On the 27th of December 2009, at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, during a public lecture entitled 'Survivors', Raymond Mears made a bold statement.
"I've been teaching bushcraft in Britain now for 26 years, when I started teaching it there was no bushcraft "
Video clip here:
Now I'm sure that Mr Mears didnt intend that statement to come across the way it does and I imagine that he would be the first to credit his peers and those in his field who went before him.
It never ceases to surprise me however, how many people I have met within the movement that has grown up around the survival and wilderness living skills in the UK, who vehemently make statements to this effect with regards to Mr Mears. seemingly oblivious to the many people who have, and who continue to advanced this field.
Peers like Larry Dean Olson, Richard & Linda Jamison, the Lars Falt, Mors Kochanski, Turkka aaltonen and the ever controversial Tom Brown (who tutored the young Mears briefly) the list goes on and on. All of whom published their works on the subject long before Raymond and many of whom were undoubtedly a great influence on him.
Then of course there are the past masters, Bernard Mason, Kemphart, Richard graves and H. A. Lindsay etc etc; the latter two even using the word 'Bushcraft' to describe their subject as early as the 1940's.
There were even schools in the UK dedicated to teaching the skills we now refer to as Bushcraft a least as early as 1909, such as the grandly named 'Imperial School of Colonial Instruction'
So why is it that so many people seem to have such a narrow field of study on this subject in the UK, why arent the aforementioned names better known here amongst those who profess to have a love of the subject?
"I've been teaching bushcraft in Britain now for 26 years, when I started teaching it there was no bushcraft "
Video clip here:
Now I'm sure that Mr Mears didnt intend that statement to come across the way it does and I imagine that he would be the first to credit his peers and those in his field who went before him.
It never ceases to surprise me however, how many people I have met within the movement that has grown up around the survival and wilderness living skills in the UK, who vehemently make statements to this effect with regards to Mr Mears. seemingly oblivious to the many people who have, and who continue to advanced this field.
Peers like Larry Dean Olson, Richard & Linda Jamison, the Lars Falt, Mors Kochanski, Turkka aaltonen and the ever controversial Tom Brown (who tutored the young Mears briefly) the list goes on and on. All of whom published their works on the subject long before Raymond and many of whom were undoubtedly a great influence on him.
Then of course there are the past masters, Bernard Mason, Kemphart, Richard graves and H. A. Lindsay etc etc; the latter two even using the word 'Bushcraft' to describe their subject as early as the 1940's.
There were even schools in the UK dedicated to teaching the skills we now refer to as Bushcraft a least as early as 1909, such as the grandly named 'Imperial School of Colonial Instruction'
So why is it that so many people seem to have such a narrow field of study on this subject in the UK, why arent the aforementioned names better known here amongst those who profess to have a love of the subject?
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