Scouting Memories 1950s
Kenneth Hart recalls his happy days in the Scouts in the 1950s.
“I joined the Scouts at 11 years of age. I had tried the Cubs but did not enjoy them. Ronald Pringle persuaded me to go to the Scouts with him and I enjoyed several years of Scouting. My first patrol was the Lion Patrol of which Gavin Cairns was the Patrol Leader. Later I went to the Eagle Patrol as Second to Andy Herd and afterwards formed my own Wolf Patrol. My father was at that time Assistant Scoutmaster and looking back the formation of the new patrol was all part of a fiendish plan. Aly Wilkie was Second and the other boys all came from Wormit or thereabouts. Stuart Beveridge, Woodhaven, Jimmy Calder, Newton Farm, Norman Gray, Wormit and another whose name now escapes me but it may have been Billy Wilkie.
“We started an intensive programme of training and eventually could erect a Niger tent in six minutes. We camped frequently at Flass Farm all of which led up to the District Flag competition. Normally 34th Fife, 1st Newport, did not progress any further as St. Andrews normally knocked us out in the first round, but we, the Wolf Patrol won the District Flag. This meant that we progressed to the County Flag competition which was held at Wemyss Firs. We went there in a large Austin car hired from Williamson’s in Gauldry and driven by my father. There were, of course patrols representing all the Districts in Fife and Kelty were the ones to beat. They wore kilts and were, compared to us, so very smart. It was said that they came from a mining community and they were the sort of people who would support their troop financially. In fact they all looked smarter than us but we had some crafty plans up our sleeves. The mince was part cooked, we had gadgets part built etc. We were patrol number 6 in that competition and I remember with great pride when the weekend ended the winners were announced as Patrol number 6. I was not quite 16. It was the first time that 34th Fife, First Newport had ever won the County Flag. On the way home we had an accident when an elderly lady, driving a Standard 9 ran into the side of our car at Letham crossroads. We ended up in a field but thankfully no damage was done to the occupants of either car.
“We were lucky as a troop to have the premises at Woodhaven pier where each patrol had a room of their own and lots of room to spare. We paid a sub of 3d a week which could never hope to support such premises.”
You can carry out an advanced search of the archive by search term.
No Comments
Add a comment about this page