Luton businessman and Bedfordshire’s High Sheriff Mr Nazir Jessa has just relived his days as a Scout in Tanzania in a wide ranging two hour interview with 17 year old Explorer Scout Caitlin Thornton from the Brock Explorer Scout Unit in Maulden. He told how as a young Scout he climbed palm trees, swam in the Indian Ocean and cooked roast potatoes over an open fire. “It was 100% fun and made you independent,” he said. But his one regret is that he never got to climb the 19,000 foot volcano Kilimanjaro just 600 miles from where he lived.

Cailtin began by asking him about his days as a Scout in a land 4,800 miles away. Mr Jessa said, “We had an inspirational English leader. We knew him only as Mr Burton. He was commissioner for the whole of Tanzania and ruled us lads with a firm hand. We learned early on that Scouting was about discipline and a pride in your appearance.” Mr Jessa added with a grin, “Many times I was told off because my shoes weren’t polished enough.”

He went on, “I started as a Cub Scout at the age of nine in 1950 (Wolf Cubs in those days) and moved up to Scouts when I was 11. We met once a fortnight when we were inspected and took part in a ceremony we called ‘Trooping the colour’. We marched, played games and engaged in various scout activities. The pinnacle was when we went on a day’s picnic to the Scout Hut. This was an open sided concrete structure with a thatched roof on the opposite side of a creek with beautiful sandy beach. As soon as we were dismissed we dived into the sea and swam to the other side to take part in all sorts of exciting activities.” He chuckled quietly as he remembered his childhood over half a century earlier.

Mr Jessa took Caitlin back to his days when he was a Scout just like her. “We didn’t have girls in Scouts,” he said. “A woman’s job was in the home cooking and looking after the house. But at Scouts were soon found that you went hungry if you didn’t cook. So we built huge fires from driftwood and made stew and roast potatoes. Not very well I must admit but you’ll eat anything when you’re hungry. Our main game was cricket which we would play on the beach with anything we could find.” He went on, “We learned all kinds of Scouting skills. We fashioned spoons and other implements from lumps of wood, used sisal and vines to tie knots and followed tracks on a treasure hunt set by the older Scouts. My goodness it made us sharp. In the evening we sat around the camp fire and sang songs or climbed nearby palm trees. I still have the marks where I lost my balance and fell out of the branches. In those days it was called growing up.

“I was part of a family of 10 brothers and sisters and my mother was very strict about schooling for all of us. She would say, ‘You need a good education to make something of your life.’ There were no excuses even when I felt unwell. My mother wouldn’t allow me to miss a day. I lived for over 20 years in Dar es Salaam just a mile from the coast before moving to England in 1964 to qualify as an optician in London. My Scouting helped me to be independent and to get on with people from all sorts of backgrounds in a city that has six times more people than my home town. It was awesome but an exciting time in my life.

“I have two regrets,” he admitted, “One is that I never got to attend a Jamboree. The sound of 50,000 eggs being cracked every morning, of 100 different cultures and 200 languages all together on a 500 acre site is just mind blowing. The other regret is that I was never allowed to climb Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro. We lived in a country where lions and leopards kept you awake at night and where snakes, mosquitoes and tsetse flies could poison you so my parents were naturally protective right up to the time I left home.”

Caitlin asked, “How has Scouting helped you with your job as High Sheriff?” Mr Jessa thought for a moment and said, “Getting on with people. Scouting is character building and teaches you independence. Leave me alone with any people and I can talk with them even if I don’t know their language. I talk with my hands. The beauty of a multi cultural society is the ability to integrate and you can’t do that without conversation. That is the single most important benefit I have gained from my Scouting.

“The job of High Sheriff has a history dating back over 1000 years when there were no police or judiciary. He had to support the monarch when they toured the country, built castles or started a war. The job is now much more ceremonial than it was. I don’t have to collect taxes for the Queen and no longer have to attend the hangings of convicted murderers to certify their death. The last time that happened in Bedfordshire was when Hanratty was hanged for the A6 murder. I’m also not hated by the population or likely to die a nasty death. But I do get to attend court and will look after Royalty when they visit the county.

“The High Sheriff inauguration ceremony was awesome and a great honour. My family came from all over the world to share in the occasion. I feel I owe it to them to make a success of the job. There’s also so much I want to do to help the young people of the county including those from the growing family of Scouts. I was delighted to share my memories of Scouting with you and I wish you well with whatever you want to do with your life. I’m sure we will meet again”

Afterwards Caitlin said how much she had appreciated her time with the High Sheriff. She remarked, “Mr Jessa was so interesting and friendly and very easy to talk to. Finding out that you could get eaten by a lion outside your house was scary.  I learned so much from him. Apart from his Scouting experiences he told me many things about the history of Bedfordshire that I did not know.” The Scouts Local Development Officer Jo Millard from Clifton added, “Mr Jessa is a great example to all our Scouts. We could even have another High Sheriff in one of groups.”

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