SCOUTS
from the Soham Grammarian, Summer 1966
The year opened with a large influx of new recruits and indeed at the present time the Troop is at its largest ever having 56 members of whom approximately one third are now First Class Scouts, and over half hold their Second Class Badge. There has been considerable work on Proficiency Badges and a large number covering a wide range of interests and activities have been gained.
The first major activity of the year was the Patrol Leader's and Seconds camp at the beginning of October when a wide range of activities was carried out in fine weather. The period from October to March was dominated by Operation Gauntlet. This consisted of six challenges thrown down by the County Commissioner. For each challenge successfully completed a certificate was presented. Three successful challenges brought a woggle for each member of the Patrol, five a Patrol pennant and six, a wooden Plaque. In addition, to encourage Scout progress, a Wayfinder Award could be gained by a Patrol earning fifty points from passing Tests and earning badges. Suffice it to say that all eight patrols achieved all possible awards. This was clearly the finest performance in the County.
October 6th saw a team of six Scouts cook the third troop dinner. Once again it was proved that boys really can cook! A further one night camp was held at the end of October when a number of new recruits went under canvas for the first time.
The end of October saw our fourth successive visit to the London Gang Show at Golders Green Hippodrome. Early in December a number of boys in the troop helped with the running of the Group's Wine and Cheese Party. December also saw another "first" for the troop. For the first time we won the District Challenge Flag. A team led by C Hill and including J Saul, J Bokor, C Giles, A Coxhead, P Leonard, G Count, and P Stearman performed very well to win this as a result of a Scout Knowledge Competition. Falcons proved themselves the top patrol for the Autumn Term.
The Spring Term saw the start of a quoits tournament which ran on till the end of the Summer Term and was finally won by the Snipe Patrol. Our first public activity was the Valentine Fair when we tried our hand at a "Gang Show" of our own. We discovered that there is a lot of ability in the Troop and an hour long show proved very entertaining to judge by comments from the audience. The evening ended with one of the most moving Investitures that many of us can remember.
The middle of the term saw us working hard for the District First Aid Competitions. Although our Scout team was eliminated a team of Patrol Leaders representing the Group in the Senior Trophy won the District Competition. This team made up of I Smith, C Hill and J Saul went on to win the County Ambulance Trophy, another "first" for the troop. The Inter Patrol First Aid Competition was won by the Kestrel Patrol, who also won the Inter Patrol Football Competition. The Patrol champions for the Spring Term were however, the Snipe Patrol.
The very end of the term saw the revival of the Football Trophy matches with the 1st Ely Troop, this year at Under 13 level. The match ended in a 9-0 victory for the school troop. This team was well captained by S Freeman and the goals were scored by W Matthews, G Count 4 and S Yeomans 4. A First Aid match with the 1st Ely Troop was drawn. This team consisted of P Bean, A Willenbruch, P Stearman and S Yeomans.
The Easter Holidays saw the start of this year's camping season at Tolmers in Hertfordshire. Two years ago, we met bright cold weather, last year we faced wet and windy weather, this year eight Scouts - one camping for the first time ever - encountered ten hours of snow, the worst April snowfall for sixteen years and the coldest April day since 1881. This caused some rearrangement of our programme! We were in fact the only campers to survive this weather, all other campers giving the weather best. We received, as a result of this camp, one of our best ever camp reports. This camp was also responsible for the suggestion of two ideas which have since been put into operation. One, coloured lanyards according to the number of nights camped, and secondly, our own Troop Camp Fire Song Book.
The Summer Term saw an increase in Outdoor Activity. An Under 15, five a side football match against the 1st Ely Troop was won 13-3. This team was captained by A Oakey and also included P Frost, G Ashman, P Hatley and S Freeman.
At Whitsun a small group visited our Summer Camp site in Herefordshire. This was followed by our fourth Little Camp when ten boys spent two nights in the school grounds. Mention must be made of the tree house of P Bean and J Saul and also A Jarman's attempts to re-tyre.
A further camp was held in the school grounds two weeks later when six of the Easter Campers tried warm, sunny weather for a change. One other camp was held this term when the Troop was represented by two patrols at the County Camp. A mixed patrol appearing as the Falcons came fourth but the Peewit Patrol (P Bean, R Hart, N Butcher, P Ford, J Barwick and S Butcher) defied both inexperience and comparative lack of years to prove that team spirit is the important thing, and so gained 1st place. This is the first time the Troop has won this trophy since 1953.
Our future plans consist of this year's Summer Camp at Peterchurch near Hereford, a new departure in the shape of a Fathers and Sons camp on September 24th. All in all a most successful year.
LRH
SENIOR SCOUTS
from the Soham Grammarian, Summer 1966
Three Queen's Scout certificates were awarded during the year. Fernie and Nicholas received theirs locally while R Dunham received his at the Chief Scout's Reception, Gilwell Park. Dunham and Nicholas also took part in the Queen's Scout Parade at Windsor where they were inspected by Her Majesty.
Murfitt must be congratulated for finally swimming 50 yards, thus gaining the First Class Badge which has so long eluded him.
At the beginning of the year an enthusiastic start was made on the Leading Signaller Badge; the exponents soon dwindled to a handful of fifth formers who eventually gave up the ghost. More successful though was the introduction to mechanical engineering where we were agreeably gratified to discover that Mr Rennison's engine was actually secure and not suspended in mid air.
Other activities have included: expeditions around Soham and Newmarket Heath, felling of the diseased pine at the edge of the lawn; and surveying of two sites for a seemingly imaginary Scout Hut.
In the Morley Trophy competition between the county seniors, our entry was understrength, only Pennick and Fleet representing the troop in this arduous orienteering race.
Venture incident weekends were held at Ely in December and Abington in May, several Seniors passing the badge. Wheeler has been selected to represent Newmarket and District at the 1967 World Jamboree, Idaho, U.S.A.
This summer we are camping in the Lakes (!!) near Windermere and as well as fell walking we hope to do some sailing.
RNRD
REACH FOR SKYE!
from the Soham Grammarian, Summer 1966
The morning after the night before (i.e. the Sixth form dance) nine dazed Senior Scouts and two masters arrived at the school for the trip to Skye. When the Volkswagen was finally loaded up we merry maniacs crammed in and endeavoured to find room for our legs, as we wished goodbye to the two fathers who had come to see us off. Little did we know when we would see them again.
At Sutton we encountered a certain sleepy farmer boy whom we picked up. By this time, Mr Ellis had told us his Christian name, which of course we did not know .... On the journey up to Edinburgh we played dice, ate, slept and spotted birds. In one traffic jam, on a fast modern motorway, a girl put a sign at her window asking if we were from St. Luke's, Cambridge. Wheeler was the first in the scramble to write a sign to answer her, but she did not seem interested in Soham, and we continued our journey in sullen murmurings of discontent while Langley rattled on about his girlfriend who was at an army camp near to the road we were travelling on-only about 20 miles away. He has subsequently joined the army ....
Not long after, a serious soul, residing quietly on the cramped backseat, informed us that he was sure he'd seen one of the roofrack tabs move a couple of inches. Everyone continued to snooze as usual, while Skip stopped the van. Then we hopped briskly (!) out, and witnessed by the bewildered stares of the E-type drivers tearing past we pushed the loaded roofrack back.
The first camp was set up at the Scout Camp at Edinburgh, to the homely accompaniment of the pitter-patter of the rain; it was raining the next morning, but we still went on our tour of Edinburgh, and were suitably impressed by what we saw, though one of our band informed us that the railway station wasn't up to much. Monday morning it cleared up enough for us to get the tents down and the van loaded. Soon after starting we crossed the new Forth Road Bridge, and drank a toast in lemon shandy to it. It truly is an impressive example of modern engineering.
At 7 o'clock we arrived at the Ferry for Skye. The magic moment was here, or so we thought. But it was another three hours before our time finally carne to board the ship, during which time we'd completed a good survey of the town's coffee bars. Boarding the ferry was reminiscent of being in an explosion - we went all ways at the same time. The ferry was very fast, and it only took about five minutes before we were over the sea to Skye.
As we chugged along the single-track roads of the island, refreshingly empty of traffic, surveying the curious peat digs and the famous, brilliantly lit Skye sunset, Robinson and Fernie discussed the subsidy system of farming. We found the campsite at the wonderful hour of midnight. It was a new and .... exhilarating experience for most of us, to set up camp at the Witch's hour, and we set about transporting the gear from the van up the hill to the site. Miraculously nothing was forgotten or lost, but the grocer had forgotten to put the sausages in our order, and the duty patrol found themselves cooking a tin of Spam and a tin of tomatoes for twelve of us.
Suddenly, a thudding sound burst on us from the copse of trees behind the tent. Fearing the ghost of Bonnie Prince Charlie, or even worse, Colonel McDonald tuning his bagpipes to welcome us to his camp, all torches turned in the direction of the deathly thuds, to reveal Dunham efficiently digging the lats.
During the next two days we made ourselves at home and toured the capital, Portree. It rained most days in the morning and in late evening, but the rest of the day was generally quite warm. We rigged up a Quoits court for the more energetic to use during this time.
On Wednesday three pairs set out in the van for the start of their hikes: Ward, Wheeler doing a 30 mile "Hiker" hike; Pennick, Nicholas doing a 20 mile "Venture" hike; and Allen and Fernie doing a hike to make a high level camp on the Storr.
On Thursday Pennick and Nicholas reached their pick-up point well in time, their only misfortunes being that they "lost" a lake, their tent was attacked by belligerent cattle, and a gale force wind caused Nicholas to get drenched during the night. Allen and Fernie reached home camp early Thursday morning, since their tent had nearly been blown away during the night by the gale, and they had decided to make an early start back.
On Thursday afternoon the tent was covered with wet sleeping bags steaming under the sun, when 50 Manchester Grammar School Seniors came trooping in, and working completely under whistles they put their camp up in a space not much bigger than ours. Next morning, the first of us to poke his head under the flap of our tent was in time to see the last of them disappearing down the path, their camp absolutely clear. We didn't even hear their whistle.
On Friday a party led by Mr Ellis made their way up the sullen, magnificent peaks of the Cuillins, while Skip went to fetch the remaining two hikers. Unfortunately Skip had to go home the next day because his family were ill, but Mr Ellis graciously decided to keep the camp going for the last week, and on Sunday he started by taking us up the Cuillins again, this time on a different and harder route.
It rained Sunday night and so we had to cook in the tent, as per usual. Langley showed his amazing versatility when he gave one of the primus' a hefty kick. It had started to flame alarmingly. He was royally thanked by the cooks on duty, but they did not feel so royal when they had to search for twenty minutes in the rain for a missing part of the cooker.
On Monday we left Skye and spent most of the journey "singing" and studying the lakes. At Fort William we soon found the site and later in the evening visited the town, which proved rather quiet, apart from the fish and chip shop. The next day we climbed Ben Nevis, ate our dinner and ran down it again in the time it took the last Soham expedition to climb it. I myself preferred the Cuillins to climb since they were far more challenging and the view far more exhilarating. That night we tramped to the theatre for our traditional outing, to see "The Train".
The next day we reached the site at Loch Lomond, and after we had pitched our tents some hardy specimens went for a swim in the Loch, one in his clothes in order to complete his Queen's Scout. Soon after it started to rain hard and continued to do so all evening. Frantically pits were dug around the tent, but these soon filled, resembling a typical fen drainage system - flooded. So we decided to let nature take its course, and spent the rest of the evening chatting. Nature did take its course - right under two of our beds, resulting in Langley and myself sitting fully dressed on our beds at 3 o'clock in the morning, discussing his special "waterproof" Army sleeping bag and my double strength groundsheet . . . . It's surprising the facts you discover at 3 o'clock in the morning, like how little heat a match gives off, and how many people snore.
The next morning we rose early to pack our kit, occasionally breaking off to help push other campers out of the mud-filled field. We spent the entire day travelling, camping near Lancaster for our last night. Langley and myself spent most of our time holding our sleeping bags over the fire, "smoke signal" fashion, to dry them off, while some went to a campfire held by a neighbouring troop. The next day we packed the tent for the last time and started off, escorted by a puzzled Police patrol.
We were entertained to a fine dinner by Mr Ellis' wife and "smotherers", whom we would like to thank most sincerely. When we arrived at Mr Ellis', Mr Fernie and Mr Ward followed us in. They had come to save Mr Ellis a journey, and make travelling easier for us, since there were now two vehicles, and again we would like to thank them most sincerely.
Never again will Chink, Humph, Squeak, and Arthur camp with us. We wish them luck. We would like to thank Mr Rennison for his work, and Mr Ellis who took over for the last week, and never lost his temper, never complained (even about our "beards" - we had all stopped shaving) and really made it a fine camp. Truly, he's "Warwick the Campmaker".
DJN
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last updated 20 Nov 2007