A BRONZE bust of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting movement, has been unveiled to honour what would have been his 150th birthday.

The sculpture was revealed yesterday on Brownsea Island, where the scouting movement began 100 years ago this year.

Members of 1st Parkstone and 28th Bournemouth Cub Scout groups, and guides from across the district, were on hand to mark the occasion.

And the scouts whom, a decade ago, unveiled the original limestone bust it replaces, returned as young men to do the honours for a second time.

Graham Crane, National Trust Visitor Services Manager on Brownsea Island, said the island was looking forward to a momentous year.

He said: "This new bust will welcome the thousands of scouts, cubs, beavers, guides, brownies and rainbows who will visit the island during this centenary year, and in years to come."

The bronze bust, funded by the Brownsea Island Scout and Guide Management Committee, is a cast of the original first erected in 1997. It sits on a Purbeck stone plinth, which shows a representation of the worldwide oak of scouting alongside the Brownsea acorn.

Kevin Phillips, Brownsea Island Scout Commissioner, said: "This is a special day in a very special year for scouts and guides."

He added: "We wanted to have the bust here before the island opens in March so that Baden-Powell will welcome everyone who comes to visit. They can stand with him and have pictures taken with him."

Robert Baden-Powell held the first experimental scout camp on the island in August 1907 when he took 20 boys for a 10-day stay. Its success led him to write Scouting for Boys, from which the scouting movement was born.