Badge Blanket

Scout Leaders are renowned for collecting Scouting memorabilia, especially badges. The traditional thing to do is put them on a blanket which is used when camping. There is always the competition to see who has the most badges or the most rare, but everyone is interested to see who has what.

I’ve been using mine this weekend as I spent most of Friday night and Saturday asleep on the sofa as I decided to have a temperature and feel generally rottenSick!

My blanket is old, made of wool and a bit of an heirloom as it started out as my Grandpa’s from when he served in the RAF during WW2. He then passed it on to my Dad who used it when he went camping before he had a sleeping bag and he passed it onto me. As I used to have loads of old badges lying around my Mum suggested sewing them onto the blanket. It’s actually quite warm and great to wrap around myself when I’m at camp or dying of lurgi at home!

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Showing the Cubs the badges

The badges on it are some of my old Cub, Scout and Venture badges, some of my Dad’s, badges from places I’ve camped or visited and some badges from the Swedish Scouts I camped with in 1992. It’s due for some running repairs at the moment (well it is over 60 years old) and more badges to be added to it. In fact I’m going to have my Centenary neckerchief sewn onto it as well (that’s the multi coloured one I’m wearing in the picture). However, I have to come clean and say that I’m not doing any of the repairs or adding the badges myself, my Mum is! Now while I am capable of doing a reasonable job of it myself, it needs a ‘proper’ job and Mum is the expert! I want it to last another 60 years at least, so it needs the proper care.

Pride of place along with a Queen’s Scout award I acquired especially for the blanket a few years back, will be one of my Group’s centenary badges.

2 Replies to “Badge Blanket”

  1. I’ve got one to send you too!
    I’d like to send you a picture of my blanket, which is rather newly added to my scouting equipment. I’ve always wanted one, but been too busy to aquire one. But then the opprotunity arose! An aquintance of mine works at the state railway mainenance company as a middle manager techincian or whatnot, and he discovered that there was a warehouse with thousands of old wooly blankets, from the 1640ies and newer, that used to be the reserve stock for the SJ (State Railways) sleeping compartments. They, of course, gave up on wool 20 years ago, but the old stocks have been left until 2006. They can’t sell them, but had been giving away blankets to outdoor theatre groups and other organisations. All I had room for in the car was three blankets: A simple horse blanket for myself, a blue-grey blanket with the letters SJ and some flowers on for my doughter and a newer one, to have as an extra for the guest room. I sooo wish I could have had another five or so!
    Wool is brilliant, as it takes ages to soak through (if you wash it sparingly and with the right soap), it doesn’t catch fire or melt if you get to close to flames. In fact you can use it as a fire blanket. The modern varieties made out of fleece material are lethal in comparison. Mine isn’t even itchy!
    Love LottaN

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