Figure 1.--The photograph here shows a Pack meeting in the 1970s as the hair styles show. In this Pack the Cubs could wear whatever socks they wanted. Here a Scout official is meeting with the Cubs.

Cubs activities were planned in Pack meetings with the Cubs themselves playing an active part. Of course because of the age of the boys, Akela had to help direct the planning and discussions. A Scout also helped with many Packs. I am not sure if the English Cubs had a name for these meetings. A variety of other Pack business was discused and decided at these meetings. Hopefully some of our Brirish readers will provide us some comments on Pack meetings that they remember. The photograph here shows a Pack meeting in the 1970s as the hair styles show (figure 1). In this Pack the Cubs could wear whatever socks they wanted.

Grand Howl

Every cub meeting starts and ends with the famous "Grand Howl". The boys stand in a circle and their leader, always known as "Akela" (pronoucned Akayla) walks into the middle and says "Pack alert". The cubs then all stand to attention. Akela then streches out his arms, then lowers them. The cubs then crouch to the ground with their hands between their legs touching the floor and say together in a loud voice: "Akela. We will do our best" Then one cub on his own says. "Cubs. Do your best" The rest of the cubs then say again, louder: "We WILL do our best." Akela then says "Stand up and face the flag". The cubs all then look at their national flag and salute it as it is raised. (At the end of the evening, it is of course lowered.)

Cub Descriptions

We note many charming descriptions of Cub meetings written by the boys.

One Pack has a pack song, "We get together Wednesdays and have a lot of fun, cub scouts We like to wear our badges, to show we're Number One, We're good and kind and honest, That's what Cub Scouts are for, We keep the Cub Scout Promise, we keep the Cub Scout Law. We're famous for our woggles, and other things of course, The green tabs on our garters, our grey socks & grey shorts, We do good turns for others, we're better than the rest, We always try our hardest, we always do our best."