saint George's flag (which, by the way, it's Catalonia's historic flag, but fascists did not know). I remember how afraid I was when passing by heavily equiped OJE people. So, Scoutism for us, was taking openly sides and facing the dictatorship. Sometimes, people forget that, for a long time (40 years), we lived under the only surviving fascist regine in Europe. Tolerated by the so-called democracies, because of the cold war. I apologise for the long post.
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 6,616
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Aug 20, 2023 9:55:51 GMT
I was in the scout mouvement when I lived in Cameroon. The first three years I was a "louveteau" (baby wolf in French, for the kids aged 7-10), and one year as a Scout. This was mostly organized through the local church we went too, but we did too a few camping outings into the forests.
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REL1948
Member
Posts: 584
What I collect: 1840-Pre-Decimal, GB and Colonies, 1840 1 penny reds, Postal Histories
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Post by REL1948 on Aug 22, 2023 22:06:52 GMT
Thank you philatelia for starting this interesting thread. My adventure in Scouting began in 1958 after moving to a new school and neighborhood. Almost immediately, I made friends with several classmates who convinced me to check out the Scout Troop at the church. I was adopted from the hospital within days after being born to wonderful parents who provided me with the most wonderful childhood. However; Scouting, camping, all that outdoors stuff was foreign to us but they encouraged me to give it a try. Four years later, I’d become an Eagle Scout w/ Palms and life lessons that would last me a lifetime. The Troop I belonged to was camping crazy. We camped out at least once every month of the year and some months a few of us camped twice. I immediately learned how much I loved being out in nature, the smell of Sweet Grass and Pine made me heady. I was an avid tent camper and canoeist privileged to have experienced all of Michigan’s major canoeing rivers many times for over 50 years. Back surgery changed all that about ten years ago and I’ve transitioned to nearer to home activities since. No less work unfortunately, just less walking.
It’s been a privilege to read the other posts in this thread. For me scouting was a golden part of my life and I feel very fortunate to be able to say that. I know that Scouting hasn’t always been what it should have for some, shamefully, even being life threatening in some cases. I can only say that I cherished every moment of my experience and look back fondly and thankfully for those times, those Brothers and especially our Leaders.
Incidentally, Stamp Collecting was my first merit badge. My Mom waited until I got two more: “Public Speaking and Geology” (top row) before sewing those first three on my sash. I did all my own sewing after that…
Rob
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,358
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Aug 23, 2023 11:33:55 GMT
When I was in high school I was in the Explorers and we focused on photography. No uniforms, no badges, etc. We did go to one camping event with scouts from all over the island (Okinawa). I ended up in the emergency room to have some stitches put in when a tent pole hit me in the head.
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BermudaSailor
Member
Posts: 75
What I collect: British colonies, primary Bermuda
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Post by BermudaSailor on Aug 23, 2023 12:28:04 GMT
I was a scout from about age 11 or 12 until I joined the Sea Explorers when I went into high school. The Stamp Collecting Merit Badge was among the first I earned.  |
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brookbam
Member
APS 236261
Posts: 226
What I collect: US...everything until I decide what I don't want to collect! And now thanks to a TSF give-away I'm adding Space topicals!
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Post by brookbam on Aug 24, 2023 21:56:39 GMT
I was a Weblos. I didn't see any mention of them. I thought they were between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.
After I was too old to be in Weblos, my best friend and I went to a Boy Scout meeting. Let's just say this was like joining a big bullies initiation group. I got slammed into a wall. My face pressed into a picture of a map or something and I was told to kiss it...it went on and on.
The "headmaster'...he could not more control them than if you put my cat in there.
The second time was as Herman's Hermit sang I'm Henry the VIII I Am "Second verse, same as the first!"
More bullying. Got slammed into a wall and I started crying. (Remember... I'm what...12-13 years old..and I'm WAAAYYYYYY smaller than these thugs). Then it got worse.
I left that night and never went back.
But I did earn quite a few patches while a Weblos.
Mike
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kasvik
Member
Posts: 546
What I collect: Cancels mostly, especially Sweden Gävle and Lidingö, Switzerland Geneva, Germany Pforzheim
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Post by kasvik on Aug 25, 2023 2:12:49 GMT
Scouting was great; camping! And the advertisements at the back of Boy's Life were eye opening; all that fascinating trash, too glorious for suspension of disbelief. Live seahorses.
I wasn't intense focused serious enough to advance much. We met in First Methodist Church. Merit Badges weren't pushed in my troop and I didn't have much initiative. It was enough to pitch a tent in the Ozark National Forest and live on bannock.
Did I get one for stamp collecting? Huh, search me. Then my friends got old enough to realize they could drive themselves camping with beer and girls, and that was the end of that.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,358
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Aug 25, 2023 10:37:11 GMT
I now remember now I was in the cub scouts when we were in Germany. I recall the blue and gold banquet. I forget what we did.
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drmellow
Member
Posts: 76
What I collect: USA and figuring out WW.
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Post by drmellow on Aug 29, 2023 22:52:22 GMT
I was a Cub, Webelo and Boy Scout in the 60's & 70's in the fine City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I made Life Scout with Troup 99 from St. Catherine's while continually working towards Eagle Scout. And then we moved from the inner city to the suburbs and I didn't feel like I fit in with the new Scout Troup so I stopped working on my Eagle Scout. That's the same time I quit stamp collecting too. I guess moving to the burbs was a big change.
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