Читать книгу The Dodo Collection - Steve Stack - Страница 38

Bob-a-Job Week

From the end of the Second World War right up to the mid-1990s, Bob-a-Job Week thrived around the country. Cubs and Scouts would roam the neighbourhood, knocking on doors and offering to do any odd jobs in return for a nominal payment – the ‘bob’ in Bob-a-Job being slang for an old shilling.

Washing cars, mowing the lawn, walking the dog, helping the elderly with their shopping, anything was up for grabs. One Scout troop even cleaned jumbo jets at Heathrow, although they probably got paid a fair bit more than five pence for that. Unless they were cleaning Ryanair planes, in which case Michael O’Leary would almost certainly have charged them for the privilege.

It was a great concept and very much a win-win situation. The Scouts raised some money for new woggles or books about knots, and members of the public got some annoying jobs sorted out for a pittance.

Sadly, the practice died out as our country became more and more obsessed with child safety, and the idea of unaccompanied children knocking on the doors of strangers didn’t seem such a good one any more.

It is, however, scheduled to return, albeit in a new form. The Scout Community Challenge will involve groups of Cubs and Scouts, rather than individuals or pairs, teaming up to work on community projects. Quite how that helps the old dear who has been waiting for nearly 20 years for a nice young man to clean her windows remains to be seen.

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