09/11/2024
***Thought you may like to know more about this year's Remembrance Badge***
This year, we have decided to celebrate part of our Heritage that links directly to the Royal British Legion in designing our Official Poppy & Scouts Uniform Badge.
Scouts started in 1907, and seven years later, when the First World War broke out, the skills they learned through their activities and badge programme were tested like never before: they were called on to help in many areas on the Home Front, including coast watching, carrying messages, and working on the land. Britain entered the First World War on 4 August 1914, a few weeks before the start of the harvest season. Why is this relevant? Harvest is a crucial event for farming that requires manual labour; by entering the war in August, many young men who would have been harvesting in August volunteered for military service, causing a labour shortage during this critical phase of the farming year.
Within days of the start of the war, a message went out to encourage Scouts to volunteer for farm work, and there was even a call for Scouts to go to France to help with their harvest, too. Two thousand Scouts were put on standby to travel across the Channel to help, although the French authorities ultimately declined this offer.
During the war, the need for help on farms increased. What did Scouts do? Many converted their traditional summer break camp into a working camp to assist local farmers. It wasn't just the food harvest that needed their help: farmers were asked to grow flax, a plant vital to the war effort. Flax, also known as linseed, is a flowering plant cultivated as a food and fibre crop; this means that fibres from flax could be used to produce linen, which was stretched and treated with chemicals to construct the wings of fighter planes.
This is why there are gold flax plants and a needle with a thread that becomes an aeroplane in the 2024 Poppy & Scouts Uniform Badge.
The Royal British Legion provides financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. There is no better way to celebrate our heritage and their work than a badge that brings us all together to support both organisations.
***The badge is worn on the upper left breast of the uniform****
This year, we have decided to celebrate part of our Heritage that links directly to the Royal British Legion in designing our Official Poppy & Scouts Uniform Badge.
Scouts started in 1907, and seven years later, when the First World War broke out, the skills they learned through their activities and badge programme were tested like never before: they were called on to help in many areas on the Home Front, including coast watching, carrying messages, and working on the land. Britain entered the First World War on 4 August 1914, a few weeks before the start of the harvest season. Why is this relevant? Harvest is a crucial event for farming that requires manual labour; by entering the war in August, many young men who would have been harvesting in August volunteered for military service, causing a labour shortage during this critical phase of the farming year.
Within days of the start of the war, a message went out to encourage Scouts to volunteer for farm work, and there was even a call for Scouts to go to France to help with their harvest, too. Two thousand Scouts were put on standby to travel across the Channel to help, although the French authorities ultimately declined this offer.
During the war, the need for help on farms increased. What did Scouts do? Many converted their traditional summer break camp into a working camp to assist local farmers. It wasn't just the food harvest that needed their help: farmers were asked to grow flax, a plant vital to the war effort. Flax, also known as linseed, is a flowering plant cultivated as a food and fibre crop; this means that fibres from flax could be used to produce linen, which was stretched and treated with chemicals to construct the wings of fighter planes.
This is why there are gold flax plants and a needle with a thread that becomes an aeroplane in the 2024 Poppy & Scouts Uniform Badge.
The Royal British Legion provides financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. There is no better way to celebrate our heritage and their work than a badge that brings us all together to support both organisations.
***The badge is worn on the upper left breast of the uniform****
