THIS year the Cub Scout movement celebrates its centenary.

A hundred years ago this year younger boys were introduced to the joy of Scouting and they would be called Wolf Cubs.

So many men in Bolton will have been through the Scouting system — including being members of a Cub group — that we will surely be able to find out more about the history of the movement in the town from our readers.

We are looking for readers to help us with information about Cub Scouts for a feature we are running on Scouting in Bolton.

As most people will know the Scout movement was started by Robert Baden-Powell who was a soldier, artist and actor.

He was best known from his spirited defence of the small South African township of Mafeking during the Board War but then propelled to fame as the founder of Scouting.

Inspired during the siege by the initiative shown by young boys, in particular, under pressure he realised that young people had a huge potential that was often left untapped and unused.

Already thinking of developing a training programme for young people in Britain he was encouraged by friends to rewrite his handbook for soldiers (Aids to Scouting) for a younger audience.

When he returned from the war in South Africa Baden-Powell found that his book was being used by youth organisations all over England.

Urged on by Sir William Smith, founder of the Boys' Brigade, Baden-Powell decided to re-write it with an intended readership of young boys.

But before doing this he decided he wanted to try out some of his ideas.

So, in 1907, Baden-Powell held a camp on Brownsea Island in Poole, Dorset, to try out his new ideas and brought together 20 boys from a variety of backgrounds.

The success of the camp spurred him on to finish what would become a classic book of the 20th century.

Scouting for Boys was published in 1908 in six fortnightly parts costing 4d a copy.

What had been intended to be used as a training aid for existing organisations became the handbook for a new movement.

Soon Scout patrols, as suggested in "Scouting for Boys" were emerging all over the country.

In April of the same year a special office had to be set up to deal with the large number of enquiries coming in.

Just 16 months after the book appeared for the first time Baden-Powell gave up his Army career to look after the Scout Movement. They would become known as Boy Scouts although this was changed to Scouts in May 1967.

The scouting organisation was given the royal seal of approval the following year when King Edward Vll agreed to the introduction of the King's Scout Award.

In its very first census in 1910 Scouting had almost 108,000 participants and more than 100,000 of these were young people.

Scouting very quickly became a worldwide organisation.

The numbers of young people wanting to join the organisation grew rapidly and it soon became clear that youngsters of all ages wanted to be involved.

So in 1916 Wolf Cubs were included in to the "pack" and this new venture was followed, four years later, by Rover Scouts for the older age range.

In 1920 Scouts all over the world celebrated their first World Scout Jamboree. This was held at London's Olympia and Scouts from across the world gathered to celebrate international unity and the growth of the movement.

It is impossible to say with any certainty which was the first Scout troop to be formed although the first troop Baden-Powell inspected himself was in Sunderland on February 22, 1908.

The closest troop to Bolton that is thought to have started in 1908 is the 6th Eccles (1st Worsley).

Lord Baden-Powell gave the first training in his methods of Scouting to the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1897.

They were the first to wear the Scout badge which was based on the north point of the compass.

The Wolf Cub section was developed for eight to 11-year-olds. Kipling's Jungle Book was used to provide an imaginative background to the activities and by the end of 1916 more than 10,000 boys had enrolled.

Between the two wars Scouting continued to flourish in all parts of the world.

When World War Two came in 1939 Scouts carried on under the Patrol Leaders and they undertook many National Service tasks including messengers, fire watchers, stretcher bearers and salvage collection.

In occupied countries Scouting continued in secret with Scouts playing important roles in the resistance and underground movements.

After the liberation it was found the number of Scouts in some occupied countries had increased.