 In 1947, Dring was a soldier in the British Army stationed in Wuppertal, Germany when a colleague asked him to become a Cub Scout leader.After returning from his National Service he joined the Leeds District of The Boy Scout Association, serving on the executive until the adoption of The Chief Scouts' Advance Party Report.Disagreeing with the direction of the association, he resigned and helped form the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association and the World Federation of Independent Scouts.