Bandalag íslenskra skáta

Country

Iceland

Founded

1912

Membership

3,750

Chief Scout

Marta Magnúsdóttir

Affiliation

World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Organization of the Scout Movement

Website
http://www.scout.is

Bandalag íslenskra skáta (BIS, Icelandic Boy and Girl Scout Association) is the national Scouting and Guiding organization of Iceland. Scouting was founded in Iceland in 1912 and was among the earlier members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1924. Guiding in Iceland was founded in 1922 and among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

The organization serves 1,741 Scouts (as of 2011) and 2,002 Guides (as of 2003) in 35 troops.

Scouting was introduced in Iceland as early as 1911, when Ingvar Ólafsson, who had entered the Scout Movement in Denmark, formed the first Boy Scout patrol. At that time Iceland was a part of the Danish Crown, enjoying Home Rule only since 1904. A growing feeling of nationalism striving for independence for the country led many societies and movements to look for guidance and motives in other countries than Denmark. This is true for the Scout Movement as in 1912 the leaders of Icelandic Scouting turned to the English original and Scouting for Boys as their model for Icelandic Scouting.

The first council, Skátafelag Reykjavíkur (The Scout Society of Reykjavík) was established on November 2, 1912, and many of the members of the first Scout patrol became founding members of this new council, which operated in Reykjavík. A new Scout group was formed on April 23, 1913 with members from the Reykjavík YMCA. In 1916 a group was formed in Stykkishólmur, 1917 in Akureyri to be followed with groups in the principal towns of Hafnarfjörður, Eyrarbakki, Akranes and Ísafjörður.

Guiding commenced on July 7, 1922 as the YWCA established a group of Girl Guides.

A National Association was formed in 1925. The first Chief Scout was Axel W. Tulinius, (1925–1938) followed by Dr. Helgi Tómasson (1938–1958), Jónas B. Jónsson (1958–1971), Páll Gíslason (1971–1981), Ágúst Þorsteinsson (1981–1988), Gunnar H. Eyjólfsson (1988–1993) and Ólafur Ásgeirsson (1993–2005). In 1981, Mr. Gislason was awarded the Bronze Wolf, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting. In 2005, Margrét Tómasdóttir became the first female Chief Scout.

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Wikipedia