Scouting is mourning the death of John Fogg aged 65 who died peacefully at his home in Leighton Buzzard on 7^th January 2008. For all his adult life John has inspired everyone he met with his impish good humour and his ability to laugh at life’s problems. This stayed with him right to the end. He leaves a devoted wife Erica and two children Gavin and Tiffany who were a large part of his Scouting career. John fulfilled his final wish which was to see the centenary of Scouting in 2007.

Born in Lancashire in 1942, John Christopher Fogg led an action-packed life that took him to the top of the media tree. He rarely took himself seriously as you can see from the piece he wrote about himself for a Public Relations Forum in November 1996. Tongue in cheek he said, “Joined Scout HQ in March 1988 after 17 years with British Rail where I was initially Technical Press Officer concerned with engineering and the source of many hair raising incidents. Later I put my foot on the first rung of the PR ladder when I was appointed Public Affairs Manager for Intercity. (No affairs but lots of hard work!)

“After Lancashire the family, with me in tow, crossed the Pennines. I was brought up in Durham where I learned a few useful things at Sunderland Tech which is probably now a university or something. I trained as an electronics engineer and earned an honest living at this profession in the days when the wireless had valves to receive the Light Programme and computers filled entire rooms.

“I joined the Scouts at the age of eight in Durham. Then I stayed with the group as a totally undistinguished Scout until the age of 15 when I was left running a pack of 36 Wolf Cubs because everyone else was doing National Service. Since then I have been bullied (persuaded) into many different appointments including the present one as District Chairman for Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.

“I have one wife, one daughter and one son. One ran a Beaver Colony and was poached by the WI. The dumb blonde works for a newspaper group and the dumber one is a photographer for a National News Agency.”

John started his adult Scouting career just before the summer holidays in 1960 as a lowly assistant Cub Scout leader in Buckinghamshire. Later he moved to Leighton Buzzard with a young wife and family to continue his job as Public Affairs Manager for British Rail and, as he put it, dipping his toe into the waters of Scouting. His other loves were as a radio ham and an enthusiastic handbell ringer with the Bell Worthy Ringers which he and Erica enjoyed together.

John was a humorous after dinner speaker who took great delight in telling his audience some of the many scrapes he endured. Leighton Linslade District Secretary Dave Darvill recalls two of those from John’s days with British Rail. In suitably hushed tones John said, “One day we went up to Derby to take photos of a new train set ( ie linked carriages ).  It was desperately late and being pre-mobile phones all I and the photographer could do was wait in hope for the train to arrive. Finally we fell fast asleep and missed the train passing. We eventually had to go sheepishly back to the Derby works to face the leg-pulling of the assembled engineers.

“Another time I was PR passenger in the cab of a new locomotive under test.  Suddenly the brakes failed. We all had to lie on the floor of the cab and pray that when we ran out of rails the loco stayed upright rather than topple sideways off the bridge at the end of the line.”

Catherine Roots, his Group Scout Leader at Trinity Methodist, tells of his early days when he somewhat reluctantly took various leader roles. It was a start that brought him a career change when, at the age of 42 he took the momentous leap into Public Relations for the Scout Movement. He no longer had to travel on engine footplates but, as he said, he did have to look after that most critical and adventurous audience of all, the young people who make up the half million membership of the movement.

Dave Darvill remembers how Foggy, as he was known, seemed to cope with a 72 hour day and a 99 day week as though it was normal. Dave said, “He did a great job as assistant district commissioner for Scouts and later as district chairman. I like to think that some of his experiences in Leighton Buzzard helped to form policy at Scout Headquarters.”

Other colleagues have memories that include the innovative local adventures which made it onto the national stage. One said, “The abiding memories of John centre on his unfailing good humour often in the face of problems, his willingness to help others, and to keep the fun element in Scouting.  He invented a unique method of funding District events using Mars Bars. The established entry fee to District events became one Mars Bar per participant.  The winning team collected the lot!”

Another remarked, “His fun side surfaced in a memorable Queens Speech which he delivered as Guest of Honour at a winter camp at Phasels Wood. Invited on the basis that he would give the after-dinner speech, he arrived in full regalia dressed as Queen Victoria. To the astonishment and delight of us all he maintained the character throughout the evening and went home in State escorted by Erica!  He was the instigator of our participation in Jamboree-on-the-air being an amateur radio enthusiast himself.   He also started the Winter Brass Monkeys Camp at Gilwell Park. The event was such a success that the following year we turned it into a District Camp. Gilwell, the national centre, suddenly realised they had a winner which they promoted effectively and now run as an International Camp.”

About the same time and 20 miles away in Chicksands John’s path would cross with Luton Scouts PR Adviser Ray Aldous as he sat in a radio car searching the airwaves for contacts. He was lucky. John was at home with his tiny aerial and the two found a common theme in their Scouting and the start of a life-long friendship. In 1997 John was guest of honour at the first AGM of the newly formed Luton Scouts PR Team. John presented three Scouts with the first PR Badges to be issued. He later gave a colourful and down to earth speech for the AGM of the Bedfordshire County Scouts.

But his real love was the young people involved in Scouting, who make such an impact on life as a leader, which is why he leapt at the chance to invest 16 new Beaver Scouts at the opening of Luton’s Farley Hill Scout Group in July 1998. He asked them why they joined the Beavers and was delighted when they all yelled gleefully, “Because it’s great fun!”

In November 2000 John was appointed Director of Communications with a lively team of 24 but still with the same sense of humour. His brief introduction in the staff brochure reads, ”Having wandered around Scouting for over 30 years, including lengthy spells as an assistant leader, a life expired assistant district commissioner and district chairman, I now do odd jobs for the Bedfordshire training team or anyone else who asks.”

John was awarded a Medal of Merit in 1989, a Silver Acorn in 1994 and a bar to the Silver Acorn in 2000. He retired from his director’s job at Scout HQ in March 2004.

John will be sadly missed by his family, his friends and the many Scouting colleagues whose lives have been made richer by his inspiration and leadership.

There will be a Memorial Service at All Saints Church, Leighton Buzzard at 2pm on Tuesday 22^nd January.