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Description

How to roll the flag and put it on the pole and history and parts of the flag. Adapted from one of my other activities to suit a single base as part of a different session (059.C.W01.F2F - St George's Day)

Resources

Union Flag template - Large Coloured
Flag and flag pole
Paracord
Sheet bend instructions (many different versions available online, e.g.https://www.scoutadventures.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-05/Simple%20Knots%20-%20Factsheet_0.pdf)

Instructions

How to roll the flag and put it on the pole
Practice a sheet bend
Roll the colours to the spine (helps stop it getting stuck)


History and parts of the flag
(Use large version of the template folded to show the current Union Flag) This is called the Union Flag because it symbolises the administrative union of the countries of the United Kingdom, this is why:

In April 1606, The Union Flag became the official flag of Britain (show this part of the template - St Andrew's flag and St George's flag).

It combined the flags of St Andrew for Scotland (show this part of the template), and St George for England (fold this part over to show the British Flag).
As Wales was not a kingdom but a Principality (only ruled by a Prince, not a King or Queen), it was not included on the flag.

Sometime around 1674 the British Flag became formally known as the 'Union Jack' when mounted on a warship and the ship was not in harbour. At the same time the British Flag was referred to as the 'Union flag' on land.

In 1801 the cross of St Patrick, representing Ireland, was incorporated to create the flag that has been flown ever since.

There is a right way and wrong way to have the flag and to deliberately fly the flag upside down is a signal indicating a situation of 'DISTRESS', and was used mainly by ships in wartime to secretly signal others in the fleet that they needed help, although this might not be 100% accurate as as it would have been hard to see if it was upside down when it was flapping in the wind or collapsed together when there was no wind.

Other notes:
Principality: a state ruled by a prince
Kingdom: a country, state, or territory ruled by a king or queen
Wales as a constituent principality of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland as a constituent region and Scotland as a constituent country.

Tags

• flag
• flag history

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