Credit Where Credit's Due

Mention of the iconic Español Húmedo y Dispuesto Niño-scout Mensual [Wet and Willing Spanish Boy Scout Monthly] in a recent communication has prompted Dorset resident Peder Ast to get in touch. After securing an "understanding" that his name and address [12 The Cage, East Pulham] would be withheld, Peder agreed to share with readers his enthusiasm for the Magazine - an enthusiasm first kindled by a mid 1980s edition, the cover of which featured a then unknown but, according to his scouting mentors "up and coming" young man: Enriqué de los Chicos Perdidos. Photographed for the Magazine by Dorset Spanish Scout enthusiast and keen amateur photographer Mr Threadbone*, who was attending an International Jamboree in Covadonga at the time, Enrique was on the brink of a life-defining decision to leave his native Spain and try his luck in Dorset. The arrival of this "young, impressionable but already very dextrous" newcomer into the Threadbone menage was to impact on several lives in addition to his own.

* BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: mini-tractor enthusiast Mr Threadbone - better known as the husband of Dorset entrepreneur and business leader Mrs Amanda J Threadbone, was a longstanding champion of the importance of giving importunate young men the opportunity to grow in the hands of other more experienced men. His enthusiasm for scouting, guiding and hand-raising all those who came under his firm but tender grip was legendary - as was his demise. Discovering in Enriqué an inclination similar to his own and encouraging him to become an expert and attentive tightener of his nuts, Mr Threadbone ventured out in dangerous conditions and a state of high excitement to test the younger man's latest manipulation of his prize possession. It was an adventure from which he would not return.

The mid 1980s edition of Español Húmedo y Dispuesto Niño-scout Mensual which was responsible for - amongst many other things - the confirmation of Mr Peder Ast's interest in Spanish Boy-Scouting.

As far as Mr Ast was concerned, however, all this lay far in the future. As he retreated to his tiny East Pulham bedroom to stroke his own growing ambitions whilst devouring eagerly the contents of Español Húmedo y Dispuesto Niño-scout Mensual, he had little idea - beyond a certainty that it was toward young men like Enriqué that he was drawn - what fate [and a prolonged enquiry by the RDC] would bring. Later many connected to the Dorset scouting fraternity would also experience the almost instant impact Enriqué could have on their burgeoning manhood [some described it as "a remarkable stiffening of resolve"], but it was the likes of Mr Ast - quite as much as Mr Threadbone - whose early arousal first turned the young ex-Spanish Boy Scout into the niche-icon he was to become. Such men often go uncelebrated and remain almost unknown [their preferred modus operandi [Ed]], so it is with both pride and pleasure that we now bring Mr Ast into the limelight and expose him to the wider public gaze.

---

PAID FOR ADVERTISEMENT

PROPERTIES FOR SALE

12 The Cage, East Pulham. [Vacant Possession]

This highly desirable and delightfully secluded property [capable of improvement and due a damned good clean-out] has come unexpectedly on the market and is offered for quick sale at a discounted price. Can be purchased with or without contents [all Magazines excluded]. Serious enquiries only to: Messrs Threadbone, Locke and Key, Estate Agents, Great Heaving.

Socially-distanced viewing appointments and post-visit sanitisation available. Masks required, bio-secure body suits recommended.