What’s the point in a woggle?

 

Where did it come from and why do we have it? Well, when scouting started, it was just a bit of cloth, the scarf or the Necker, with a loose knot. It wasn’t actually anything. And over time, as we know now, the Necker got really creased and it looked ugly with just some random scarf.

 

 

Again, BP went back to America and he got the inspiration for using a bit of bone. So William Hillcourt (August 6, 1900 – November 9, 1992), known within the Scouting movement as “Green Bar Bill” took the idea of the American’s bone ring, but wanted something a bit better. So what he did, he went back to his shed and rustled up some ideas and he went to his sewing machine and he took some leather and he invented this thing as we know, called the Turk’s Head.

The inspiration comes from America and the Americans call it the Boon Doggle, Bill wanted to take the inspiration of America, but didn’t like the word boon doggle. He thought about it and he copied the idea and he came up with woggle because it rhymes with doggle. The Boon Doggle turned into the English woggle. After a few attempts, he made up this Turk’s Head using thin sewing machine leather. And then he presented it to the camp chief and also rumour has it, he gave it to the Chief Scout, and they gave it the all okay.

On the 9th of June 1923 in a scouting magazine, the woggle was born, There was an article in a magazine giving some ideas about having this woggle and it became very popular and very fashionable in scouting. And the scouts loved this idea of having a woggle rather than an ugly knot. They took it on board and it went crazy. But as we know, the Turk’s Head is only actually allowed to be worn by a leader who has done their wood badge. And that Turk’s Head wobble is known as the first Gilwell Woggle.

Baden-Powell references the woggle in the 14th edition  The Scouts magazine in 1929. said, “It, the scarf, may be fastened at the throat by a knot or woggle, which is some form of ring made of cord, metal or bone or anything you like”. Previous editions only refer to it as a ring. The design of the Gilwell Woggle, formally the Turk’s Head knot, as I say, is only really allowed to be worn by members of the first Gilwell Park who have done their wood beads and completed their training. But now it’s fashionable for anyone to do it.

 

There’s lots of different designs of the Turk’s Head, lots of Scouts actually do it, part of their camp craft and make them out of para cord, some amazing stuff  and also some stuff that the Turk’s Head made out of LED lights. And there are hundreds of designs of woggles antler, bone, leather, plastic, many ones that we all do as scouts and make it ourselves to make a bit more personalized. 

It’s a scout woggle woggle, is what we call it. Yeah, but there we are. The history of why scouts wear these, the woggle, or is it the boondoggle? I’ll leave it to you.

Adapted from big man in the woods