My Woggle

"DYB DYB DYB DYB!!" "We'll DOB DOB DOB DOB!!!"

There was no getting around it, my Wolf Cub uniform was not complete until I got a woggle to secure my neckerchief.  Our neckers were not the run-of-the mill two colour  trimmed ones like everyone else's.  (See standard issue below)

The Necker

    The necker is a scarf that is worn around your neck. The necker is the easiest way to identify which Cub Pack (and Scout Group) that you belong (to). Each Group has its own distinctive colours, and the different sections of the Group wear the same necker.  

Not for our Alberni Wolf Cub Pack, no ordinary necker for us - My Grandma was quite impressed with our necker - it was Royal Stewart Tartan.  I think our Akela was of Scottish origin, and proud to have his troops extol the fact.  It looked pretty sharp on the chest of my forest green cub shirt.

The Woggle

    The standard way of attaching it is with the Cub woggle, or for more active occasions a well-tied reef knot. The necker and the first woggle will be provided. Later, you may want to create your own personalized woggle.http://www.1stbinbrook.org/cubs-uniform.html

Let me correct the information immediately above; in 1962 Alberni nobody that I knew got a free woggle. Every cub I knew had the same woggle.  It was leather and it came from the same department at the Woodward's store way across town on Third Avenue. Even if I could get there they cost money.  It didn't matter the cost, I didn't have any and I was as trained as my siblings in not asking for things.  I did know how to tie a reef knot, Dad being an expert on such things and my big brother about to launch a naval career, I got lots of help and breezed through to my first wolf cub badge in knot tying. It wasn't long before Akela  - or was it Bagheera - asked me where my woggle was.  When I told him in didn't have one I think he sensed my situation quickly.  He pointed to a section in the Handbook that indicated a woggle could be manufactured from any natural material: leather, wood, bone, stone etc.  I imagined carving a wooden one, but ruled it out immediately; I knew my own skill set limitations pretty early on. Somehow Dad got wind of my need for a woggle and declared he was going to help.  As much as I looked forward to his help I cringed inside.  After all, he wasn't going to be the one  wearing it to pack meetings.  Still, my imagination must have conjured up something like this:

"heck, my favorite slide (woggle) of all time wasnt even home made or store bought. It was a vertebra from a deer my father shot when we were hunting. The hole where the spinal cord goes was just the right size and you can be sure I got a (lot) of comments when I wore that one -"

OldGreyEagle

Super Moderator - http://www.scouter.com/forum/cub-scouts/16107-woggles-or-slides

That would have been a cool story to tell.  Unfortunately it was not my story.  Dad figured one of the stew bones from dinner would work if I boiled all the marrow out and cleaned it up a bit.  So I did just that.  I fished through a stew pot a few nights later and selected a bone that had the most upside.  I couldn't tell what part of the animal it came from.  I boiled it.  I scraped it and boiled it again.  When I was done my woggle was a grimy white with a hole in the middle that was a touch on the narrow side.  One of the two colour neckers made from that thin material used by the troop from South Port Alberni would have probably fit, but my thick wool Royal Stewart necker bunched up and stuck about half way up my chest.

"You got a bone on your scarf," was the greeting I remember, and again, Bagheera, my advocate, pointed out that it was a perfectly satisfactory  woggle according to the  rules and statutes laid out by Lord Baden-Powell himself.  The looks I got told me my cub mates were not convinced.  Bagheera, and at times Akela, came to my defense immediately and changed topic.

It never sat right, it never felt right, even though I knew it was right.  It seemed to hang too low, it got in the way, it bounced off my chest when I ran.  Heavy is the neck that wears the bone woggle.

I liked Wolf Cubs.  I never joined the scouts.