HORACE HORRISE - MISCHIEVOUS SCOUT...

THE ADVENTURES OF HORACE HORRISE

What started me off on this crazy adventure...

It was whilst writing “In You Go! A year or two in the life of a scout leader” that it became apparent that there was great demand for books that tell of the exploits of adventurous young people in a contemporary setting. I had always been a fan of Richmal Crompton’s* “Just William” series of books with their small cast, led by a boy who used to get into all sorts of bother but usually ended up smelling of roses, so to speak. I felt that more than ever there was, as well as a demand, a need for a modern-day William who would carry the torch for young people enjoying themselves in the open air with minimal disturbance from technology and, to a lesser extent, adults.

Naturally, as a scout leader, I had my source material with the scouting programme built to provide enjoyment and fun, participation in activities - both indoors and outdoors, learning by doing, sharing in spiritual reflection, taking responsibility and making choices, undertaking new and challenging activities, and making and living by the Scout Promise.

I also had the setting for my main character, Horace - a boy who wasn’t to start with, but desperately wanted to be, a scout. Horace, like most of my real scouts, lives in Chislehurst in Kent on the London border. Chislehurst is, in the main, fairly affluent and the characters of Horace and his friends are drawn from the people around us with the situations that they get into often based on actual events, but no more than that.

After the dust had settled on my second book, “Sleeping Bags and Tortures. The Private Diaries of an Adventurous Scout and his Scout Leader,” instead of immediately continuing with the third and final book in the series, I picked up my metaphorical pen and wrote nine stories focussing on Horace and his adventures. Scouting binds the stories together, but his exploits are mostly outside of scouting events where his comments are unguarded and his activities are not risk assessed.

Too long to put into a single book, the nine stories have been published as individual novellas or novelettes. Although each one is a stand-alone tale in its own right there are common threads running through the nine and so, to maximise one’s understanding of people, places and events, I would recommend that they are read in order. “Horace Horrise wants to be a Scout” is the first in the series.

These books are being enjoyed by all ages as they also have a sub-text for the amusement of the adults!

*As an interesting footnote, Richmal Crompton ended her days living in Chislehurst. Maybe some, just some, of William’s breath has been swallowed by Horace.