Opening Doorways | 21 Doorway to the North

Chapter 21 - Doorway to the North

From Belgium I returned to England, feeling like a dynamo recharged, and filled with a desire to tell England about all that I
dad seen and heard and felt.
At Guide Headquarters, at Foxlease, at Pax Hill and at Black-lands Camp, I was able to do this a little, but a few weeks later I was off again.
Strangely enough it was on V.J. Day itself that I flew from one belligerent country to a neutral one, just as on V.E. Day I had done the self-same thing, going from France into Switzerland.
In some ways Sweden is rather like Switzerland, having so much beauty of scenery to offer to its visitors, though its charm is of a different kind. I have always felt particularly at home there, and have kept in my mind many precious mental pictures of former visits to the Swedish Scouts and Guides at intervals of several years.
The most vivid of these however, was that of the first Scouters' and Guiders' cruise, which brought us to Stockholm through the most beautiful water-way in the world. As that happened in 1933, most of you Guides of this new generation will probably hardly have even heard of that milestone in the history of our Movement.
I had quite a hand in that, because it came as a result of a chance idea that suddenly occurred to me during a visit to the Guides of Poland, at the time when the World Conference took place there. It was a very fine gathering, and the Polish Guides camped in large numbers all round the conference house, showing us with what vigour and enthusiasm they carry out their Guiding.
Thinking aloud to a friend I said : Oh, how I wish that I could take a whole ship-load of British Guiders to travel round and see how Guiding is growing in countries other than their own.'
Well, why don't you ? ' said my matter-of-fact friend.
And from that vague and wistful wish of mine, grew a plan that eventually saw 575 Scouters and Guiders set off in the S.S. Calgaric on a cruise that enabled them to meet and make friends with the Scouts and Guides of eight of the Northem Countries.

1933 seems a long time ago now, and an ache comes to the heart as we, who were on that cruise, consider what has happened to the many hundreds of those Scouts and Guides who gave us so rousing a welcome at the different ports of call in Holland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Norway.
There were two more cruises after that one, during those all too short years of peace between two wars, one in the Mediterranean in 1934, and another again to Northern Europe—Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Belgium, and I was reminded again and again of those tours during my recent visit to Scandinavia.
This time, as I was saying, I came flying in to Sweden, touching down first at Gothenburg, and then to Stockholm.
This town, with its lovely lagoon-like lakes and its wide, surging' rivers rushing out to sea, is often called the Venice of the North, and it is easy to see why, because though there are great, broad streets and ordinary traffic over a wide area, whichever way you go, and whichever way you look you see water, and quite a lot of transport is done by ferries and little steamers and boats.
When: after a friendly welcome at the airport, I was taken to my hotel, I found that my room looked out over a quay where rows and rows of little steamers were waiting to act like taxis and water buses to carry the business people from the town to their homes on the islands. In the hottest months of summer, people go off to spend the lovely weather in nice little bungalows on their own tiny islands. There are said to be about 8,000 of these in the great wide fjord leading out to the open sea, and the town workers travel to and from their offices and shops each day in the ' water-buses,' very much as Londoners joumey between the suburbs and the metropolis by train and motor bus.
It was just lovely to be back in Sweden again, and such a joy to meet old friends and pick up the threads of those goodly, lasting friendships without a break.
It was odd how the years between seemed to be -telescoped, and if felt as if only a few months had passed since we had held the World Conference there just nine years before.
Here we were, all gathered together again for a Northern Countries' Conference, to which delegates from Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland had been invited.
The conference took place at the delightful Guide camping centre called Frustunaby, about five hours' joumey from Stockholm. About eighty Swedish Commissioners and Trainers were there, too, and all the work of catering for our food and our

comfort was done by chosen Cadets who had volunteered for the job, giving up over a week of their holidays to do so.
Frustunaby was given by Countess Echermann in memory of her daughter, who was one of the first Guides in Sweden. It consists of three huts and kitchen, simple sleeping quarters and store-houses, and stands on the edge of a lovely lake. Just opposite, across a wide stretch of water, there is a little dream-island—all mossy and treed, with hammocks of heather and rocks—where training camps are held all through the summer months.
It was an unbelievably beautiful scene when, on that first evening, we all collected together on a high promontory, the camp fire blazing on a rocky platform, looking out over the calm lake, with miles and miles of empty forest stretching away into the distance—all so peaceful and serene. We came down with a run—literally—when, halfway through the evening, with a muffled roar such as I have never heard before, a rainstorm came sweeping over the lake and fell like a water-spout upon us as we fled through the trees to what shelter we could find below.
The news we heard at the conference, of the Guides in Finland, touched us very deeply, for in spite of every kind of hardship and trial they have kept going, and the several different Guide Associations which had previously kept themselves rather separate have sunk their differences, and have become firmly welded into a real Union. Guide numbers dropped early in the war to 7,000, but they rose again, and their Chief Guide reported that they had gone up to 18,000. Through the long, hard years, service was freely given in the form of fire-watching, blood transfusion, hospital work, and help in orphanages ; fir cones were collected for fuel, and every effort was made to lighten other people's burdens. Holding fast to the ideal of kindness for which we stand, the Guides were encouraged not to indulge in angry words and bitter feelings, every endeavour being made to develop a spirit of tolerance, calm thinking and courageous patience.
The newly chosen Chief Guide of Iceland represented that far away country at the Conference, and she had never seen a Guide outside of Iceland before. She told us that the original Guides there had rather faded out, but that a new body had been formed with the help and encouragement of the Boy Scouts, who are thus following in their established tradition of acting as sponsor to the Guide Movement, where it needs their support.
In spite of it being summer holiday time, the Swedish Guide Headquarters kindly arranged a rally, and several nice parties and

These illustrations are facing Page 82

10. A camp fire audience in Norway. The Calgaric Cruise
11. Danish Guiders performing a national dance

socials for all the visiting Conference delegates, and we foregathered at their Headquarters' Office in Stockholm for talks and interviews.
There is a tradition kept there that always on Thursdays there shall be tea available for any Guide folk who like to call in ; and so we joined in with their cheery Thursday Tea in spite of it having to be held this time on a Monday !
The Swedish Royal President invited us to her home at Haga Palace, and there we were entertained by Princess Sybilla and her small Brownie daughter, and also by her splendid Scout husband, Prince Gustaf Adolf, who was killed so tragically in an air crash on the 26th January, 1947.
Through this terrible accident the Scouts, the Swedish nation, and indeed the whole world, has lost one of the most outstanding men of the age, and one who was a fine example for every boy to follow ; Prince Gustaf was a good rider, a fine ski-er, an expert fencer, a good shot, a strong swimmer like all Swedes, an all-round athlete, and, of course, a good camper; at World Jamborees he always insisted on camping with his own contingent of Scouts, taking his tum with the camp chores, and sharing in their games and activities, as if he were still a boy himself.
In Sweden just as in other countries, the Guide Movement has two Associations within it, but here both wear the same dark blue uniform and co-operate very fully. They increased their numbers considerably during the war yews, and the standard of camping and badge work was even raised, whilst at the same time much helpful service was given to farms, hospitals, Red Cross and all manner of charities ; in common with most of their nation, they did what they could to send food to hungry people, and to help all the refugees who found their way into that neutral land. They are a goodly company in Sweden, strong, healthy, good-looking, upstanding young people, calm and unemotional and somewhat self-sufficient and self-contained. But under that quiet manner lies a wealth of warm-heartedness, and a dignity and depth of character giving to their Guide Movement a strength and stability which makes it a most valued branch of our world sisterhood.
We all felt loth to leave when the time for parting came round, but Denmark was waiting, so we said our Au Revoirs, and after a night joumey running down the coast, we crossed to Copenhagen in a crowded ferry which, because the minefields were not entirely cleared, took a long time to nose its way across the channel from

Malmo, taking a zig-zag course to get us to our destination, which we could see quite easily on the other shore.
After receiving a very warm welcome, we were driven off at once to lunch with Princess Ingrid, the Crown Princess, who takes a very personal and active interest in the Guide Movement in Denmark, being the Chairman of their Joint Council for the two Associations.
Like Sweden, Denmark has long been Scout and Guide minded, and the Movements have weathered many difficulties here. Round about 1932, owing to certain political tendencies in the country, a law was passed forbidding the wearing of uniform and, of course, this was a very great blow to both Scouts and Guides. However, it was explained to them that the uniform does not make a person, and that this was therefore a challenge to them to prove that the enthusiasm and spirit of the Movements could persist and become even more effective and widespread, without any outward and visible sign of membership. It says much for their enthusiasm and spirit, that neither, wavered during the years that followed, and the work of the Scouts in their troops and the Guides in their companies continued with the same energy until the law was revised in 1934 and their precious uniform was proudly re-donned. The Guides have two Associations here, working under a Joint Council, the Y.W.C.A. Group wearing, green uniforms and the other group wearing blue.
The ' blue ' Guides are very lucky in having two outstanding Guide centres—a Homecraft Training School on the island of Fyen which was founded by Miss Flagstad, their first Chief Guide, and a Guide House in Copenhagen itself where about 30 Guides coming to work in the city can live as permanent residents, and where there are nice, comfortable, spacious sitting rooms for conferences, trainings, parties and all manner of Guide functions.
Someone said : Do just peep in at our Guide House,' and I imagined going there for an informal look round, but when we reached it we could not see the house for Guides ! There were swarms of them everywhere—all ages, all sizes, and all kinds ; in the doorways, along the passages, up the stairs, stuffed into every corner of the place. The most marvellous meal had been prepared, with the loveliest table decorations of camp scenes and Guide activities to add to its attraction. Beside everyone's place, a bottle of lemonade had been placed, but these were no ordinary bottles. Each was dressed in a blue paper frock to represent a Guide, with an apple perched on the top of each with a

face cleverly cut out in its rounded sides. They looked far too nice to disturb or to consume !
I heard many tales of courage and determination about the Danish Guides. There had been some attempt at suppression by the Germans, but the more they were harried, the more determined did the Guides become to continue with their work, and this went on with ever increasing vigour ' underground.' As travelling became impossible, information was given and training was done through a monthly letter which was secretly conveyed from place to place. When training meetings were arranged in towns for an evening, the Guiders would bring their food with them and doss down for the night where they met, for with the curfew imposed at sundown and machine guns in the streets, it was not too healthy to go out after dark.
The love of the Danes for their country became more intense month by month, stimulated by the insidious attempts to break the national spirit, and in their Guide activities the Guiders found a new lever for keeping the minds of their Guides off the terrible anxieties of the day, and they endeavoured to implant in them the will to keep their own Danish highmindedness to the fore, together with a determination not to give way, as far as possible, to hatred and bitterness, which only reacts on itself. Small wonder, then, that the Movement here doubled its numbers during the war years, that the work is on a very high standard, and the organisation on so good a footing that, with only one week's notice, they put on a big rally for 3,000 Guides, several Guiders' meetings, and a concert hall performance—with the Queen and the Crown Princess present—which was as good a show as I have seen and heard anywhere.
Denmark has, as I have already said, from the earliest years been a very Scout and Guide minded nation, and Scouting began there almost as soon as it did in England, spreading and taking root quietly and continuously through the country. I believe that now it has the highest percentage of Scouts and Guides per population of any country in the world.
So keen are many of the men, who have been Scouts in their youth, to be allowed to continue in the tradition of Scouting even if they are unable to be Scouters, that they have formed an Association known as ' St. George's Guild ' and have over 2,000 members. Their aim is to follow and live out the Scout ideal in their own lives, and to do what they can to spread and encourage the Scout spirit.

The Guild is rather like a mixture of our Local Associations, and our Trefoil Guilds. The Local Associations are, as 1 expect you know, the groups of interested people who help their districts in every way they can ; and the Trefoil Guild, which is an awfully nice scheme whereby Guiders who for any reason have to give up their companies, or Rangers who are too old to stay in theirs, can remain linked with the Movement for which they have developed a very real affection, and continue to live the Guide life and obey the Law and Promise. The Danish St. George's Guild aims to build up a strong Scout family nucleus to act as a power-house from which the young and active Scouters can draw advice and experience, and through which the members will try to give back a hundredfold the good that they themselves received from the Movement in their youth.
The only trouble about these journeys of mine is that one is perpetually saying good-bye, and there is never enough time to see and to meet all those friends—known and unknown—who are there near at hand at last. I left Denmark with many regrets that time had been too short to allow of my visiting any out-lying centres. But messages of goodwill came to me from many by post, and one must be quoted.
This correspondent started off by telling me how much she loved being a Guide, that she had gone through a hard time, but—she went on, a few weeks ago I became aware of the war is end. We then get light on the streets, 80 per cent. of soap, and English soldiers came to Denmark. But now when I myself get a Guide guest from another country then I know best the war is real end. . . . '
We and the Danish people are very much akin in tastes and temperament, and they have a very real affection and a newly kindled admiration for Great Britain. It is never forgotten that our King Edward VII went to Denmark to find his bride, who became our Queen Alexandra.
I had one more glimpse of Denmark, from the air, as I came back later from Norway, flying low over their many islands, the fields of all the many different crops looking like a patch-work quilt spread out over the land, every inch carefully cultivated, and thickly spotted with neat homesteads. And as I said good-bye to that brave little land, I held in my hand a note from a Scout who had been at the 1929 Jamboree in which he says quite simply what Scouting has meant to him, through peace years and in war, and . . . ' most thankful I take the opportunity to bring

you and all yours my wishes for good luck and better humanship according to the Scout Law. . . . '
Landing in Norway I was able to renew many old acquaintances, and to rejoice with them at the sturdy vigour that had kept their Scouting and Guiding going on all through the war years, even though outwardly it had been apparently shut down.
It wasn't shut down at all ; it just went on underground.
If there is a great feeling of affection between Dane and Briton, so also is there between Dane and Norwegian, with many examples of goodwill and friendship, not only because King Haakon of Norway is a Dane by birth, but because together the two neighbour nations have suffered much and endured all the horror and oppression that the Nazi invasion brought in its train.
Norway and Britain have many close ties, too, and once upon a time both countries spoke a common language. It is possible that if you could trace your family history back far enough you would discover that you had the same ancestor as a Guide in Norway. You will all remember hearing stories of the Vikings, how brave t hey were and how they loved adventure above all things, travelling far abroad in their strongly built boats with their ornate and distinguished looking prows. Quite a number of these sailors wandered down from Norway to France, settling there and intermarrying with the inhabitants in the part still called Normandy after these men from the North.
When England was conquered by William in 1066, he probably had a number of the descendants of the Norsemen in his army, and these settled down in yet another new land, meeting perhaps distant relatives who were the descendants of families that had come direct to England or Scotland from Norway on smaller expeditions. We still have traces of their language in common use; the title Earl for example was originally a Norwegian title, although the only titled people in Norway now are members of the Royal Family, the peerage having been abolished by law. The King himself is freely elected by the people, and this country is perhaps the most truly democratic in the world.
I myself have a great affection for, and a sort of special link with Norway because of my name. Before I was bom, my father hoped that I would be a boy, and intended that I should be christened Olaf after the Norwegian King and Saint of that name, and when I turned out to be a girl, he called me the feminine equivalent—Olave. And, by the way, that King only qualified for sainthood because, having come over here to help his friend

the King of Wessex, Ethelred the Unready, in a battle against the Danes, he was converted to Christianity. Ethelred was very glad to give his friend something of such great value, because Olaf had saved London from the invading Danes by pulling down London Bridge when the Danish army was nicely centred upon it. Olaf did this by tying his boats to the piles of the bridge, and telling his men to row for all they were worth. This simple and ingenious device tore the bridge's foundations away, and this historical episode is the origin of the old nursery rhyme ' London Bridge is falling down ! '
King Olaf was not very well received by his own people when they learned that he had forsaken their old gods, and he was exiled, to be killed some years later in a battle when he was trying to regain his crown. Because of the many miracles that were performed at his tomb, the first quite by accident, King Olaf soon became Saint Olaf and a great many of his subjects became Christians too.
In Oslo you can go and see a wonderful old Viking ship that was only discovered about thirty years ago, and is estimated to have been built in about 800 A.D., two hundred years before St. Olaf himself lived. It was a custom to bury these adventurers in their ships so that they could enter the underworld in familiar style, and important and noble people also had this honour accorded them. This ship, carefully treasured in a specially built museum hall, had been found to contain the bones of a great Queen who had been buried with several of her attendants and even some of their domestic pet animals.
We woke to find the streets of Oslo swarming with university students walking up and down, laughing and chatting and having a great day. According to tradition, the first-year girl students all wore white frocks, in spite of the great clothing difficulties there, and the men and women alike all wore the special students' small cap with a huge black tassel at the end of a long string arranged in a peculiar way perched upon the right shoulder. They had come from as far away as Denmark and Sweden to join in the special ceremony of enrolling new students, in which past and present students of the University were all privileged to take part ; and as the University had been closed during the war, there were about six thousand assembled.
In Oslo again I was reminded of the Calgaric Cruise.' Here, high on the hill at Frognerseter, on the very spot where a camp fire was held in 1933, another and most lovely ' Camp Fire ' was

arranged, and at only two weeks' notice. About 2,000 Guides were there packing the wide, natural amphitheatre, and a few' individual chosen companies gave performances of singing and dancing and some scenes relating the history of their country, and the way in which their national flag had evolved through the years. From this we leamed that their first King had come from Ireland, bringing with him their first flag, a lion rampart, whieh is still retained as their emblem and reproduced on postage stamps. I expect many of you will have seen it on the uniform of .the Norwegian forces who were stationed in Britain during the war.
It was a wonderful evening, and we were very loth to leave the heights where the black fir trees stood out clearly against, the evening sky, to wind down the hill to Oslo itself, each bend in the road showing us its twinkling lights far, far below.
I low I wish I could take you all with me on my travels to share with me the interests of fresh places, the thrill of meeting new people, the joy of greeting sister Guides, and to enjoy some of the excitement and busy-ness of it all !
There certainly was excitement abroad when I visited Christian-sands, hut I am not very sure that it was not more because the day of my arrival coincided with the arrival of the first supplies of white bread for years. This was the signal for very real rejoicing. Not that I had any reason to complain of my reception, for a delightful welcome greeted me at the airfield, as well as at the rally: A very exceptional Guard of Honour was drawn up at the entrance to the beautiful public park—some of the Guides in uniform and some in mufti, and some in their very lovely, colourful national dresses. Later we went in Indian file through the trees and glades to the rally ground•itself, and as we took the path to one side of a long lake, the Guides took another, we were able to see what a very beautiful effect they made as they went singing along, their gaily coloured costumes showing up brightly against the background of dark trees, and the whole procession reflected in the still, blue waters of the lake below.
We met lots more little groups of Guides along the train route to Stavanger. Knowing not one word of Norwegian I could not talk to them, but eventually the language difficulty was solved by an unknown but friendly fellow-passenger who came forward to act as interpreter. At every station there would be this same sweet welcome, and at the end of this journey the Guard turned to me with a slightly bewildered air, saying : You seem to have friends everywhere ! ' How right he is !

Stavanger is a very old, interesting seaport, with old-world wooden houses and narrow cobbled streets running right down to the water's edge. It has a very ancient cathedral which dates from the early introduction of Christianity into Norway, and this was founded by an English bishop and dedicated to our Saint Swithun. The weather was kind to us here, and we had a very pleasant and cheery two days, including a rally, a Guiders' party, a big social gathering, and even a lovely holiday trip in a motor boat up Stavanger Fjord.
On the next stage of our journey we travelled in a Hudson flying boat, skirting the wild, rocky, indented coast, and coming down after about an hour's flight in Bergen harbour.
Although the Guides and Scouts standing waiting for me on the quay held my attention most of the time, I was at the same time almost unconsciously noticing the exquisite beauty of the town's setting, framed as it is by the surrounding mountains. Bergen is famous for the great men it has produced, and no wonder, for musicians, artists, poets and reformers, have all been bred in this little town and have translated for the world some of the glory that is cradled in this spot.
No-one has rendered this service more perfectly than Edvard Grieg, the great composer, who through his music has interpreted the magic beauty, and made alive the folk-lore and history of Norway for the world at large. Bergen claims the honour of birthplace for this, one of the greatest of her sons. But it is nice to feel that we in Great Britain can also take a special pride in him because he comes from Scottish stock, an ancestor of his having migrated to Norway during the troubled times that followed the battle of Culloden.
The first afternoon we were at Bergen, we went off to attend the showing of the beautiful Grieg Centenary Film at the Cinema Theatre, which was packed just as full as it could be with Guides—Mrs, Maalstad, the present Chief Guide of Norway, has her home near Bergen, and she told me many good stories of the war-time life and work of the Guides there. It was not permissible for them to wear uniform, and from their Headquarters' store, five tons of the stock of Scout and Guide equipment were confiscated, and taken away by the Germans marked down to be pulped and re-made into uniforms for their soldiers.
The factory manager, who was an old Scout, managed in some strange way to lose this consignment. Whenever the Germans asked for it, somehow it could not be found. But when Norway

was at last liberated, this stock of Guide equipment was quickly found again, and the Guides have now quite a good supply of uniforms, thanks to that old Scout's skilful good turn, in secreting it all!
Much the same thing happened with the literature and even the records and Minute books of the Association, which were seized by the Germans for salvage to make into new paper. Oddly enough, these too found their way into the hands of an old Scouter, and became lost for a time, only to re-appear intact at the end of the war.
The Guides worked very hard in many ways to help their country through those long, hard years, and one special piece of service was the delivery of parcels of food which were sent secretly from Denmark. But this wasn't so simple as it sounds. P was unsafe to go to a house and ring anyone's front door bell. The person inside would not open it, fearing the Gestapo, or, alternatively, if the door were opened suddenly, it might mean a revolver bullet through your heart. So the method of delivering the food parcels was to dump them on the doorstep, and then go away and telephone, saying : ' There is a parcel on your doorstep, and it is quite sale to open your door and take it in.'
Those days, thank God, are past and gone for ever, and Norway lives, her people free and her spirit unbroken.
The last glimpse I had of that fascinating Northem land was characteristic of the energy and liveliness of her Guides. As I climbed from a small dinghy into the body of my seaplane, those who had come to see me off, piled themselves into boats of all descriptions, and came dashing and splashing after the flying boat as it taxied across the harbour, arms waving, hands clutching, as though they would overtake us and hold us back.
They chased us almost out to sea, and looking down at them from my soaring 'plane, seeing them waving their hands and their hats, I felt a catch in my throat, realising that although they had been unable to catch me in person, as I sped away in the air, they had, by their ready friendship, held and completely caught at my heart, and kept some of it for themselves.

< Previous Home Last >