Delftsche Zwervers - History

History

On 1920-10-11 the Delftsche Zwervers were founded as a Rover crew for students. The society succeeded the (Delftsche) Studentenclub voor Oud-Padvinders, (Dutch: Delft Student club for former Scouts) which had been formed on 1915-11-08. Until the end of the 1960s, the society was deeply rooted in Scouting, but always critical of the national Scouting organisation. Later the group developed to a student society, albeit still a member of Scouting Nederland. Taking the founding date as that of (Delftsche) Studentenclub voor Oud-Padvinders in 1915, the Delftsche Zwervers is the oldest student Scouting Group in the world. This title has also been claimed by the Oxford University Scout and Guide Group, which was founded in 1919 and is certainly the oldest student Scouting Group in the United Kingdom.

The crew was founded as the third Rover crew in the Netherlands. A large influence on the work of the first Rover crews were the books of John Hargrave (White Fox). On 11 and 12 June 1921 he was the instructor in a Rover camp in Ommen attended by the Delftsche Zwervers. Despite the "higher" layers thought Service was more important, Woodcraft remained in the first years the main part of the program of the Rover crews.

Delftsche Zwervers were important in the organisation of many national and international events, for example the 5th World Scout Jamboree and the first Agoon, an international camp for handicapped Scouts, at the "Goudsberg", Lunteren, the Netherlands in 1949.

Zwervers is the literal translation of Rovers, because of its negative associations, hobo, tramps, the age group was later officially named Voortrekkers, but the Delftsche Zwervers kept their original name.

The logo is a campfire, for Scouting, on a cog, for engineering.

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