About the Webmaster - Ian Webb

How this site started

I started the South African Scouting website early in 1995 when I was a computer science student. I discovered HTML and set up my personal web page, with pages for my Troop, for Scouting in South Africa, and for Scouting in the Western Cape. This quickly became the main Scout website in South Africa. In December 1995, Bruce Dixie and I arranged a "Cybertent" internet activity at a Scout event in Cape Town. Bruce also assisted in many other ways including setting up several Scout mailing lists which still run on his server.

I hosted the Scout webpages at the university until 1996 when a Scouting friend, Paul Cammidge, found a sponsor, Internet Solutions, who have hosted the website at no charge ever since. Thanks, IS!

I've now run the site continuously as a volunteer since 1995. Various Chief Executives of South African Scouting, John Hunneyball, Luke van der Laan and Milly Siebrits, have given much support and encouragement.

In Scouting

I became a Cub in 1981, and since then I've been at 1st Claremont Scout Group, the oldest Scout Group in South Africa (formed in 1908). I earned my Springbok Scout there in 1990/91, and became an adult leader in 1991. In 1996 I represented South Africa at the World Scout Youth Forum in Norway, and also attended the World Moot in Sweden. In 1998/9, I attended the World Jamboree in Chile. In 1999, South Africa hosted the World Scout Youth Forum and World Scout Conference in Durban, where I worked on the host committee. I then worked at the World Scout Bureau in Geneva for 6 months in 1999/2000, where I revamped the European Scout Region website and provided graphic design training. I also visited the Philippines, Thailand and Chile to work on Scout websites for the Asia-Pacific and Interamerican regions.

Outside Scouting

I went to school at Rondebosch Boys' High School in Cape Town. I studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Cape Town and earned an MSc degree in 3D graphics in 1998. Apart from Scouting, my hobbies include hiking and African music, and after graduating I worked for 18 months for a multimedia project in African music and art.

Since 2000 I have been a Java software developer at Postilion in Cape Town where I develop EFT software - currently an internet banking system, and previously point-of-sale software for card payments. This software is on use in many tens of thousands of cash registers all around the world.

In 2002 I married Carol, our son James was born in 2007, and we are living happily ever after in Rondebosch.