IT'S a far cry from learning to tie a reef knot or helping elderly ladies across the road.

IT'S a far cry from learning to tie a reef knot or helping elderly ladies across the road. These days Scouts are encouraged to adopt thoroughly modern skills if they are to win the much-coveted Scout badges.

The youth organisation, which is 100 years old this year, has introduced modern proficiency badges, including a badge for text messaging.

In order to win the sought-after badge, a Scout must be able to text at a rate of 50 characters within one minute.

It's a world apart from Scouts of past generations who were taught how to understand Morse Code and Semaphore.

Today, the Scouts must be able to send a text message quickly, as well as understand the meaning of SMS, MMS, 3G and WAP. The new badge is just part of a major revamp of the Scouts.

Other proficiency badges which are being introduced in a bid to bring the movement into the modern age include public relations and skateboarding.

But just how difficult is it to write a 50-character text message in under one minute?

We took to the streets of Glasgow to see how many people would qualify for a Scout texting badge.

We asked them to text the phrase: "COULD YOU TEXT 50 CHARACTERS IN JUST 60 SECONDS."

We hit the streets to see how fast you can send messages on your phone
PETER BRADLEY, 17, gas engineer, Hamilton A seasoned texter, Peter was more than happy to take our challenge. He said: "It's a lot easier to text when you aren't being timed. There's so much pressure." 42 seconds	� AILEEN PATERSON, 18, student, Kirkintilloch Despite finishing in near-record time, Aileen found it difficult not to revert to text shorthand. She said: "I text a lot but it's different when you are being timed." 26 seconds	� PAUL MARTIN, 19, gas engineer, Coatbridge Paul was up for the challenge but had to borrow a friend's mobile. He said: "I'm not sure where the space key is." A valiant effort but he gave up after 30secs.	� STACEY CONGALTON, 18, student, Cumbernauld Clearly a bit of a text pro, Stacey sailed through the test and using only one hand managed it in enough time to secure a Scout badge. 41 seconds	� MARTIN SPEIRS, 16, student, Paisley Our unofficial champion texter, Martin proved he's a whizz when it came to writing a text. He said: "I'm used to writing in shorthand so this was a bit tricky." 25 seconds

CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTONE, 16, student, Bishopbriggs Christopher made an admirable attempt. He said: "It was difficult as it's not how I would normally write a message." 34 seconds

� SUSAN WILHIRE, 30, bank worker, Yoker A reluctant texter, Susan was brave enough to give it a go. She said: "I'm hopeless at writing text messages. It's so stressful knowing I'm being timed." 32 seconds

� LIAM BRADLEY, 16, student, Cumbernauld Liam was out to prove he was the fastest, Unfortunately his enthusiasm caused him a few problems. He said : "I'm normally faster than this but it's too cold to text quickly." 36 seconds

� COLETTE CHALMERS, 19, student, Hamilton We spied Colette texting as she strode up Buchanan Street and challenged her to our time trial. She proved to be an ace texter. She said: "It's too cold to text properly." 26 seconds

� THOMAS GALLAGHER, 24, bank worker, Coatbridge Thomas raced through the phrase without any major problems. He said: "I thought it was quite a simple message to write." 30 seconds