Observations on youth movements

The Scouts are trying to broaden their appeal, not only by making the former Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan their chief, but also by putting out guidance notes on equal opportunities and amending the Boy Scout Promise (to fulfil one's "duty to God and the Queen") to accommodate Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Sikhs. But it is still hard to shake off the moustachioed image of Scouting's founder, Robert Baden- Powell, and his association with Britain's colonial past. For a really PC youth movement - multicultural, egalitarian, inclusive - try the Woodcraft Folk.

Relatively unknown outside the M25, and with 20,000 members to the Scouts' 500,000, the Woodcraft Folk was started in 1925 by a Scouting defector who disliked militarism. It is the eco-friendly, humanist, pacifist alternative, much loved by the north London chattering classes.

While the Scouts learn about navigation, survival skills and fire safety, the Woodcraft Folk teach children about "nature, craftwork, singing and dancing". While the Scouts, with their tests and badges, celebrate competitiveness, Woodcraft goes for "caring and sharing". Its manuals have titles such as How Are You Feeling? and Getting on With Others. Leadership is shared among parents on a weekly basis. "Woodcraft is very democratic," says a north London parent whose children have been members for seven years.

My own fond memories of childhood membership - alongside nature trails to discover varieties of weeds at the back of a community centre in east London - are of something that was comfortingly disorganised and "hand-made". That is part of the appeal of the Woodcraft Folk. In the age of the national curriculum, they are uninterested in angles, weights and measurements: their unprescriptive approach to children promises a bright future.

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