World's First Boy Scout

While browsing among the daisies in the graveyard of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Metchosin I came across the plaque to the left. In 1907 when Lord Robert Baden-Powell inaugurated the first Boy Scout Camp to test some of his ideas, one of the boys in that first set of campers was the scion of an old British family, George Bridges Harley Guest Rodney, who later became the 8th Baron Rodney. One of the ideas that Baden-Powell wanted to test with this first camp was to mix boys from all levels of society to see if his ideas for the development of young men could have universal application. Clearly, young George Rodney must have been one of his choices from the nobility. Rodney would have been 16 at the time. How he came to finish his life in Metchosin sixty-six years later is another story - one that I wish I knew.

Church of Saint Mary the Virgin

One of the Western Communities that lie along the coast westward from Victoria is the district of Metchosin.While riding through it yesterday I chanced to notice this lovely old church and stopped to enjoy the peace and beauty of its grounds and the adjacent graveyard. This is the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. It is the third oldest Anglican church in the province and is no longer in use as a church but is now preserved as a Metchosin Historical Site. It looks rather overgrown but this is part of a strategy to allow the native wildflowers to propagate. I think it's easily as beautiful as the well kept lawns that cover most graveyards.