Our Past

The next ten years

other pages
Part 1
New HQ
Camping to 1968
Camping 1969-1983
Camping 1984-1993
Camping 1994-2000
Camping since 2001
Register of King's Scouts & Queen's Scouts
Register of Chief Scout's Awards
Everyday Scouting
Frank Bailey's reminiscences

It’s now ten years since we moved into our building (no longer new). To pick up the story, we hadn’t long been in, when it was discovered that an error had been made in the planning, which meant that extra iron girders would have to be deployed to strengthen the structure. This took several months to arrange and accomplish, and meanwhile we were not allowed into the main hall, so once again we were homeless. This time we had to resort to hiring rooms in the School for our meetings, which obviously put quite serious constraints on what we could do. However, eventually this problem was sorted out, and we were once again able to move back into our HQ.

We started Beavers, run by Ann Pope, as soon as the building was complete, and luckily the new Section was unaffected, as the den could continue to be used. Ann had several helpers from the Venture Unit and Troop, as well as adult volunteers.

Meanwhile, our Cub Pack, which had started life in January 1993 under Christine Parry, was led first by Judith Collins and her team, then by her daughter Claire, and later by Acorn Clayton; it had periods of great success and large numbers, interspersed with times when, owing largely to a shortage of Leaders, the numbers were smaller. When Acorn left to have her baby, Angela Johnson took over for a year, and now Liz Cockerton is running the Pack.

Beavers in 2001

In 2002 we were once again without a Scout Leader, and so I took over the running of the Troop myself. This was at the time when the age range was reduced, and youngsters aged 15 were required to transfer to Explorers, the replacement Section for Ventures. The big difference was that Explorers had to be run by District and could not form part of the Group.

Celebrating the Troop's 70th anniversary in 2003

Meanwhile, the building was used every night of the week, by Rangers, Guides, Explorers, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, and often at weekends for various activities.

A further difficulty beset us in 2004, when we were informed by the School authorities that we would no longer be allowed the use of the Copse, which had been our training ground at least since 1964, and possibly longer. Fortunately, this ruling was partly reversed five years later, and on our return to the lower section of the Copse, we found a wilderness, which needed much work to return it to its former state and make it a safe and pleasant place for the youngsters.

Inauguration of the Memorial Gates by Dr. Thomson in 1968
In particular, the memorial gates, which we had removed for renovation, could not be replaced at the time, and so were languishing in the stores. We commissioned new gate posts, and hinges, with a view to restoring the gates to their rightful position. New brasses were also needed to replace the old ones, which had been lost.

During these years, a lot of work still remained to be carried out. The most urgent was to deal with the reverberation in the main hall, which was so bad that it was quite impossible to understand what anyone was saying from a distance of more than a few yards. We commissioned some large baffle boards, filled with mineral wool, which cost a lot of money, but also went a long way towards curing this problem.

In 2009, having joined the Sainsbury's Active Kids scheme, we collected enough vouchers to obtain two basket ball goals. We had to use the professional services of a builder to install them, but this is a very much appreciated addition to our facilities.