22nd Finchley

Note: This article relates to the 22^nd Finchley Scout Group that started in 1954 and was sponsored by St Paul’s Church, Finchley. It should though be pointed out that there was another 22^nd Finchley that opened in 1949 but closed after 2 years. This other Group, by coincidence, also met at St Paul’s but was run by the Salvation Army. Census returns reveal that in the first year there were 10 Cubs with 2 leaders and the following year 7 Cubs with 1 leader.

Please also note – This article is quite detailed and fairly long. We have been provided with an exceptional amount of material including numerous old photographs.

 

In April 1954 Alec Tomlin, a pre-war Scouter in Walthamstow who had spent some time after the war in India, returned to the UK and settled in Finchley. The story is that he walked into St Paul’s Church in Long Lane and asked if there was a Scout Group. Upon being told ‘No’ he is said to have replied ‘Well you have now’.

 

Alec took the reins of the new Group as Group Scout Master (GSM) and Scoutmaster (SM), his wife Doris became the Akela and their two sons were the first members of the Pack. Word quickly spread round the district and more boys soon arrived including a small Cub called Martyn Daviss.

 

The Church had two halls: the Group used the Front Hall and the Brownies and Guides met in the ‘Tin Shack’ at the back. The Pack met at 6.30pm and the Troop took over at 8pm. Later the Senior Scouts met in the small committee room at the back of the main hall. The Group scarf was scarlet and emerald halves.

 

Alec had great powers of persuasion and he soon had a committee to help him. Records show that there were several parents ready to assist, especially in raising funds for general equipment, a flag and even a Trek Cart.

 

Within a year there had been substantial growth with the census figures at the end of March 1955 showing 36 Cubs and 22 Scouts. A couple of months later to celebrate their first birthday an open evening was held for parents and friends when progress reports were given. During that event Tony Attfield was declared the best Scout of the year. Later in the year Mr A Wrigley was appointed Scoutmaster and Michael Morgan took over as the Akela.

 

Alec was employed by Thomas de la Rue, the banknote printers, and had a contact with Portals who provided the special paper from their Laverstoke Mill near Overton in Hampshire. He happened to mention one day that his Scout Group was looking for a camp site and one of the Directors of Portals said that he would be happy to offer a field on his private estate.  As a result, the Troop held their first summer camp there between the 12^th and 27^th August 1955.

At the time of the next census, at the end of March 1956, the number of Cubs and Scouts was little changed. However, there were then 5 Cub leaders and 2 Scout leaders, in addition to Alec, the GSM.

 

Over the Whitsun weekend in 1956 the Scouts held a camp at the District Camping Ground, sharing the site with two other Troops and two Cub Packs. Although they camped separately, they came together for a campfire on the Saturday evening and a Scouts’ Own on the Sunday morning.

 

No record can be found of a summer camp in 1956 although it is known that the Group regularly used the Laverstoke site.

 

As part of the Boy Scout Jubilee in 1957 most Groups in the District held an open meeting during February or March to allow the public to visit and to see what they did. The 22^nd held one for the Cubs and one for the Scouts and, on both occasions, they joined forces with the 1^st West Finchley Brownies and Guides.

 

Later in the year, Tony Attfield was selected as one of the 13 Scouts to represent Finchley at the Jubilee Jamboree in Sutton Coldfield.

 

The Troop held their summer camp between the 27^th July and 6 August. There were 19 campers at Walton Firs, a Headquarters site in Cobham, Surrey.

 

At the end of March 1958 there were still 21 Scouts but 3 of them were now considered to be Senior Scouts.

Later in the year Charlie Webb, a Police Inspector, took over as SM, allowing Mr Wrigley to take over the Senior Section. At that time records show the Senior Scouts to be Charlie Webb’s son, also Charlie, Brian Sturdy, Ian Brown and K Davies.

 

Around that time consideration was given to the purchase of flags and Alec reported that they were still using the ones found under the stage that had belonged to the previous 22^nd Finchley.

 

The Group numbers remained healthy with the number of Senior Scouts increasing to 6 by the end of March 1959.

 

Over the Whitsun weekend 20 members of the Troop camped at Cross Oak Farm at Ridge near South Mimms.

 

The Cubs entered the District Sports in June but did not feature, although they did manage to finish 3^rd in both the ‘Potato Race’ and ‘Three-Legged Race’.

 

The Scouts returned to Laverstoke for their 1959 summer camp, held from the 15^th to the 24^th August. The party comprised 16 Scouts, 4 Senior Scouts and one Scouter.

 

There were several changes to the leadership team during 1960. Charlie Webb had to resign as he had been promoted and transferred and Vic Shewry was recruited to take his place. Michael Morgan moved to Canada and Joan Kirk became the Akela. In addition, Gillian McNeil joined as an Assistant Cub Master.

In complete contrast to 1959, the Cubs won the sports in June 1960 and were presented with the Lady Peat Shield to hold for a year. In addition, they received a certificate and small shield of a Cub that they kept.

 

Summer camp was again held at Laverstoke, from the 6^th to the 20^th August.

 

The number of Cubs recorded on the census at the end of March 1961 was 33. There were also 15 Scouts and 4 Senior Scouts.

 

A month later, Alex Tomlin was deemed to have submitted the best Log Book in respect of a First Class Hike undertaken by a Scout during 1960. He was duly presented with the trophy – The Gow Cup – which he retained for a year.

 

The Scouts camped at Phasels Wood over Whitsun and 19 campers returned to Laverstoke for the 1961 summer camp.

 

During June the Cubs again put on a good show at the District Sports but on this occasion they finished as runners-up.

 

During October along with the 1^st, 4^th, 5^th, 10^th, 11^th, 15^th and 25^th the 22^nd received a plaque from the Scout Association as a ‘House Founder Group to BP House’. This was as a result of them meeting the Chief Scout’s challenge to raise funds for the endowment of Baden-Powell House that had been officially opened by the Queen on the 12^th July.

Although Doug Attfield, an ex-Senior Scout, became the Senior Scoutmaster during 1961 there was still a shortage of leaders to manage the 39 Cubs, 17 Scouts and 4 Senior Scouts in the Group. This was highlighted in the local press when Bill Wykes, the District Scout Master, made an appeal following the Group’s Annual General Meeting in May 1962.

 

Instead of Laverstoke, the Troop returned to Walton Firs, the Headquarters site, at Cobham, for their 1962 summer camp. Unfortunately there is no report but it is known that 13 campers spent the 29^th July – 7^th August at the site that they last visited in 1957. The Group records also state that Vic Bond was the camp leader but no other reference to him can be found.

Later in the year the Scouts won the Swimming Gala and were presented with the Clarke Shield that they were allowed to hold for a year. This was the first of what turned out to be many victories over the next twenty years.

 

The appeal for more leaders had not immediately proved successful but by March 1963 the number of Cubs in the Pack had fallen from 39 to 28, making the Pack a little more manageable. Soon after the census though, Bob and Joyce Maddock became Assistants with the Pack. The number of Scouts and Senior Scouts had stayed about the same although the census revealed that there was one Rover.

 

The big news of 1963 was that Martyn Daviss, who had been with the Group since it started, gained his Queen’s Scout Badge. He was the first member of the Group to gain this award, and was presented with his badge at the Group’s annual celebrations.

During the same evening that Martyn received his badge, a ‘Thanks Badge’ was presented to Mrs Bowler, the current owner of the campsite where the Troop frequently held the summer camps. Indeed, it was back to Laverstoke again that year between the 27^th July and 10^th August.

 

At the 1963 Swimming Gala the 22^nd Rovers came out on top and collected the Kelsey Shield, although it is thought that two of the team were Senior Scouts who had not yet officially joined the Crew.

 

The Group’s annual celebration in 1964 was extra special as it was not only the Group’s tenth anniversary, but also a number of special awards were made. Firstly, Alec Tomlin, who had recently become the Group’s second Queen’s Scout, was presented with his certificate. Then his father, also Alec, who had started the Group, was presented with the Medal of Merit for his service to Scouting, which included the time he had previously spent in Walthamstow. And finally, Robert Shewry was presented with the Gow Cup, having produced what the judges had considered to be the best Log Book for a First Class Hike undertaken during 1963.

There is no record of where the Troop went for their 1964 summer camp but a note from the 14^th Finchley records states that their Senior Scouts, along with those from the 11^th Finchley and 22^nd Finchley, spent the last 2 weeks of August on a hill climbing expedition in Scotland. Dunkeld in Perthshire was their base.

 

Bob and Joyce Maddock’s role as leaders did not last long; they both resigned during the summer. Martyn Daviss though was now old enough to hold a Warrant and he became an Assistant to Gill McNeil. Vic Shewry and Doug Attfield also exchanged roles with Doug taking over as the SM and Vic taking charge of the Senior Scouts.

 

There was more success for the Scouts at the Swimming Gala later in the year, when the Scouts won the Clarke Shield for the second time. However, on this occasion they had to share the victory with the 25^th Finchley, meaning that they both held the Shield for 6 months of the year.

 

Group numbers remained steady and, in April 1965 John Broomhall was unveiled as the third member of the Troop to win the Gow Cup. His First Class Log Book for the hike he made during 1964 was the best in the District.

 

Summer camp was again held at Laverstoke but there is no further information about this.

 

Later in 1965 the Group suddenly lost its founder and GSM – Alec was asked by his firm to take up a position in the north of England and after much deliberation he accepted. It was a real blow for the Group to see him leave. At a farewell gathering in the Church Hall he was presented with a Tea Tray and Service.

 

Fortunately, a parent called Peter Price came to the rescue. Although he had no Scouting experience he learnt fast and ensured that the changes that took place within the Movement during 1966 and 1967 were put in place at the 22^nd.

 

Not long after Alec’s move north he returned for a visit and was able to attend a ceremony at which Robert Shewry, Vic’s son, was presented with his Queen’s Scout certificate, having become the third member of the Group to achieve the Award. During the evening Peter Price was also presented with his GSM Warrant.

It did not take long before two more Senior Scouts; Ian Duff and Graham Tomlin, completed the necessary requirement for the Award and they were presented with their badges by Derek Warren, the Assistant District Commissioner for Senior Scouts.

 

Doug Attfield moved away from Finchley during 1966 and following his resignation Martyn Daviss was appointed Scoutmaster.

 

Around the start of 1967 a casual visitor to the hall one evening introduced himself as Geoff Wright, an ex-Rover from Kent who had recently moved into the area. He said ‘Did we need any help?’ and before long he was installed as an Assistant Cub Scout Leader.

 

At the end of March 1967 the Group, still led by Peter Price, had 27 Cubs led by Gill, the Akela, and 22 Scouts / Senior Scouts with Martyn and Vic as the leaders.

 

Over the Spring Bank Holiday the Scouts camped at Bayford Wood in Hertfordshire. This was mainly a training camp for the younger Scouts, and preparation for the Troop summer camp.

 

The annual Cub Day at Gilwell Park was held on the 1^st July and attended by some of the Pack who were able to enjoy a variety of activities and watch several displays.

 

Around the same time a generous gift by Mrs Payne, grandmother to Ian and Malcolm Duff, enabled the Group to purchase new flags which were dedicated at a unique and moving service in St Paul’s in July 1967.

 

Sixers’ Camp was held over the weekend of 8^th / 9^th July with the four camps representing Native American Tribes – Apache, Blackfoot, Cheyenne and Crow. The Pack’s representatives were Ray Grinyer, Terry Davies, David Levene and Alan Price.

 

Finchley Carnival was held at Victoria Park during July at which Groups from the District gave a demonstration of pioneering. According to a press report this concluded with an obstacle race which was won by the 22^nd.

 

Summer camp was held in early August at Steyning in West Sussex. Most activities took place on site and included building a rope bridge and camp showers. There were also Patrol hikes and a Troop hike on the South Downs as well as two outings: the first to Ferring Beach for swimming and the other to Arundel and a visit to the castle.

Peter Price joined the camp for a few days and as he worked at Covent Garden market he usually woke up early, the result of which was that he would make morning tea and also wake the Scouts. Another activity worth a mention is the impromptu night wide game that Martyn and Geoff decided to run while discussing the programme one evening. The boys were woken up and did not get back into their sleeping bags until about 3am. A note was of course left for Peter, to ensure he did not wake them early.

 

There are several photos taken by Geoff Wright in the Gallery as well as some snippets from Charlie Broomhall’s Log Book.

 

By now most of the changes published in ‘The Advance Party Report’ of 1966, that had been designed to revitalise the Movement, had been implemented. They included a new uniform, with long trousers replacing shorts for everyone except Cubs and a restructuring of the various sections. Senior Scouts and Rover Scouts were replaced with Venture Scout Units.

 

Following these changes Vic Shewry decided that it was time for him to retire. He did however resurface a couple of years later as the Group Chairman.

 

The Group provided help in ensuring that all the boys had the new uniform and at the same time decided that if they were to encompass the ‘new world’ they needed to widen their scope and take a more serious view of fund-raising and of its long-term future. For the first time tentative thoughts were given to the Group having its own H.Q.

 

To coincide with the new uniform, it was decided that the name ‘St. Pauls’ should be incorporated into the Group name.

During January 1968 the Cubs enjoyed an outing to the Empire Pool, Wembley where they enjoyed a performance of Cinderella on Ice.

 

In April it was learnt that another member of the Troop had won the Gow Cup, with Peter Grove having submitted the best Log Book for the hike he made during 1967.

 

Around this time Gill McNeil resigned as she was soon to be married and Geoff Wright took over as the new Akela.

 

The Scouts’ main camp of the year was held over Whitsuntide (1^st – 8^th June) at Gatton Manor, near Dorking in Surrey. It had been recommended by Wilf Hewitt and as the estate was being converted into a golf course it was the last time that anyone camped there. As usual, travel was in a removals lorry, with the Scouts sitting on the equipment. Most activities were on site, but there was a hike up to Leith Hill Tower and a day out by train to Littlehampton.

The District Sixers’ Camp was held over the first weekend of July and the Pack were represented by four Sixers and one Seconder. The theme was Treasure Island and Geoff Wright, who played the role of Captain Blackbeard, led his crew of ‘pirates’ from the 4^th, 11^th, 17^th Finchley & 2^nd Friern Barnet to victory, by gaining more treasure than any other crew.

 

As planned, Gill McNeil was married in September. As a wedding present she and her husband Alberto chose an elaborate electric light fitting for their dining room.

 

At the Group’s open evening, also in September, Malcolm Duff was presented with his Queen’s Scout Badge by Tom Marshall the DC. He had completed all the requirements a couple of months earlier and shortly before John Broomhall. John received his Badge a couple of weeks later, having made a special journey from Wales, where he was at college, to Frith Grange where the Troop was camping. Both Malcolm and John subsequently went to Windsor to represent the District at the 1970 National St George’s Day Parade.

On the 25^th October 15 Cubs together with some of the Scouts went to the London Gang Show at the Odeon, Golders Green. This was the first time the Show was held at the Odeon and the first to contain members of the Guide movement. It was a very interesting Show and all the boys enjoyed it, although a few thought some parts were a little too long.

 

The District Swimming Gala was held at the Hornsey Road Baths with the heats taking place on the 16^th November and the finals a week later on the 23^rd.The Cub Pack did extremely well and after gaining 33 points from a maximum of 40 won the event and the right to hold the Gardner Shield for a year. The Group Team Relay, for the Kelsey Shield, was also won by the 22^nd after Paul Wiseman (Cub) swam one length, and Stephen Morgan (Scout) & Ian Duff (Venture Scout) both swam 2 lengths.

 

Towards the end of 1968 Peter Price not only completed his Leader Training but he was also asked to become the Assistant District Commissioner for Scouts. His Wood Badge (Beads) was presented at the Group’s church parade in December by Tom Marshall, the DC.

 

Both the Scouts and Cubs held Christmas Parties. The Scouts’ was held jointly with the Guides and was in fancy dress. It started with a meal of sausage, chips and beans, fruit and ice cream followed by the fancy dress parade. The rest of the evening was spent playing games with prizes being awarded to the winners. The Cub party was attended by more than 30 boys and whilst not in fancy dress it was similar to the Scout one although the games, on some occasions, looked like organised chaos.

In February 1969 the Group launched their monthly newsletter ‘Look Wide’ thus combining the Cubs’ and Scouts’ separate newsletters and enabling parents to see the Group’s activities as a whole.

 

Following the announcement that Peter Price was to become the Assistant District Commissioner for Scouts he remained Group Scout Leader while his successor John Simons was being approved by the District so his Warrant could be issued. Having finally been agreed arrangements were made for Peter to formally hand over the Group, which was to occur on the 9^th March after the Church Parade on that date. Full details of the ceremony were published in the March edition of ‘Look Wide’.

Peter much later became the District Commissioner for Edmonton.

 

At this time there were only three Leaders: John the GSL, Geoff the CSL and Martyn the SL who was temporarily absent in hospital having damaged his Achilles tendon taking down a climbing rope in the HQ. Despite this set back the 30 Cubs and 24 Scouts continued to enjoy an active programme.

 

There was no Group camp at Whitsun but the Patrols were encouraged to arrange their own and in this connection Derek Barrett, under supervision, took the Kingfisher Patrol to Scout Park in Bounds Green. The weather was good and all six boys enjoyed themselves.

 

The District held their Open Day at Frith Grange on the 31^st May 1969. All Groups were asked to help by providing help or by running a side show. They were still trying to raise funds for the new Training Hut that was due to be opened later in the year. The 22^nd ran the Coconut Shy and managed to acquire 100 coconuts as prizes.

 

The leadership problem was eased around this time when Malcolm Duff became an Assistant Scout Leader.

 

The District Cub Sports were held on 7^th June at Summerside School with eighteen Packs being represented. The 22^nd managed to get six into the twelve finals with their best result being Brian Goodman who won the 75 yards. The Pack finished 6^th overall.

 

On Saturday 14^th June the Scouts held an activity that they called ‘London Quest’. Each Patrol was given a booklet containing questions on the history of the City of London and a map of the route to be taken, and had to complete the answers in a given time of five hours. The Snipe Patrol won with 45 points out of a maximum of 50. The Badgers were 2^nd (43), the Kingfishers 3^rd (41) and the Wolves 4^th (22).

 

On the 5^th July 15 Cubs along with 5 from the 23^rd Finchley joined over twenty five thousand other Cubs at Gilwell Park on a hot dusty day for their annual Cub Open Day. They spent about six hours watching model aircraft flying, fishing, looking at the mobile zoo, having a go at trampolining, brass rubbing, painting or just looking round the Park. Unfortunately there was not enough time to see even half of the displays which were being shown.

 

A week later six Sixers attended the Sixers’ Camp and during the weekend they went on Safari, built a canoe and performed a war dance as well as enjoying a traditional campfire.

 

At the start of August, before the Scouts’ summer camp, Derek Barrett the very keen Patrol Leader of the Kingfisher Patrol decided to issue his own Patrol newsletter that was called ‘The Kingfisher Flight’. Although a little late it carried articles about his Patrol camp over Whitsun as well as their participation in ‘London Quest’.

After a lot of planning the 1969 summer camp took place in Guernsey between 16^th and 30^th August at a cost of £13 each. The site, a recognised site for youth groups, was at Le Becquet Farm, St Martin. A camp Handbook was issued that provided all the relevant information. This included the names of all the campers and the provisional programme that included a two nights in Jersey, where they stayed in a hall belonging to a local Scout Troop.

 

All the camping equipment and much of the boys’ own kit was sent a month earlier using the ‘Passenger Luggage in Advance’ service that British Rail offered at the time. The party travelled by train from Waterloo to Weymouth Quay and by boat to St Peter Port, with the rest of the journey being completed by coach.

 

Martyn Daviss completed his training and was presented with his Wood Badge ‘Beads’ at the Group’s AGM on the 19^th September. During the evening Charlie Broomhall was also named as Scout of the year for 1968/69.

 

The Snipe and Kingfisher Patrols represented the Troop at the District Camping Competition held at Scout Park on the 27^th/28^th September. Whilst based on camping it included activities on many Scouting aspects. The Snipe Patrol did well to finish in fourth place and gained a standard certificate.

 

The finals of the Swimming Gala took place on the 15^th November with the success of 1968 being repeated. The Cub team that comprised Paul Wiseman, Clive Trott, David Wiseman and Martin Hime retained the Gardner Shield and Paul Wiseman again swam the Cub section of the Group relay to help to retain the Kelsey Shield.

 

Around this time John Broomhall started to assist with the Troop.

 

One snippet of interest was that during the late 60s and early 70s Cliff Richard, who was associated with St Paul’s, would very occasionally pop into the hall during meetings and sit on the edge of the stage doing an impromptu singalong.

 

Instead of holding a Cub Christmas party the Pack went to see a pantomime. This was Cinderella at the Odeon, Golders Green on Friday 16^th January. On the same evening the Scouts did hold their usual party with the Guides. After a meal and games the evening concluded with a cartoon film.

 

In the January 1970 issue of ‘Look Wide’ Derek Barrett, the PL of the Kingfisher Patrol, announced that they now had their own hut (a shed at the bottom of his garden) that had a desk, typewriter, notice board and plenty of chairs. He was still producing his own newsletter which he was distributing to about twenty people. Indeed, one of those on his mailing list was the Chief Scout and it was pleasing to see that they were suitably acknowledged.

 

In February the Group were pleased to learn that Charlie Broomhall had won the Gow Trophy for the report he had produced in respect of his Advanced Scout Standard hike that he had completed during the spring of 1969. It was the fifth time that a member of the 22^nd Finchley had won this award. An abridged copy of his Log Book, covering the hike from Chesham Station to the locks at Cassiobury Park, on the outskirts of Watford, can be found in the Gallery.

The Cubs entered the District Handcraft competition in February and had 90 minutes to build a series of models based on the theme of space. The 23^rd Finchley won the event for the third year in a row but the judges were impressed with the work done by the 22^nd and presented them with a ‘Highly Commended’ certificate.

During the Easter holiday (28^th March – 4^th April) the PLs and APLs spent a week cruising on a barge along the Midlands canals. Having travelled by train to Rugby and then minibus to Braunston they boarded the barge ‘Eileen’, a converted coal carrier with a top speed of 4mph. According to one short report in ‘Look Wide’ they had a lot of rain, some snow and hail as well as the canal freezing over one night. In another report one PL said that the bunks were crammed so close together that they had to get used to walking sideways to get between them. Nevertheless, they had a lot of fun with visits to Warwick, Birmingham and Coventry, punctuated by having to negotiate several locks.

 

By contrast excellent weather accompanied the Whitsun camp that was held at Scout Park, Bounds Green. The camp was geared for the inexperienced campers and a large amount of training was given to the boys. The camp was however not all work, as the PLs who were also there to help organised a blindfold trail, scavenger hunt and an adventure activity.

 

The 1970 District Cub Sports was held on the 6^th June and was won by the 22^nd Finchley. The last time that they had won the Lady Peat Shield was in 1960 when the Group’s two ASLs were Cubs. Out of the twelve events the Pack reached ten finals and with 28 points they were ten points ahead of the second Pack. The whole team contributed to the win with the best individual performance from Clive Scott who won three events and came second in another.

In June / July Derek Barrett published the anniversary issue of ‘Kingfisher Flight’ with its usual assortment of articles and jokes. The cover though was designed to celebrate the occasion by including copies of all the previous front covers. This may also have been the last issue as no further ones can be found.

 

All four Sixers attended the District Sixers’ Camp at Frith Grange over the weekend of the 10^th – 12^th July. The camp was based on four cowboy ranches; as members of the ‘Big Diamond’ the Sixers took part in various games and activities on this theme.

 

Twenty Scouts and four Leaders attended the 1970 summer camp that was held at the Laverstoke Estate between 1^st and 8^th August. A camp handbook was again produced giving all the relevant information including a kit list, the provisional programme and details of the travel arrangements – on the back of a lorry with all the gear. Despite the camp being for only one week the Troop managed to pack in a lot of activities including a trip to Winchester, where they were able to visit the Cathedral and the Great Hall to see King Arthur’s Round Table.

After more than eight months of planning, TARGET ‘70 finally came to fruition. Following a lot of publicity in the District bulletin and even some press coverage the event was held over the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of August. Fifteen members of the 22^nd Finchley were among 1,200+ Cub Scouts, Scouts, Venture Scouts and Scouters who attended the County camp at Gilwell Park. The camp officially opened with a spectacular free-fall parachute drop over the Woodlands site. The camp organisers had arranged over 70 different activities during the camp ranging from fishing and archery to sailing and canoeing.

The most interesting part of the camp was the ‘Challenge’ – a set of questions and projects for the Cubs and Scouts to attempt in their spare time. In the Cub Scout section David Wiseman, with an interesting log of the camp, did very well gaining 98 points out of 110. In the Scout section Charlie Broomhall was highly placed with over 80 points out of a maximum of 160. The highlights of Charlie’s attempt were his boomerang (which nearly came back), his picture of the Open Chapel (painted with natural materials such as blackberry juice, clay, grass and charcoal), the canoe (made from staves and other odd pieces of wood covered with a sheet of plastic) and Andrew Stanley’s intrepid voyage in it which ended in disaster, and the tape recording made by Charlie and Derek Barrett.

 

At the Group’s AGM and open evening on the 2^nd October Charlie Broomhall and Peter Wolff, having completed all the necessary tests and challenges, were presented with the Chief Scout’s Award. This was the top award for Scouts following the revised training programme, with Charlie and Peter being the first members of the Group to achieve it. The Borough Commissioner Basil Sweet was on hand to perform the ceremony. During the evening Derek Barrett was announced as the Scout of the Year for 1969/70.

Earlier in the year it was announced that there would be a Greater London Scout Cruise to Scandinavia at the end of July 1971 and Groups were asked to nominate members of their Troop for the 14 places that had been allocated to the District. A total of 20 Scouts, representing 6 Groups were nominated and during October it was confirmed that all had been accepted. This included 7 from the 22^nd Finchley who were all either PLs or APLs.

 

According to the District bulletin for November 10 Scouts from the Group qualified for the County Commissioner’s Camping Pennant, having spent at least 20 nights under canvas during the year. They were D Barrett (46 nights), C Broomhall (24), I Holmes (25), D Levene (28), P Mukherjee (20), A Price (22), E Smith (40), A Stanley (42), P Wolff (26) and P Woodbridge (31).

 

The finals of the District Swimming Gala were held on the 28^th November and the Cubs won the Gardner Shield for the third year in a row. The team comprised David Wiseman, Martin Hime, Gary Cook, Simon Smith and Guy Sheriden. The Scouts also performed well finishing second to the 5^th Finchley who won the Clarke Shield. The 22^nd also finished second (to the 12^th Finchley) in the Group relay for the Kelsey Shield having won it in 1968 and 1969.

The New Year (1971) was brought in with a bang by the Kingfisher Patrol who decided that it was about time that they tried winter camping. Off they went to Well End campsite in Hertfordshire and spent three days in sub-zero temperatures.

 

Around this time the Group said what they hoped would be a temporary farewell to Charlie Broomhall and Peter Wolff. They had reached the maximum age for Scouts and as the Group did not yet have a Venture Scout Unit they joined another local Unit. It was hoped that they would return to the 22^nd when the Group started their own Unit.

 

Having had their final interview with the District Commissioner towards the end of December two more Scouts, Derek Barrett and Robert Smith, gained their Chief Scout’s Award. The badges and certificates were presented by Basil Sweet, the Borough Commissioner, at a ceremony in February 1971, that was also attended by the DC (Tom Marshall) and the ADC Scouts (Peter Price).

 

The annual Handcraft competition for Cubs was held on the 19^th February when the team had 90 minutes to build a model village. The event was easily won by the 2^nd Friern Barnet but the 22^nd finished in third place.

 

The Scouts finished third in the District Cross Country despite 3 boys dropping out. The three runners who scored were Kim Tidy (7^th), Paul Wiseman (9^th) and David Hall (14^th). Clement Okeye, who was ill, also ran.

 

At the end of March there were 19 Cubs in the Pack. By contrast there were only 5 Cubs that were members of the 23^rd Finchley so it was decided that they should join forces with the 22^nd while a decision was being made about their Pack.

 

It had been hoped to arrange an Easter camp for the PLs and APLs that incorporated some Air Adventure activities but due to the postal strike confirmation was not received. As a result there was no Group Camp but the Badger Patrol did spend five days camping at Gilwell during which time they managed to do some canoeing.

 

Over the Whitsun break three of the Patrols held their own camps. The Kingfishers spent the first weekend at Frith Grange helping the Camp Warden and the second weekend at Longridge Scout Boating Centre, near Marlow, where they were able to do some canoeing. The Snipes and the Wolves went to Gilwell.

 

The Cubs made a good attempt to retain the Lady Peat Shield at the Cub Sports in June but could only finish as runners-up.

The annual Sixers’ Camp was held over the 25^th – 27^th June at Frith Grange with a theme of the ‘Knights of King Arthur’. All four Sixers attended the camp and formed part of the castle held by the Baron of the Red Shield. The weekend was spent in activities such as constructing their castle, rescuing maidens in distress and searching for dragons.

 

Later in the month the 23^rd Finchley closed and the remaining Scouts transferred to the 22^nd. To start with they kept together as the Fox Patrol. At the same time two of the leaders, Richard Batchelor and Stephen Wyatt also transferred and became ASLs.

 

The 1971 summer camp was held from the 21st August to 4th September. When the dates were agreed much earlier in the year they had planned to go to Northern Ireland and stay at the National Trust site at Castle Ward, Strangford, Co. Down.

 

Concern however was expressed about the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland and it took quite a while before a new site was found at Aberffrwd, a small village near Aberystwyth in Wales. The campsite was very remote, lacking any transport links except the Vale of Rheidol light railway. Fortunately the butcher, baker and grocer all delivered and milk was obtained from the farm.

The Scouts (and all the camping gear) made the trip by coach, a journey of about 8 hours that included a couple of short breaks. Martyn the Scout Leader was in charge of the party that included 19 Scouts, John (ASL), Geoff (CSL) and Charlie Broomhall & Peter Wolff who had agreed to provide additional help.

 

The camp did not get off to a great start as on the first morning one of the Scouts complained of stomach pains. After a doctor had visited it was decided that he should go home. Another health issue later in the camp involved Geoff who was unfortunately bitten by the farmer’s dog as he got too close to its new puppies, resulting in a trip to A&E for a tetanus injection.

 

Despite these sorry tales there were plenty of on-site activities that included backwoods cooking, building shelters, fishing, sports and kite making. On the middle Sunday in the damp and mist they attended the local chapel who had specially arranged an English speaking preacher. Outings were made to Rheidol Power Station, a local mine and Aberystwyth on the light railway, where the Scouts bought souvenirs, as well as Devil’s Bridge at the end of the line.

 

The Group’s AGM was held on the 17th September during which Bob Milverton was presented with a ‘Thanks Badge’. He had been the Chairman of the supporter’s association for the previous two years but was having to relinquish the job. David Levene was also named as the Scout of the Year for 1970 / 71 and it was announced that the Troop had achieved a new record for the collective number of nights the Scouts had spent under canvas during the previous year. At 433 nights it was over 20 nights more than the previous year. Several Scouts earned the County Commissioner’s Pennant for camping more than 20 nights but their names have not been recorded.

 

On the 11^th October the 7 Scouts who had been lucky enough to attend the Greater London Cruise to Scandinavia at the end of July went, along with Martyn Daviss, to a reunion that was held at the Royal Festival Hall. Details of the event, which Scouts from Sweden, Denmark and Norway flew over to attend, were published in ‘Look Wide’.

 

A full report of the cruise was also published in the September issue of ‘Scouting’ magazine, along with a photo of Andrew Stanley, one of the 22nd Finchley Scouts, chatting with one of the staff and the following comment – ‘The cruise was a success but I disagree with the adults having more privileges than the Scouts. I understand why we can’t have a bar but the Scouts should have been allowed into the lounges in the evenings. When a Scout Leader goes to camp with his Troop he has the same food and conditions as his Scouts – on this cruise there were two different levels. There were too many late nights and early mornings – and the biggest blunder was not to have girls on board!’ The photo was subsequently used on the front cover of the 1973 ‘Scouting’ annual.

The November issue of ‘Look Wide’ gave details of the ‘violent upheaval’ that had taken place within the Troop. The facts were that Martyn resigned as the SL in order to become the leader of the Venture Scout Unit that had been formed, and the three older Scouts (Ian Holmes, Derek Barrett and Mario Diaz) left to become founder members. At the same time three Cubs joined the Troop. As a result of this shake-up there were a few changes to the Patrols and some new PLs and APLs as shown below.

In addition to the aforementioned Venture Scouts were Charlie Broomhall and Peter Wolff who, as had been hoped, returned to the Group, plus 2 newcomers John Mann and Gary Carvalho, who had a passion for home brewing. While they tried to decide on a regular meeting place they temporarily used the shed (with gas, electricity and armchairs) at the bottom of Derek’s garden which had previously been used as the Kingfishers’ Patrol Hut.

 

Over the next few weeks the Unit discussed the training programme, went Ten Pin Bowling, held a BBQ on Bonfire Night, entered the District Swimming Gala and assisted Barnet Old People’s Welfare Committee by acting as escorts during their Christmas shopping trip to Owen Owen in North Finchley.

 

With regard to the Swimming Gala the heats were held on the 13^th November with the finals on the 20^th at Hornsey Road Baths at which the Cubs won the Gardner Shield for the fourth successive year. A short report appeared in the local press as well as an article in ‘Look Wide’ that gave a full account of the Group’s achievements.

 

Over the Christmas period the Venture Scouts enjoyed taking part in a skiing course at Alexandra Palace and early in 1972 they started to plan a 30 mile hike over Easter as well as giving some thought as to what to do for their summer expedition. At this point it is perhaps worth mentioning that Charlie Broomhall left the Unit; the reason is unknown but it has been suggested that it was to attend University.

 

A few Scouts had left the Troop and with Robert Smith joining the Venture Scouts the Wolf patrol was disbanded with the remaining members of the Patrol being reallocated. The Cubs entered the Handcraft competition and did very well to come equal second with their model of a fairground.

 

At the end of March the official number of members as per the census was 21 Cubs, 23 Scouts and 6 Venture Scouts. At this time though, the Venture Scouts were in the process of recruiting a new member. They had moved their regular meeting place from Derek’s shed to taking it in turns to meet at their homes and on one of the occasions they were introduced to Kumar Saban, who became known as ‘Clive’. This was very fortunate as Clive’s parents allowed them to use their basement as a regular meeting place.

 

The Venture Scouts also purchased three lightweight tents (Good Companions) for their Easter hike along with some gas stoves and cooking utensils. The hike itself was undertaken by six members, in Wiltshire, over the Easter weekend. A very brief report subsequently appeared in ‘Look Wide’.

 

The Scouts did not hold an Easter camp but the PLs went on District adventure activity. Alan Price provided a lengthy report of what turned out to be a camp in Snowdonia to learn about ‘Safety in the Hills’.

 

On the Saturday after Easter (8^th April) the Scouts won the District 7-a-side football competition at Brook Farm, which took the form of a knockout tournament. In the first round they met the 1^st/8^th Golders Green and despite playing uphill for the whole game emerged the winners by 8 goals to nil. They beat the 15^th Finchley 10-0 in the next round and were drawn against the 24^th Finchley in the semi-final. Unfortunately the 24^th could only field five players and subsequently lost 12-0. The final was against the 1^st Finchley, their old rivals, and although it proved to be a tough fight they managed to score 5 goals and end the competition without conceding.

The team comprised David Hall, Nigel Gibbon, Kevin Masse, Clive Scott, Alan Price, Lionel Khin and Clement Okeye. The reserves were Paul & David Wiseman.

 

The local press provided a very brief report of the event.

 

The 1972 Whitsun camp was a training camp held at Well End, the Hertfordshire Scout Activity Centre. Ten boys were there, five of whom had not camped with the Troop before.

 

The District Sixers’ Camp took place at Frith Grange over the first weekend of July. The theme was ‘Pirates and their Galleons’ and three Sixers and one Second from the Pack were part of Captain Hook’s Crew. Four crews, totalling more than 100 pirates, competed against each other in various piratical activities such as hunting for treasure and capturing stowaways.

 

The pirate theme continued a couple of weeks later when the District’s float at Finchley Carnival was a pirate galleon manned by Cubs and Scouts. Six Cubs from the Pack were on board and enjoyed themselves despite some rough weather on the voyage. Other members of the pack were in the marquee at the park and assisted the Scout display by making a model campsite.

 

The Scouts originally planned to hold their summer camp at Gilsland, close to Hadrian’s Wall and about 17 miles north east of Carlisle, but lack of time prevented a pre-inspection of the site. As a result, the Troop returned to Laverstoke. On this occasion though less than 10 Scouts attended who made two composite patrols; the Hobbits and the Furies.

This was probably the last time that John Broomhall was involved in a major activity with the Troop before he left. He wanted to be a doctor and was a student living in East London; that meant that he was travelling a fair distance every Friday to help with the Scouts. In addition, he had a girlfriend with whom he wanted to spend more time.

 

There is no record of the Venture Scouts holding an Expedition although it is known that Peter Wolff spent a week at Tibenham Airfield in Norfolk with 9 other Venture Scouts learning to fly a glider. Their home for the week was a double decker bus that had been converted by Southgate Venture Scouts.

 

The Unit had also joined the Frith Grange Service Crew and were responsible for manning the camping ground over the fourth weekend of each month. Over one of their weekends they assisted with the felling of a large elm tree which had contracted Dutch Elm disease.

 

After the summer break the Pack gained a new assistant. Ron Chalk, an experienced leader in Hornsey, moved with his family to Finchley and joined the Group and took the jungle name ‘Baloo’. Around the same time Martyn Daviss also returned following his longer than expected leave of absence.

 

The Scouts had reached the final of the District Handball competition, which was held on the 3^rd November, and played the 10^th Finchley. It was a close fought match that went to extra time, and finished with a victory for the 22^nd. The team comprised Kevin Masse, David Levene, Clive Trott and Nigel Gibbons. The local press provided a short report.

 

By way of a change the Cubs and Scouts held separate Swimming Galas. The Cubs did not win their event but finished third behind 10^th Golders Green who won the new Cup. However, Ian Baillie won the diving competition and was presented with the Gardner Shield, the trophy previously awarded to the overall winners of the Gala. The Scouts won their Gala and were presented with the Clarke Shield, the trophy that they last won in 1964. The team comprised David Wiseman, Martin Hime, Paul Wiseman, Clive Scott, Lionel Khin, David Hall and Paul Milverton.

 

The Venture Scouts also entered a team in the Gala but did not feature. Five members of the Unit also attended a District Leadership Course, held at Northern Heights campsite, where their training included programme planning and expedition planning.

 

The Group’s Christmas Bazaar was held at the end of November and is particularly noteworthy as it received a favourable press report and made a profit of over £200. The Cubs and Scouts joined forces and ran the ‘roll-a-penny’ and the ‘treasure hunt’.

 

In 1972 the first hint of a problem arose regarding the use of the Church Halls. The Church had been in financial difficulties for some time and they were considering selling the site. This placed the Group in a dilemma and it was realised that plans were needed to consider alternative accommodation. The saga, with many twists and turns, spanned more than ten years and involved the sale first making progress and then stalling, and the Group paying for new heaters in the Hall as the Church refused to pay for repairs. But the biggest issue was for the Group to raise enough capital to acquire land and pay for a new Scout Hut. Mr & Mrs Duff, the parents of Ian and Malcolm, were recruited and became the chief fundraisers.

 

After several attempts to acquire land the Group was finally offered a piece of allotment land adjoining the Sea Cadet Hall off Long Lane. The only advantage to the whole drawn out affair of the Hall sale and the Group finding land was that it had allowed time for more money to be raised.

 

While work continued tirelessly behind the scenes the leaders continued to focus their attention on providing a good Scouting programme for the boys.

 

The first issue of ‘Look Wide’ in 1973 did not appear until the start of June and endeavoured to summarise the events of the previous few months. Cub numbers had steadily increased to 20 following a low of 11. They had continued to gain badges and entered District events including the Handcraft competition. The Yellow Six attended a performance of the Magic Circle Christmas Show and after the Church Parade in March the Pack enjoyed an expedition in Epping Forest. After the Church Parade in April they went to see the District Show ‘Stepping Out’.

Geoff Wright (Akela) had also taken on additional duties as a District Cub Scout Leader (DCSL), and as a good friend of members of the Avenue House Service Team he joined them on their Annual Winter Hike at the end of January.

 

The Scouts had also continued to progress although by now Richard Batchelor and Stephen Wyatt had departed. The Troop entered the 7-a-side Football competition in which, as the current champions, they hoped to do well. Despite an impressive start with a 7-1 victory over the 6^th Finchley, they lost their next match to the 3^rd Golders Green, who went on to win the event.

 

The Troop also entered a team of three in the District Cross Country but two of them dropped out leaving Martin Hime as the only 22^nd Finchley Scout in the race. He ran extremely well and managed to finish third.

 

Geoff Wright ran in the race for the Barclay Shield and also finished third. However, for that event he ran additionally on behalf of the Avenue House Service Team, helping them to win the trophy.

 

A mixed bag of events took place during June while test and badge work continued to take place. The Scouts took part in a District Wide Game and won their first match in the District Handball competition. The Cubs finished as Runners-Up in the District Sports and 14 Cubs enjoyed a day at Knebworth House where they were able to undertake a number of activities which included three walks, rope climbing and an assault course.

 

The Cubs also played a role in the arena display ‘Cubbing through the Ages’ at the ‘The Frith Grange Show’.  In particular they were able to inform the audience of the role played by two Cub Scouts engaged in Scout Job week, who helped Merlin to throw out an old rock with a sword in it, and a third Cub who in trying to be tidy, pulled the sword out to take home. Finally, as a Group the Supporters’ Association held a dance.

 

The annual Sixers’ Camp took place at the start of July with the theme being ‘Sherwood Forest’. About 100 Cubs, including Keith Holmes, Ian Baillie, Laurence Bagnelle and Paul Garrad from the 22^nd, and 50 leaders were divided into four bands of outlaws who competed against each other over the weekend to find lost treasure, build hide-a-ways and take part in a curious activity known as ‘Knottingham Knockabout’. Geoff Wright, as a DCSL, took on the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham while Ron Chalk was Will Scarlet and led his band to victory.

 

Eight Scouts attended their 1973 summer camp between the 18th and 25th July, which was held at Mevagissey, Cornwall. A brief report subsequently appeared in ‘Look Wide’ but unfortunately there are no photographs. Between the numerous Scouting activities there was time for swimming, an outing to Land’s End in Ron Chalk’s van and a trip to the cinema to watch the latest James Bond film ‘Live and Let Die’.

 

Geoff Wright was unable to attend the camp as he was in Switzerland as part of a British Orienteering trip to take part in the ‘Swiss 5-days’, their big annual festival of orienteering. During the first week they stayed at a youth hostel and had organised training sessions on various types of terrain. The competition itself then consisted of 5 individual races in different areas to determine your overall position. He says ‘It was a very enjoyable trip mixing training with some sightseeing, plus the experience of competing against some of the best in Europe’.

Between the 4th and 11th August 12 Cubs (over the age of 9½) camped at Angmering, near Littlehampton, West Sussex, along with 24 others from the 66th NL (Hornsey) and the 222NL (Hornsey). The joint camp had been arranged through Ron Chalk’s contacts in his old District and Mrs G Shayler, who held the necessary camping permit, was the Akela in charge. Despite the poor weather at the start of the week they enjoyed swimming at Rustington, a visit to Arundel Castle and a large campfire.

 

Several changes to the leadership team took place over the summer break. This started with the departure of John Simons as GSL due to pressure of work. Martyn Daviss took over as acting GSL and at the same time resigned as the SL to become the full time Leader of the Venture Scout Unit that had been revitalised following a slow period. Finally, Malcolm Duff moved from being the ASL to be the SL.

 

At the end of September the ADC (Cubs) organised an aircraft flight in a BAC 1-11 jet that was enjoyed by 90 Cubs, including six lucky boys from the 22^nd. In addition to spending one hour in the air they were shown what happens during a flight and also spent time in the Gatwick Airport observation area. The local press covered this event and published a photo of the Cubs and Leaders alongside the plane.

 

The next event on the calendar was the Swimming Gala. However, four days before the event was due to take place the heating at the baths was turned off and the pool closed. As a result the Gala for 1973 was cancelled.

 

Three Cubs: Richard Hime, Simon Hime and Paul Bhatia from the 22^nd entered the District Chess Competition, held during January 1974. This was a new event that was organised by Geoff Wright, in his capacity as a DCSL  Richard only managed to win one match out of three but both Simon and Paul won two and made progress. Paul continued to do well and made it to the final. Unfortunately though, he lost his last game to Andrew Cleveland of the 1^st Golders Green. The local press carried a report of the event which surprisingly included a photo of Simon Hime.

 

During February the Scouts had an outing to the Air Museum at Hendon and were joined by eight of the older Cubs, some of whom would soon be old enough to join the Troop.

 

Several Scouts gained badges and passed test work, the most notable being Bobby Mukherjee who gained the Chief Scout’s Award. Bobby had been a member of the Group for several years and had the honour of being selected as one of the twelve Scouts from the District to sell programmes at the Royal Wedding between Princess Anne and Capt. Mark Phillips on 14th November 1973.

According to the census figures at the end of March 1974 there were 23 Cubs, 12 Scouts and 6 Venture Scouts, but it was not long before these numbers changed. The Venture Scouts, who had been keeping a fairly low profile, were joined by Bobby Mukherjee, Nigel Gibbons and Christopher Martin from the Troop. Three new boys joined the Cubs while some of the older ones joined the Troop.

 

Over the Spring Bank Holiday the Scouts held a five day training camp at Tolmers near Cuffley. The camp was arranged and run by the Patrol Leaders and deemed to be a success. The time was well spent by the boys and many of them passed Scout Standard tests. They were joined by Paul Bhatia, Simon Hime and Amar Shah, three Cubs who were soon to join the Troop.

The Cubs did not do as well as they had expected at their Sports Day, finishing 10^th out of the 19 Packs. Due to rain the event was postponed for 2 weeks resulting in several of those selected to race being unable to take part.

 

On the 15^th June Martyn Daviss married June Clark at St Paul’s Church. The Cubs, Scouts, Brownies and Guides provided a Guard of Honour. At the Group’s AGM a few weeks earlier they were presented with a cheque as a wedding gift.

 

A week later the Scouts went to Frith Grange. Those with bicycles cycled there via Barnet while those who didn’t hiked a shorter distance. Both groups had only a compass and set of instructions and on-route had to collect various pieces of information from cryptic clues. At the camping ground they played football and hunted for a number of hidden balls.

 

Sixers’ Camp at the end of June was, as usual, held at Frith Grange with the camping ground being transformed into a landing site of four spaceships on a strange planet. Everything was proceeding normally with wide games and a campfire when on Sunday morning an alien city appeared on the site. A series of plastic tunnels were the work of a group called ‘Action Space’ and provided hours of enjoyment for the boys and their leaders alike. The 22^nd boys: Sean Older, David Greene, Anton Ezer and Peter Chalk were members of ‘Nautilus’ and managed to win the competition between spaceships by one vitamin pill.

 

A report by Ron Chalk with photos by Geoff Wright, together with a press cutting can be found in the Gallery.

 

The Scouts’ 1974 summer camp was held between the 21^st August and 1^st September on the island of Guernsey during which time 6 boys (Ian Baillie, Stephen Benson, Paul Bhatia, Raj Bhatia, Simon Hime and Amar Shah) were invested.

 

The Troop had returned to Le Becquet Farm, the site they used in 1969, and were led by Malcolm Duff with assistance from Geoff Wright and two Venture Scouts (Robin Mukherjee and Christopher Martin). Apart from Scout tests a lot of time was spent exploring the island and the more interesting places including the German Occupation Museum. A day was also spent watching the Battle of Flowers and there was a visit to Herm island. The good weather also enabled time to be spent on the beach.

 

At the start of September there were 18 boys on the waiting list for the Cubs and there was some concern about how long they would need to wait. As a result it was agreed to temporarily increase the maximum number of boys in the Pack from 24 to 30 and create a new Six.

 

Both the Scouts’ and Cubs’ Swimming Galas were held in November, the Scouts’ on the 16^th and the Cubs’ a week later on the 23^rd. Both events were won by the 22^nd along with the Group Team Relay, meaning that the Group came away with three of the five trophies that were available.  The 5^th Finchley Venture Scouts won the Fouracre Shield and Cubs from the 12^th Finchley and 10^th Golders Green jointly won the Gardner Shield for Diving.

 

At the end of December four Sixers went to a performance of the Magic Circle Show while over the New Year the PLs and APLs spent 4 nights camping at Tolmers. The Cubs enjoyed the show and the Scouts, despite the weather being very cold, also had a good time.

 

At the end of January 1975 more than 30 Cubs and Scouts went to see a recording of the popular children’s BBC TV show ‘Crackerjack’. Two Cubs, Anton Ezer and Vincent Perecezes, and two Scouts, Ian Baillie and Simon Hime, were asked to take part in the competition section. Simon beat the other 3 boys but unfortunately lost in the final game.

During February the 6 Cubs (Andrew Gafsen, John Broadbent, Peter Chalk, Senar Mehmed, Arjun Shankar and Stephen Chalk) that were interested in taking part in the Handcraft competition did so. Their challenge was to produce a collage on a jungle theme over the course of an hour, and their effort was deemed to be the best. After finishing in the top three on several previous occasions this was the first time that the Pack won ‘The Yates Cup’.

During March Trevor Sage became the latest Scout to gain the Chief Scout’s Award and was presented with his badge on the 14^th by Peter ‘Jumbo’ Davis, the District Commissioner.

 

Two days later 5 Scouts represented the Troop at the District Cross Country. This was run over 2½ miles with the positions of the first 3 runners for each team home determining the winners. Martin Hime won the race, his brother Simon was 4^th and Paul Bhatia 12^th which was enough for them to win the Pulham Shield for the first time.

 

By the time of the census at the end of the month the number of Venture Scouts had fallen to just three. They were however keeping themselves active and had recently organised a wide game for the Scouts when Malcolm could not attend the meeting.

 

During April the Group celebrated its 21^st birthday in two contrasting ways. On the 4^th there was a party at Frith Grange for the Cubs and Scouts. A hot meal was provided by the Group Supporters’ Association which was followed by games and competitions. To round off the evening there was a birthday cake that was cut jointly by Martyn Daviss, the longest serving member of the Group, and Stuart Brodie, the newest member.

 

On the 19^th there was a Dinner Dance at the Torrington Hotel for parents and friends. Guests included Tom Marshall the Borough Commissioner, ‘Jumbo’ Davis the DC and Alec Tomlin the founder of the Group, who had travelled down from Chester le Street, County Durham. After the meal and before the dancing Tom proposed a toast to the Group saying how the Group had grown since the early days and how it had entered into the District activities with a good share of success. Alec replied saying how the Group first started and how nice it was to keep in touch. He also accepted the position of Vice President of the Group and presented a plaque to commemorate the first 21 years.

 

It was later decided by the leaders that the plaque should be used as a trophy for the ‘Scout of the Year’. The table below lists the names (excluding Tony Attfield, the inaugural winner in 1955) of those Scouts known to have received the award. Alongside is printed, for posterity, the Group ‘Yell’ that was frequently used during the early years.

During the Spring Bank Holiday (23^rd – 26^th May) 15 Scouts attended the County camp at Tolmers and were joined by 4 Cubs who were soon to join the Troop. They were able to take part in a number of activities with trampolining being very popular. On Sunday the Troop entered the County ‘It’s a Knockout’ competition and although they finished halfway down the field they were the top Troop from the District.

 

The Cub Sports was held on the 7^th June and the 22nd came second, losing to the 3^rd Golders Green by one point. There were a number of excellent results with a representative in 5 of the 7 finals during the afternoon. However, in the morning Anton Ezer won the long and high jump events for the over 9½ year olds, setting a new record of 4.02 metres in the former.

 

A Pack photo to mark their 21^st anniversary was taken during June and can be found in the Gallery. It includes Alan Durrant and Trevor Sage, two Scouts who were regular helpers.

 

The District Camping competition took place over the weekend of 28^th – 29^th June with five boys from the Troop taking part. They did very well, gaining over 75% of the total possible points and finishing 2^nd in the competition.

 

Vikings was the theme for Sixers’ Camp, in keeping with that year’s World Scout Jamboree in Norway. There were four camps competing against each other for gold. At the end of the weekend the men of Ilva, which included the 5 boys from the 22nd (Robert Isely, Andrew Gafsen, David Greene, Arjun Shankar and Brian McMillan) had collected the most gold and were declared the winners.

 

Over the last weekend of July 1975 the Troop held a camp at Frith Grange. Most of the time was spent flying control-line model aeroplanes which proved very enjoyable. Although the camp started with just 6 Scouts, by the time Sunday lunch arrived there were 13.

 

From the 9^th – 16^th August the Cubs held their first, very own, summer camp. They stayed at Ecclesdon Farm, Angmering, an area of West Sussex that they knew well. In addition to Geoff and Ron the other leaders were Val McMillan (known as Scottie), a Guide leader whose son was in the Pack, Ron’s wife Jenny, who had taken the jungle name Rikki, and Trevor Sage, a Scout who helped the Pack on a regular basis. In addition to the Cubs from the 22^nd there was one Cub (Marc Robinson) from the 25^th Finchley who went along as a guest.

A full report by Ron later appeared in ‘Look Wide’, along with photos taken by Geoff, who later added the following: ‘With almost perfect weather conditions it was virtually impossible to be anything but a success. It was great fun – a fairly relaxed week with no rush, just camping and doing Scout type things. On the last night Ron and I decided to make souvenir plaques for everyone – it took hours.’

 

A week after the Cubs returned from their camp the Scouts set off on theirs. A convoy of cars, including Ron’s minibus, affectionately known as ‘The Blue Elephant’, loaded with boys and the camping equipment headed for Rydal Hall where they were met by Geoff and the Patrol Leaders who had travelled to the Lake District a day early to check out the site and prepare for everyone’s arrival. The campers comprised 12 Scouts, 2 Venture Scouts (Chris Martin & Bobby Mukherjee) and Leaders Malcolm, Geoff and Ron.

 

During the camp the boys were able to go swimming and boating in the lake and mountain walking. The older boys went round what is known as the ‘Fairfield Horseshoe’, a walk of about 10 miles which reaches a summit at Fairfield of 2,863ft. They brought back a piece of rock from the summit that was later mounted on a plinth and used as a challenge trophy within the Troop. The younger boys went on a shorter walk reaching a height of 2,000ft. A day’s outing involved a trip to the far end of Windermere by steamer and a return journey by steam train on The Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway. They also enjoyed the customary camp sports and camp fire.

 

On the journey home the ‘Blue Elephant’ suffered a gearbox failure near Warrington. Ron drove it to a police pound and one of the officers put him in touch with a local Scout Group. They provided refreshments for the Scouts, moved the minibus to a safe location and loaned them a van to get home – eventually returning to Finchley early the next morning.

 

The Venture Scout Unit that had been hanging on by a thread was joined by Alan Durrant in September and it was hoped that this would provide fresh impetus. Several activities were in the pipeline and the regular help that they had been giving at Frith Grange became a Group commitment and changed to the first weekend of the month. Malcolm also saw this as an ideal opportunity for his Scouts to join him for badge work instruction and testing as well as giving a hand to improve the facilities at the camping ground.

 

During October 1975 the Troop entered the District Handball competition and finished as runners-up, having been beaten by the 17^th Finchley in the final.

 

At the end of the month Mark Waterhouse, PL of the Panthers went on an outing to Greenwich and produced a report for ‘Look Wide’. A copy of this is provided in the Gallery.

 

The Swimming Galas took place in November. The Cubs finished second, having been the only Pack who were unable to enter a team in the under 9½ relay race. The Scouts disappointingly could only manage 4^th place but the Group retained the Kelsey Shield by winning the Group relay.

Two other activities took place during November. Firstly, there was a last minute Cub outing to the Danemead campsite in Hertfordshire. This was arranged to coincide with the Patrol Leaders’ training course that was taking place at the site. 19 boys from the District enjoyed a day exploring, tracking, cooking and playing games before returning to Finchley and leaving the Scouts to spend a second frosty night under canvas.

 

The second event was a night wide game for the Scouts. It started at 2am and involved them visiting as many Group headquarters as possible in Finchley, Friern Barnet and Golders Green before ending up at Frith Grange for breakfast at 6am. The 22^nd did not win but the 12 boys certainly enjoyed themselves.

 

Once again some of the older Scouts went camping at Tolmers to ‘see in’ the New Year (1976). They had an enjoyable time and were able to spend some time helping the leaders of another Troop who were also camping there. However, the weather was not great with some strong gales which caused slight damage to their equipment. Fortunately there was no serious loss.

 

On the 8^th February the Scouts entered, for the second year, the Greater London North County Cyclo-Cross. Ian Baillie entered the event for ‘Chopper’ bikes and came 3^rd. Simon Hime and Peter Chalk entered the race for the under 14s and Simon managed to finish in 5^th place. In the over 14s race Martin Hime finished 3^rd and Mark Waterhouse finished 6^th but John Schmitt had to retire as he flew over the handlebars and sustained some nasty cuts to his face.

Following a calculation based on the overall finishing position the 22^nd were, to everyone’s surprise, declared the winners.

 

After being pressured by the Scouts Malcolm borrowed Martin’s bike and entered the Scouters’ race. When he reached the steep hill near the end of the race he, like everyone else, threw the bike down the hill which resulted in the front wheel coming off. Undeterred he ran down the hill, picked up all the pieces of the bike and ran over the finishing line in 2^nd place.

 

In the middle of February Stephen Chalk, Andrew Gafsen, David Green and Brian McMillan took part in the District Handcraft Competition in an attempt to retain the Yates Cup that the Pack won in 1975. The result of an hour’s frantic carpentry was a model fort made from wood and card which was good enough for them to gain 3^rd place.

 

At the start of March a dozen Cubs accompanied Akela (Geoff) to see Baloo (Ron) perform in the County Gang Show.

 

On the 28^th March the Troop was successful in their bid to retain the Pulham Shield by winning the District Cross Country competition. Although it is known that Martin Hime won the race it is unfortunately not known who the other two scoring runners were, who came 3^rd and 6^th.

 

Over the 1976 Spring Bank Holiday 8 Scouts attended a training camp at Tolmers, during which Andrew Gafsen was invested. At the same time a group of re-enactors was using the site to rehearse their show which provided the boys with some light entertainment.

 

As an aside it is worth mentioning that when Richard Hime left the Cubs and joined the Scouts, for a short while all three of the Hime brothers were members of the Troop – Martin, Simon and Richard.

 

Geoff, along with Ron, took five Cubs (Stephen Chalk, Brian McMillan, Paul Jobson, Peter Betts and Neil Walker) to Sixers’ Camp at the start of July where the theme was Adventurers. There is unfortunately no report or photographs but it is known that the weather was exceptionally hot resulting in a number of changes to the programme and the addition of several water fights.

The Cubs’ 1976 summer camp was held between the 31^st July and 7^th August at Ecclesdon Farm, Angmering, where they had camped the previous year.  It was attended by 12 Cubs. The leaders Geoff, Ron, Jenny and Val were assisted by Alan Durrant, who by now affectionately known as Curly and also accompanied by Peter and Martin, the sons of Ron and Jenny. Martyn Daviss and his wife June also went down at the start of the camp to help set things up.

 

The activities were similar to the previous year and included a visit to the chalk pits and Arundel Castle, making ballistas to fire flour bombs, an obstacle course race and a trip to Littlehampton. The camp concluded on Friday night with a campfire.

 

The Scouts held their Summer Camp between the 20^th and 31^st August in Cornwall, returning to Mevagissey where they had camped in 1973, but things did not get off to a good start.

 

The idea was to drive down overnight and meet Wilf Hewitt with two German Scouts at the campsite in the morning. Ron’s minibus took the camp kit and some Scouts and another was hired and took the rest of the Troop. Unfortunately the Blue Elephant broke down on the M3 just as they neared Fleet Services. After arranging a tow to the Services and discovering that one of the pistons had completely broken it was past midnight.

 

After spending the night sleeping in the minibuses, which was the plan anyway, Ron managed to get the use of a truck. The camping gear was transferred over but then there was a problem with the Scouts. In the end some of the older Scouts travelled on top of the kit. The other minibus followed behind while trying to keep an eye on the Scouts.

 

Most of the journey was on main roads and no problems were encountered. They finally reached the site and met up with Wilf, who had been very concerned about what had kept them so long.

 

In the end the camp was a great success with there having been 23 campers. The programme consisted of hikes, pioneering, outings to Falmouth and a clay museum, games and swimming in nearby coves. One trip was made to Mevagissey for a boat trip but others were made there to collect water. Owing to the drought the well near the farmhouse was nearly dry which meant filling up as many containers for both themselves and the farmhouse. Ironically it poured with rain on the day they had to strike camp.

Throughout the year Geoff had been concerned about the state of the church hall and whether it would be suitable for the Cubs to use during the winter. Due to its possible sale little maintenance work had been undertaken and there was no heating. In the end the dilemma was resolved when the church agreed to provide heaters if the Group repaired the windows to eliminate the draughts.

 

By the end of the Scout year 10 Cubs had reached the age of 11 and left the Pack with several joining the Troop. Geoff reviewed his decision about having a Pack of 30 boys and decided to cut the number back to 24 with the Yellow Six being disbanded.

 

By contrast, with the increase in the number of Scouts to 23 a new Patrol was formed with the boys deciding to call themselves the Cobra Patrol.

 

The Scout District Handball competition was held on the 19^th September and the Troop hoped to go one step further than they did in 1975 by winning the competition. Although they reached the final they once again finished as runners-up, with the 11^th Finchley winning the final game 1-0.

 

1976 was the Diamond Jubilee of Cub Scouts and all boys wore a special badge during the year to mark the occasion. To celebrate this the main activity of the year was the District Adventure Day at Frith Grange on the 25^th September with about 400 Cubs, Scouters and helpers in attendance.

 

There were a number of activities for the boys to try, ranging from ‘Action Space’ and their inflatables to a ‘Disguises and Make-up’ tent which seemed to spend all day turning out a continuous stream of black eyes and scars.

 

The main attraction was a display by the ‘Sealed Knot’ of a battle between Roundhead and Cavalier forces. With the grounds being fairly muddy many of the boys who tried the assault course ended up looking like refugees from ‘Lord of the Flies’.

 

Over the weekend 29th – 31st October the Troop paid its second visit to North Wales. They again stayed at an old farmhouse in Denbighshire owned by Geoff’s parents. This time the party was 10 strong and they conquered Snowdon via one of the hardest routes. The hike, which was over 7 miles, included four of the eight highest peaks in Snowdonia.

 

On the way home on Sunday they stopped at Whittington Castle for a break.

 

The Troop was determined to retain the Clarke Shield for swimming and took a strong team to the Gala that was held on the 6^th November at Wood Green. They were not disappointed and managed to gain a total of 85 points, well ahead of the second placed team who gained 46 points. Unfortunately though the Group was unable to retain the Kelsey Shield. They were beaten into second place by the 15^th Finchley.

 

The Cubs had also hoped to do well at their Gala held a few weeks earlier, not having been placed outside the top three since 1967. However, with a number of their best swimmers having joined the Troop the Pack finished in 7^th place. There was better news in the Diving competition with Martin Baillie finishing 2^nd, almost repeating the success of his brother 3 years earlier.

 

On the 14^th November, following the Remembrance Sunday Church Parade, the Buffalo Patrol became the first patrol to win the Fairfield Challenge Trophy, the piece of rock from the Fairfield Horseshoe that had been mounted on a plinth. They beat the Panther Patrol at Handball. The idea was that any patrol could challenge the holders in a competition of their choosing (e.g. handball, conkers, etc.). The only rules really were that the challenge had to be different from last time and had to wait a short time.

 

On the 25^th November the Troop entered the under 14s District Handball competition and the team; Paul Bhatia, Nick Evans, Simon Hime and Amar Shah, successfully defeated all opposition to win the trophy.

 

The final activity of the Cub Diamond Jubilee Year was a District outing to a performance of ‘The Point!’ at the Mermaid Theatre on the 18^th December. The whole Theatre had been booked to accommodate more than 300 Cubs. The party from the 22^nd was 24 which included 12 Cubs and 3 Scouts. The show, which starred Wayne Sleep, was described as a music and movement fantasy and thought by several to be disappointing, with only the performance of Arrow the dog standing out.

The first District event of 1977 that members of the Group were involved in was the Cubs Handcraft competition that was held on the 10^th April. Stephen Chalk, Tobin Broadbent, Stuart Brodie and Thomas Schmitt spent the evening building a Log Cabin that even had a roof, windows and doors. The judges had a hard time separating the first three but eventually awarded the trophy to the 4^th Friern Barnet. The 22^nd were placed 2^nd.

The Group continued to provide a crew at the Camping Ground over the first weekend of the month and in March their main task was to provide proper fire places around the edge of the site.

 

During March, as it became more and more likely that the Group would need to move out of the Church Hall, Geoff offered to let the Group store the camping equipment in his garage. The first step was to build a system of racks which was undertaken by Geoff with help from Curly, Mark, and Simon Smith. They were so proud of their work that they made a wooden sign and engraved their initials before attaching it to the racks. The racks eventually found their way to the new HQ, with the sign still attached.

The next District event was the Cross Country held on the 13th March when the Troop retained the Shield for the 3^rd successive year. Members of the team finished 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th with Chris Milnes leading the procession.

 

Three weeks later the Troop was also successful in winning the 7-a-side Football competition which ten Groups had entered. In the final they beat the 10^th Finchley 5-0.

 

According to the census at the end of March there were 18 Cubs, the lowest there had been for a long time. The number of Scouts though was up to 28. The Venture Scout Unit had been forced to close due to lack of members but one of them (Mario Diaz) had become an Assistant Scout Leader.

 

Thirteen Scouts attended the Troop’s usual training camp held at Frith Grange over the Spring Bank Holiday. The idea was that they were taught the basis of Scout camping before summer camp. Not all of the time was spent working and the boys enjoyed plenty of games and activities.

1977 was Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee and all members of the movement wore a special badge to commemorate this. On the 7^th June there was a procession through the streets of London and several Scouts from the District were selected to sell programmes. There were two boys from the 22^nd of which one is known to be Mark Waterhouse. Their location also provided them with a front row view of Her Majesty when she walked from St Paul’s Cathedral to the Guildhall for lunch.

 

The Jubilee was adopted as the theme for Sixers’ Camp at the start of July with four Cubs from the Pack joining the Balmoral Camp.

 

During 1976 Martyn moved to Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire and still undertook his GSL duties, but he was finding it difficult whilst trying to work on his new home and prepare for the birth of a baby. He therefore decided to take a six month break during which time Geoff took on the role of acting GSL.

 

In Geoff’s new temporary role he wrote in the July edition of ‘Look Wide’ how, at the recent AGM the Group had elected its first Executive Committee, replacing the old Group Council. He also took the opportunity of thanking Mrs Barratt who resigned after many years service on the Group Supporters’ Association and Group Council.

 

In addition, he mentioned that a Fundraising Sub-Committee had been set up which would be aiming to replace the money that had been spent over the last few years as well as to provide funds for new equipment and repairs to those items that had been neglected in the past.

 

The Cubs held their 1977 summer camp at Frith Grange at the end of July. Thirteen boys spent Friday evening putting up tents and exploring the campsite. Saturday included a wide game in the spinney and an assault course and blindfold trail. On Sunday they went to the RAF Museum at Hendon and after they returned the field was alive with model planes.

 

That night they went for a hike along Dollis Brook. The main activity on Monday was to light fires so everyone could prepare and cook their own lunch. Although the camp was shorter than in previous years everyone enjoyed themselves.

 

Akela led the camp with assistance from Baloo, Rikki and Curly.

 

On the 20^th August the Troop set off for a two week summer camp which was held at Walesby Forest Scout Centre near Nottingham. There were 28 people at the camp made up of 22 Scouts, Malcolm and three assistants along with Wilf Hewitt, ex-ADC Camps & Journeys, and a German friend.

The campsite of 225 acres of woodland and open heathland provided the basis of the programme. Apart from the usual activities of games, test work, hiking, bivouacs, backwoods cooking and pioneering, they were able to indulge in water activities on the river bordering the campsite. There was also a trip to Nottingham where they visited the castle and underground passages.

Martyn and June’s baby also arrived during the summer – a daughter they named Alison.

 

When meetings started again in September, following the summer break, there were 29 Scouts. This was even after the departure of Martin Hime and John Schmitt. They had both reached the age of 16 and hoped to get the Venture Scout Unit going again with some of the other lads who had recently left the Troop.

The Troop continued to make good use of the Camping Ground, especially on the Fridays before the Group’s crew weekend. They also held an Open Afternoon there on Sunday 9^th October in place of the normal Friday Open Evening at which the Annual Troop presentations are made. The Scouts put on various activities which included a First Aid demonstration, the building of an Assault Course and the cooking of hot dogs.

 

The District Cubs held their Swimming Gala on the 13^th November but the 22^nd did not feature. However, a week later the Scouts and the embryonic VSU won their competitions along with the Group’s victory in the Team Relay, meaning all three Shields were taken ‘home’ by the 22^nd.

Another Trophy was won on the 4^th December when the Scouts beat all the opposition in the District Handball competition. The event had been organised by members of the Scout Fellowship who presented them with the Avenue House Service Team Cup. The last time they had won that trophy was in 1972.

Martyn Daviss returned in January 1978 after his leave of absence and thanked Geoff for looking after things while he was away. He also announced that as the VSU had officially restarted the Group’s leaders had held a meeting to discuss their roles. Although the Unit was self-run they needed a leader to offer advice and to help to organise the various activities thta the Unit decided to undertake.

 

Malcolm Duff agreed to take on this job and his position as the Scout Leader was filled by Geoff Wright, who was to receive assistance from Mario Diaz and Christopher Martin. Ron Chalk took over running the Pack, trading in his title of Baloo for Akela. He was to be assisted by his wife Jenny (Rikki) and Alan ‘Curly’ Durrant when available.

 

On the 13^th January three Cubs joined the Scouts and after the going-up ceremony “Jumbo” Davis, the DC, presented Mark Waterhouse with the Chief Scout’s Award. Mark had joined the Group as a Cub and having now reached the age of 16 was about to join the new VSU.

 

During January and February the Cubs entered the District Chess Competition and the Handcraft Competition. Although they enjoyed themselves they did not win.

 

On Friday 17th February the VSU set off for a weekend in North Wales. On Saturday 18th they embarked upon a number of activities during what was a bit of a sightseeing trip. They started by climbing some of Glyder Fach and encountered high winds and snow drifts. They then drove to Anglesey, and visited Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch railway station before going to Holyhead to visit the South Stack Lighthouse which they discovered was closed. It was then back over the Menai Strait for the night before they returned home on the Sunday.

 

The annual County Gang Show took place from the 28^th February to the 4^th March and once again Ron Chalk was a member of the cast. He was joined by his wife Jenny and their son Peter. A party of 36 people from the Group, consisting of Cubs, their friends and families went to see the show at Hornsey Town Hall.

 

Both the Scouts and Venture Scouts entered the District Cross Country on Sunday 19^th March in atrocious weather. The Scout entered a strong team in their race for the Pulham Shield with Chris Milnes finishing second, just a few yards behind the winner. The other scoring members of the team were Simon and Richard Hime who finished 6^th and 7^th, resulting in the 22^nd collecting the trophy. In the Venture Scout race the team members’ positions ranged from second to second from last but it was enough for them to share the spoils with the 15^th Finchley and entitle them to hold the Miall Shield for six months.

The Scouts had originally planned to return to Guernsey for their summer camp but things did not go to plan. Geoff and three Patrol Leaders then spent Easter visiting possible sites on the south coast. As a result they found and booked a site on the River Hamble, in Hampshire, near Southampton.

 

Around this time they discovered that the church hall had finally been sold with the contract expected to be signed sometime in June. Alternative arrangements for meetings were put in place with St Luke’s Church Hall in Mountfield Road being used until the church had been altered to incorporate the proposed new Hall. While the Scouts would move immediately the Cubs would, until the summer, hold their meeting in the church lounge and occasionally go out.

 

The Group held their AGM in the church lounge on the 5^th May during which “Jumbo” Davis the DC presented Jenny (Rikki) with her warrant and acknowledged the amount of time that Ron had devoted to Scouting by presenting him with his Long Service Award.

Two days later 2 Cubs, Martin Chalk and Richard James, joined nearly 140 others at Brook Farm on a sponsored walk to raise money for a new toilet block at Frith Grange. Both Martin and Richard completed 15 miles raising £4.07½ and £8.20 respectively. Among the other walkers who raised a total of £700 was “Jumbo”, who managed to complete 20 miles.

 

Until the 20^th May the VSU had been fairly insular but on this day they took part in ’Maypole 78’, an event organised by the County. It was in fact a night time treasure hunt that involved teams driving to different locations and looking for codes. Unfortunately little more is known or how they got on.

 

On Sunday the 28^th May three Venture Scouts and their leader set off for the New Forest. The purpose of the journey was to get in a couple of days hiking in preparation for the Expedition in August. They hiked on Sunday and Monday and spent Tuesday travelling at an easy pace, ending at the Solent for a swim. The going was arduous, the weather was hot and although they camped at an expensive campsite they described the sanitation facilities as a delight.

On the 4^th June the Mayor of Barnet, Mr N Sapsted, attended the Civic Service at St Paul’s Church and the Cubs, Scouts and Venture Scouts combined to provide a Guard of Honour. As this clashed with the date of the Group’s anniversary parade, once the Mayor had entered the church everyone made their way to Frith Grange where they held their Scouts’ Own in the open air chapel. As the Group has responsibility for maintaining it, it seemed more suitable than their usual church service.

After the service, at just before 1pm nine Cubs and their leader from the 11^th Golders Green, arrived at the Camping Ground for a joint Pack outing. It had been a lovely morning but by the time the party set off it had started to rain. The ‘Blue Elephant’ with 15 Cubs and Scouters led the way with Rikki, 2 Scouts and Curly following. The rain became torrential and at the bottom of Barnet Hill Rikki’s car ground to a halt on the flooded road. Curly and the Scouts managed to push it to the kerb where the electrics were dried enabling the car to get started. When they finally arrived at their destination – Northaw Great Wood near Cuffley – the rain stopped and they ate their packed lunch. Wide Games followed before everyone returned home happy but slightly damp and muddy.

 

As one of Geoff’s main interests was orienteering he was asked by Barnet Scouts to run a short course about the sport. This he did in June using a number of slides that included pictures of two of his Scouts (Peter Chalk and Richard Hime) tackling a course on Hampstead Heath earlier in the year.

 

Three Cubs (Alek Chander, Nigel Tyler and Tony Kemp) Ron and Curly attended Sixers’ Camp in July, where the theme was Pirates. Curly took the role of Captain Morgan and led his band to victory in the camp sports but was narrowly beaten by Mary Read’s Scurvy Crew in the overall competition.

 

As the Scouting year drew to a close an update was given on how the Fundraising Committee, led by Daphne Duff, was getting on. Having managed to raise £160 at the Christmas Bazaar they went on to raise a further £95 at the Spring Fayre and £300 through a Derby Draw with 698 tickets being sold. Along with other activities more than £800 had been passed to the Group Treasurer putting the financial position of the Group in a much healthier state.

The Cubs held their 1978 summer camp at Eighteen Pounder Farm near Hastings between the 5^th and 12^th August. Ten Cubs from the Pack were joined by Michael and his brother Issamo, a Cub and Scout from the 17^th Finchley. Ron led the camp with assistance from Jenny, Curly, Peter and Stephen. Martyn also went along at the start to help erect the marquee and other tents. The programme was similar to previous years but on this occasion they had trips to Battle and Hastings as well as a ride on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway that included climbing to the top of Dungeness Lighthouse.

The Scouts camped at Cricket, a new campsite owned by Itchen South District Scout Council, that was being developed for use by Scouts and Guides. It consisted of about 250 acres of woodland on the river Hamble in Hampshire near Southampton, with the river providing swimming and boating facilities. Unfortunately there are no photographs or a report from the camp that was held between the 19th and 31st August. However, it is known that they borrowed canoes from the 6th Finchley and also had a trip out to Netley for the beach and a visit to Netley Abbey. There is also an amusing story that relates to the night that the Scouts built shelters and the nearby Guide camp. Apparently, the Guide leaders had put a Tilley Lamp in the middle of their site to keep an eye on the tents, but little did they realise that the girls were moving between the backs of the tents – out of sight from their leaders and silhouetted in their nightwear by the lantern for the Scouts to see from their shelters.

 

Four Venture Scouts took part in their summer expedition which started on the 15^th August and ended on the 29^th. They hiked the 168 miles of Offa’s Dyke which runs along the border of England and Wales. They started the hike by crossing the Severn Bridge to Chepstow and ended with them paddling in the sea at Prestatyn having averaged about twelve miles a day carrying packs weighing about 35lb.

 

On Saturday 23rd September Akela and Rikki (Ron & Jenny) along with 10 Cubs attended the District’s second Adventure Day at Frith Grange. There was plenty to keep the boys amused during the long hot day with the main attraction being large air inflated tunnels for the Cubs to crawl over and through. Other activities included an air rifle and pistol range, pets’ corner, scale-electric cars, computer noughts and crosses and an assault course. For those that wanted to spend their pocket money there was a tuck shop, hot dogs and space (coloured) pancakes. An inter-Pack giant push ball competition also took place but the 22nd were knocked out in the first round.

At the start of October the Venture Scouts plus members of the 10th Finchley VSU went parascending at North Weald Airfield. Their instructors were the ‘Greater London North Scouts Parascending Team’ who were also the National Champions. After spending an hour learning how to land correctly and then how the specially adapted parachute and harness are attached to a Land Rover, they were ready to have a go. With the parachute laid out correctly the Land Rover takes up the slack and then as it opens to the wind and you rise into the sky. At the end of the flight the Land Rover slows to a stop and you descend. Everyone enjoyed 4 flights – two to 100ft and 2 to 200ft.

The Handball Competition was held on the 19th November and started with the team beating the 10th Finchley by one goal to nil. They went on to meet the 3rd Golders Green in the final who did not play well resulting in an 11- 0 win and the retention of the Cup that they had won the previous year.

An interesting competition called ‘Corroboree’ for Venture Scout Units and Ranger Guides took place at Frith Grange on Saturday 26th November. First they took part in various activities – shooting, assault course, volleyball, 3-legged football and blind tent pitching. They then teamed up with a team of Ranger Guides with whom they had to cook a meal, pitch a patrol tent and go on a treasure hunt. The event which the Unit thought was good fun was won jointly by the Whetstone & Friern Barnet Rangers and the 11th Finchley VSU.

The Scout Swimming Gala was held on the 9th December at the new Copthall pools. The biggest point scorers for the Troop were Simon and Richard Hime who got 5 first places and one second in the finals. In the diving Tony Kemp and Mark Crawford both gained third places.

These results though were only good enough to come second with 74 points just 3 points behind the 15th Finchley who won the Clarke Shield. The Venture Scouts entered a team in their competition and finished 3rd. However, the Group did manage to win the Group Relay and retain the Kelsey Shield.

On Monday 11th December the VSU went along to Finchley Lodge, the District Headquarters, to try to win the Jubilee Shield, the trophy awarded to the VSU deemed to have undertaken the best Expedition during the year, judged principally on a presentation that can be in any format. The 22nd gave a presentation that included a slideshow and audio commentary as well as a Plasticine relief map of the whole Offa’s Dyke route showing where all the campsites were. Despite this the 15th won the Shield for the presentation of their canoeing and cycling trip in Eastern France.

Four members of the VSU started 1979 with a winter camp at Tolmers. With the temperature at sub-zero and with snow on the ground much of their time was spent tobogganing down the steep slopes.

February was a busy (active) month for the Venture Scouts. It started on the 2nd when everyone went to Curly’s house when he decided to pass part of his Venture Award by cooking a foreign meal – Italian. There were also orienteering sessions, handball matches, a crazy golf competition and digging foundations for the new toilet block at Frith Grange.

Although the temporary relocation of meetings to St Luke’s did not initially result in the loss of any members they had now started to drop. It had not helped that there were several occasions when, for one reason or another, the hall was not available. Some meetings had to be moved and programmes had to be changed at the last minute. An extra swimming session at Copthall on the 2nd February was one such instance.

Luckily the following week was their regular visit to Frith Grange so they held a joint wide game with the 6th Finchley. Each Patrol followed a different route to the Camping Ground using a series of clues and collecting pieces of map. Once they were there they had to locate a number of stolen computer tapes that were hidden in the Spinney.

Regrettably Chris Martin had to give up being an ASL during the month so his last activity before leaving was to be responsible for running the meeting on the 16th.

Martin Chalk, Oliver Broadway, Alan Kingsley and Mark Payne made up the team that represented the Pack at the Handcraft competition on the 8th February. Their model of a ‘Bedsitter’ was highly commended but it was the 10th Finchley that won The Yates Cup.

Instead of the usual Pack meeting scheduled for Friday 23rd February, during the half term school holiday, there was an all day District Cub outing to London Zoo. Most of the Pack and three Scouts along with Akela and Curly joined about 300 Cubs and leaders from fourteen other Packs. All the Cubs were given a ‘Zoo Quiz Questionnaire’, although most of the questions were about tails and their uses. Lunch in the restaurant, which was included in the cost, was taken at midday, and between courses one of the chefs revealed himself to be the grandfather of Stuart & Alex Cooke and Peppe Gambardella and took the boys to the kitchen where he wanted to show the other staff ‘his beautiful grandchildren’.

The District Cross Country was held on the 18th March in cold and wet conditions. The race was won by Chris Milnes with Richard Hime 4th. With members of the 15th Finchley team taking 2nd, 3rd and 5th places they won the Shield. Amar Shah was the third scoring runner in 9th place resulting in the 22nd finishing 2nd overall. Mark Crawford and Stephen Chalk made up the rest of the team.

There is no record to confirm whether or not the VSU entered a team but it is known that Geoff entered the race for the over 20s which he won.

The census figures at the end of March showed the true impact of the temporary move away from St Paul’s. The number of Cubs had fallen to 12 and the number of Scouts to 14. The official number of Venture Scouts, who did not rely on the use of a hall, was recorded as 6.

The Cubs enjoyed a ‘London Expedition’ on the 8th April which was originally supposed to be a joint outing with the 16th Finchley. They went by Underground to Embankment Station and after a short walk past Charing Cross arrived at Trafalgar Square, their first destination. The rest of the day included walking past Horse Guards Parade and Downing Street to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey before strolling alongside the Thames, past Cleopatra’s Needle to finish at St Paul’s Cathedral.

On the 4th May the VSU held a joint meeting with the 11th Finchley who showed them a cinefilm of them preparing their float for the 1978 Finchley Carnival as well as how it went on the day. In return the 22nd showed their slide show of the Offa’s Dyke Expedition.

1979 was the Group’s Silver Jubilee and the first event of the year to celebrate this was a Dinner / Dance on the 5th May at the Torrington, North Finchley. This was supported by about 60 members and friends.

The following day the Group held their anniversary church service at St Paul’s which was well attended by the boys.

Both events were also attended by Alec Tomlin, the Group’s founder, who had travelled down from County Durham with his family.

The Group’s AGM was held on the 18th at which it was first suggested that the Group should build their own HQ, rather than rely on the Church to provide a meeting place.

On Friday 25th May four Venture Scouts (Mark Waterhouse, John Schmitt, Simon Smith and Alan [Curly] Durrant) made the final arrangements for their four day cycle expedition in the New Forest which started the following day. Malcolm also went along, providing transport to Lyndhurst, their starting place, and back-up support if required. At about noon they set off for Beaulieu where they stopped for some refreshments at a tea shop, before making for Buckler’s Hard, a small village on the Beaulieu River. The day ended at Roundhill campsite, Brockenhurst where they met a Cub Pack with their leaders.

On Sunday they made for the coast, stopping for a Ploughman’s Lunch at a country pub on route. After reaching Lymington they had a cup of tea and went onto their next campsite at Seth Thorns. The following morning they set off for Lyndhurst in the pouring rain and managed to get some fish & chips at a pub just before it closed. With the rain still coming down they passed the time in a small shelter belonging to the pub before heading for a local tea shop for tea and cake. They finally made their way to Longbeach campsite for the night.

The final day started with a ride back to Lyndhurst where they again had fish & chips. It was then decided to go for a swim after a cup of tea at Beaulieu and while Simon and Mark cycled Alan and John went in the van with Malcolm. After their cold dip in the sea they returned to Finchley with thoughts of another expedition on their bikes.

Over the same weekend the Scouts held their Spring Bank Holiday camp at Phasels Wood. This was a joint camp with the 6th Finchley – 12 Scouts from the 22nd and 6 from the 6th. The weather was very wet and as they arrived on the Saturday morning several other Groups were already packing up to leave their partly flooded sites. Conditions improved on Sunday enabling test work and activities to take place but after the rain returned on Monday everyone and everything returned to Finchley wet and muddy.

The VSU had managed to acquire the use of a garage, for a nominal rent, at the junction of Squires Lane and Long Lane. During the first few days of June they spent time clearing out the old rubbish, replacing the doors and laying a concrete base, leaving just the roof to be done and the walls to be painted. They christened their new home ‘The Hanger’, a suitable name as the Unit referred to themselves as ‘Biggles’.

A new District competition for the Scouts in 1979 was Table Tennis. The event was held at Gordon Hall, the 10th Finchley HQ on the 17th June. The Troop’s only player in the Under 14 section was Mark Crawford who was knocked out in the first round. In the over 14 section Simon Hime lasted until the second round while his brother Richard made it to the final. There he played Jeffrey Day from the 10th who won the first set before Richard won by two sets to one. In an exhibition match after the presentations Richard was beaten by Jumbo, the District Commissioner.

 

As part of the Group’s Silver Jubilee celebrations a family camp was held over the 22nd/24th June at Tolmers. It was well attended and enjoyed by all with the funniest incident occurring early on Saturday morning before most people arrived. A Scouter’s aged bell tent gave way and the tent slowly collapsed on the sleeping occupant. On the Saturday Malcolm gave everyone a tour of the campsite which was followed by an activity organised by Ron. After lunch the Venture Scouts ran an activity with the theme being Romans and Ancient Britons, but it was really an excuse for everyone to get wet and covered in flour. Sunday morning’s activity was arranged by the Scouts and involved families visiting bases to perform different tasks. During the afternoon, before returning home, there was a Scouts’ Own.

 

UNESCO had proclaimed 1979 as the International Year of the Child and people all over the world were asked to think about ways of improving living standards of the many thousands of children who face a very bleak future. The Cub Scouts of Great Britain decided to do something about it by helping the Cubs and Scouts of Nepal and called it “Cub Country”. The 22nd Cubs did their bit and through the year raised money and contributed unwanted clothing.

 

Sixers’ Camp at the start of July, which was attended by Ron and only two Cubs from the Pack, adopted Nepal as their theme with activities such as Yeti Hunting, Nepalese Football and Temple Building.

 

From the 6th – 13th July most of the Unit and helpers were busy building their Float for Finchley Carnival. Their design was a mini-submarine which sometimes looked like a car and at other times like an aeroplane. On Saturday 14th they took a day off from their Crew weekend to take part in the Carnival. They got dressed up and went to be judged. The rest of the fun day was spent going round Finchley and taking part in the procession.

 

The Cubs did not hold a summer camp in 1979 as there were not many that wanted to go away, and the Venture Scouts met informally during August having been on a cycling expedition at the end of May. Mark Waterhouse and Alan Durrant though did go to the Scout summer camp to assist Geoff and Malcolm.

 

Over the weekend of 13th – 14th August the Service Crew helped complete the Toilet Block floor leaving only the laying of the sewage pipes and digging of the trenches in the direction of the main sewer.

 

Like the Spring Bank Holiday camp the Troop’s summer camp was also a joint one with the 6th Finchley. They spent late August at Santon Downham near Thetford, a youth campsite run by Suffolk County Youth Services. The site was very pleasantly situated on the edge of the forest not far from the Little Ouse River. This allowed them to add fishing and canoeing to the list of normal camp activities.

The proximity of the forest meant that all cooking had to be done on gas or Primus stoves but they were able to have a wood fire almost every evening. During the camp six boys went out on overnight hikes and they visited Great Yarmouth, Norwich and Thetford.

 

When the Cub Pack restarted in September they were without the help of Curly owing to studies / business commitments. Fortunately Roger Kingsley, a Cub parent who had been the football team’s trainer/manager, agreed to provide help and took the Jungle name Baloo (used some years earlier by Ron).

 

In the October / November issue of ‘Look Wide’ Martyn advised everyone that discussions had taken place with the Council about leasing some land for a new HQ and that a small site had been identified. He did point out however that plenty of negotiations still needed to take place. The Group’s Executive Committee subsequently decided to start a separate Headquarters Fund Account and money was transferred from their other investment account to start it off.

 

An orienteering competition organised by Geoff and Malcolm was held on 7th October at Trent Park. Ten Venture Scouts from three Units entered the VSU event which was won by the 22nd. Mark Waterhouse was a comfortable winner with John Schmitt 2nd and Amah Shah 3rd. The other team member, Martin Hime, retired when he became disorientated in the wood. Twelve Ranger Guides from four Units entered their event. There was also a race for the over 20s with the winners being Mr J R Drummond from the 7th Southgate and Frank Phillip from the 15th Finchley.

 

The County Cyclocross was held at Tolmers on the 21st October with not many Troops taking part. In addition to the actual Cyclocross races there were a number of other events which took place during the morning. In these the Troop won the relay race, the obstacle race, the cycle hockey and came second in obstacle relay. In the under 14 event Stephen Chalk finished 7th quite a way behind the winner. In the over 14 event Richard Hime and Peter Chalk led all the way round to take 1st and 2nd places. However, because of the way the points were calculated the Troop finished 2nd overall.

The Venture Scouts also went along only to discover that there were no Venture Scout races, but as there was also another Unit there – the 10th Finchley – races were quickly arranged. The 22nd dominated the event and returned to Finchley with a fist full of certificates.

On the 25th November members of the VSU were among approximately 75 other Venture Scouts and Ranger Guides when they took part in Corroboree ’79 at Frith Grange. They did not win but enjoyed taking part in a day of silly and adventurous games such as cooking marshmallows up a tree.

 

7th December was the second occasion on which the Unit held an Enrolment Ceremony and wanted to hold it in an unusual place. Malcolm organised the event which started with a small hike of about 6 miles through the muddy dark countryside of Hertfordshire. It ended at Nomansland Common where Amah Shah, Simon Hime and Robert McKenzie were formally enrolled.

 

The Swimming Gala for the Scouts and Venture Scouts took place on the 8th December. Despite Richard Hime winning all three of the events that he entered it was not enough for the Troop to finish in the top three. The main problem was that not enough other boys took part. The Venture Scouts did however have more success, and won the Fouracre Shield. The race for the Kelsey Shield was, as it had been for a few years, between the 15th Finchley and the 22nd. On this occasion the 15th came out on top.

 

The Venture Scouts had more success two days later when their film and report of their cycling expedition in the New Forest over the Spring Bank Holiday was deemed by the judges to be the best. Following the disappointment of the previous year they were really pleased to win the competition and be presented with the Jubilee Shield.

 

Over the first weekend of the New Year (4th – 6th January 1980) Geoff, Malcolm and Curly joined Graham Beevor, Peter Cox and Phil Knowles on the Scout Fellowship Winter Hike. They had started this activity while they were members of the Avenue House VSU (AHVSU) and continued it as members of the Avenue House Service Team (AHST). Also joining them was Howard Hillier-Daines from the 1st Friern Barnet and Malcolm Rush from the 2nd Friern Barnet. Malcolm Duff provided the transport to the Cotswolds where they undertook a circular hike from Stroud.

 

On Friday 11th January there was a party for the Cubs, Scouts and Venture Scouts to mark the end of the Group’s Jubilee celebrations. A hot meal was provided by the parents and there were lots of games. The Cubs’ Fancy Dress Competition was won by Adam Gafsen who was dressed as Charlie Chaplin and the Scouts’ Competition was won by Stephen Chalk who was dressed as The Hulk.

 

Early in the year Martyn decided that it was time for him to retire, although he did not publicly make the announcement until April. It was likely that he would be moving away from London and he wanted to ensure that there was a smooth handover to his replacement and that the new incumbent was in place before any real progress was made with regard to building of a new Group HQ. Martyn had also sought agreement from the appropriate people that Andy Butcher would be the new GSL. Andy had been connected with Scouting for many years through the 10th Finchley and he was also a member of St Luke’s Church. The handover was scheduled to take place at the Group’s AGM in May.

 

Around the same time it was announced that Ron, who had also become a District Cub Scout Leader, had been awarded the Medal of Merit for his service to Scouting. A few months later Jenny received a similar honour. This was of course not just for the work they had done with the 22nd but also for their service in Hornsey, prior to their move to Finchley.

 

The Handcraft competition for the Yates Cup took place on the 7th February but unfortunately the team did not finish in the top three. In the individual competition two days later Jason Kingsley was 2nd in the large cake section.

 

A few days later several Cubs from the Pack helped to load a reconditioned minibus engine onto the trailer attached to the ‘Blue Elephant’ which was then taken by Ron and a few boys to the Gurkha Regiment in Church Cookham, near Fleet in Hampshire. While there the Gurkhas provided them with afternoon tea. The engine was destined for a home in the foothills of the Himalayas in response to an appeal to the District. The cost (£150) of the engine had come from the Funds raised by the District Cubs for Nepal during the previous year.

 

The postponed 1979 District Scout Handball competition that was due to take place at the tail end of the year was finally held on the 17th February at Gordon Hall. The Troop was hoping to win the trophy for the 3rd year in a row and managed to beat the 17th Finchley in the first round and the 5th Finchley in the semi-final to reach the final against the 10th Finchley. Although the 22nd scored first they were 2-1 down at half time and eventually lost 8-2.

 

On the 23rd February the Group entered a new competition – The ‘Southern 50’ Challenge Hike. Although primarily aimed at Venture Scouts it was not exclusively for them with the team from the 22nd comprising Andy Butcher (GSL Designate), Mark Waterhouse (VS), David Trott (VS) and Geoff Wright (SL).

After much planning and consultation the event was launched on behalf of Greater London North County, by some old Rovers from the 200th North London who were the last team to win the ‘London 50’ in 1965 prior to the disbanding of Rovers and the end of that hiking competition.

Of the 35 teams that entered only 12 finished with the 22nd claiming 5th place. It should be mentioned that this competition still takes place (2025) and is one of the longest running events in Scouting, attracts teams from all over the country and has spawned a number of related events such as the ‘Chiltern 20’. Not only that but Mark Waterhouse (ex 22nd) plays a key role in the organisation, including working out the routes (of which there are now three per year.)

 

The District Cross Country took place on the 16th March. In the Scout race for the Pulham Shield Richard Hime finished 2nd and although Mark Crawford was in the top 10 Peter Chalk was much further down the field resulting in the team finishing 5th.

 

In the Venture Scout race for the Miall Shield Mark Waterhouse was 2nd, Simon Hime 3rd and Martin Hime 4th meaning that they won the Shield outright for the first time, having previously shared it with the 15th Finchley in 1978. Geoff again entered the over 20s race and finished 2nd.

 

The Venture Scouts had decided that they would later in the year join the County Expedition called ‘Freeway 80’ to Iceland. With the approximate cost being £300 each they collected old newspapers to raise some of the money. Regular collections were made with one report saying that on one occasion they visited about 200 houses and collected nearly five tons of paper.

 

Apart from the Frith Grange crew weekend and St George’s Day Parade, April was a fairly quiet month with plenty of test work taking place.

The first event in May was ‘Target 80’, a County Scout camp at Tolmers over the May Bank Holiday weekend and attended by more than 600 Scouts. During the three days the boys could take part in a number of activities that they had selected. These ranged from rock climbing and driving instruction to cookery and a drama workshop. Malcolm Duff and Mark Waterhouse organised an orienteering event and John Schmitt joined the Service Crew.

 

As planned the Group’s AGM took place on the 9th May and Martyn, who had been with the Group for more than 25 years, formally handed over the role of GSL to Andy Butcher. As a thank-you gift all members of the Group clubbed together and presented Martyn with a cheque for £60 (c£250 in today’s [2024] money).

Val McMillan, a Guider known as Scottie when she helped at Cub camps, who had been the Group’s secretary for 9 years resigned and was replaced by Jenny Chalk. Peter Price, one time GSL of the Group, became a new member of the Executive. He had recently been the DC for Edmonton and retired from active Scouting but wanted to continue in some way.

 

With the AGM also confirming that the Group were pressing ahead with the plans for their own HQ. Daphne Duff gave an update in the June/July issue of ‘Look Wide’ of how things were going with regards to raising the necessary funds. She said that during the past year £1,000 had been raised, £400 more than the previous year, and a target of £2,000 for the current year had been set. There was plenty planned, including a stall in the charity marquee over the Finchley Carnival weekend.

 

Apart from knowing that some of the Venture Scouts went to the Black Mountains over the Spring Bank Holiday there is unfortunately no further information.

 

Nineteen Packs entered the District Cub Sports held on the 7th June with the 22nd finishing in 8th position. A day later the District Scouts held their Table Tennis competition and hoped that Richard Hime could secure another victory in the over 14s event. It was not to be though as he was beaten in the second round. Mark Crawford was also beaten in the second round although it was by the eventual winner, Jeffrey Day from the 10th Finchley, who was the runner-up in 1979. In the under 14s event Martin Chalk progressed steadily to the final while Alan Price also made it after a tough semi-final. Alan then comfortably beat Martin in the final.

 

With the building work on St Paul’s having been completed a rededication service was held on the 21st June. Although the Group was represented, flags were not paraded until the official Church Parade at the start of July.

 

Five boys attended the District Sixers’ Camp at Frith Grange over the last weekend of June. The theme was a World Grand Prix Rally with the four sub camps representing Ferrari, Lotus, Brabham and Maclaren. They had to travel through different countries getting their passports stamped and repairing rally cars as they went. Every boy returned home with a Spark Plug.

 

The VSU gained 2 new recruits during July. First was Peter Chalk who had left the Troop and the second was Brian Shaw who had previously been a Scout with the 6th Finchley. They were both invested on the 18th following another of Malcolm’s hikes.

 

The Venture Scouts once again built a float for the Finchley Carnival (10th – 12th July). This time it depicted the Romans and Saxons and was manned principally by the Cubs and Scouts during the procession. Together with the sideshow they ran in the park they raised a total of £95 for the HQ Fund.

 

It should perhaps be mentioned that the District Cubs separately had a float called ‘Animal Conservation’ which won 3rd prize.

 

Although the Carnival clashed with the Group’s crew weekend they were still able to cover both and were at Frith Grange when a party of 60 Scouts (boys and girls) and 10 leaders arrived for a three week visit. They were from Siegen in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany, which was twinned with Finchley.

Unfortunately their camping equipment and food, which was supposed to have come separately by freight, had been delayed. Temporary equipment was provided by the District and a couple of the leaders were taken to Tesco in Ballards Lane where they managed to load two large trolleys with food which were then pushed back to the camping ground.

Some of the crew stayed at the campsite after the weekend and made later visits when some scarf and badge swapping took place.

 

The Scouts’ Summer Camp (30th July – 9th August) was held in the Chilterns, South of Chinnor and not far from Princes Risborough. It was held jointly with the 6th Finchley and run by John Chapman, their SL with Geoff acting as the QM. There were two patrols from the 6th and a composite patrol from the 22nd who called themselves the Goblins.

 

The large field was on the edge of Crowell & Aston Woods which was ideal for wide games but some distance away from drinking water which had to be collected by car at regular intervals.

All the usual camp activities took place including a few hikes, one of which was the Advanced Scout Standard 20km hike undertaken by Stephen Chalk and Nimish Shah.

On Sunday both Troops paraded their Colours at Aston Rowant church with the local Cub Pack. Afterwards they were shown up the tower to see the peal of six bells which later in the day were rung to commemorate the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday.

Other notable events included a joint meeting with some Scouts from the 1st Chinnor, a trip to High Wycombe to go swimming and a visit to the Hell Fire caves on the last full day before the evening campfire.

 

On the 1st August some of the Venture Scouts along with Malcolm set off for Iceland as part of the County’s two week ‘Freeway 80’ Expedition. After a two hour flight and a three hour coach journey they arrived at their Base Camp on the edge of a large lake north of Selfoss.

However, after a couple of days they decided that they were not happy with the overall organisation so Malcolm hired a Land Rover and they broke away to explore the interior of the country by themselves. According to their report in the October/November issue of ‘Look Wide’, which along with a few photos can be found in the Gallery, they had a fantastic time.

 

The Cubs held their summer camp (2nd – 9th August) at Hastings. Unfortunately there is no report although ‘Look Wide’ says that it was a success and that the 12 boys all enjoyed themselves.

 

The Buffalo Patrol comprising Stephen Chalk, Alan Price, Nimish Shah and Mark Crawford entered the District Camping Competition that was held at Frith Grange over the weekend of 27th – 28th September.

They did extremely well to finish in third place with 396 points, just four points behind the Eagle Patrol from the 11th Finchley but well behind the Panther Patrol from the 2nd Friern Barnet who claimed the Alexander Trophy with 426 points.

 

The Group held its second family camp at Frith Grange over the weekend 3rd – 5th October. This was fairly well supported and from the photos it appears everyone had fun.

 

Corroboree was held on Sunday 12th October at Frith Grange. Despite this being the Group’s crew weekend 5 members of the Unit entered the competition. The event was won by the 7th North Finchley Rangers (The Predictables) with the 22nd finishing 5th, their best ever position in the competition.

 

At the Unit’s planning meeting later in the month it was suggested that they went potholing over the Spring Bank Holiday and on a cycling tour of the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) during the summer.

 

The annual County Scout Cyclo-Cross Competition was held at the end of October at Danemead Campsite. The events included a slow race, an obstacle course and a relay before ending with the main event.

In the under 12 race Martin Chalk led from start to finish adding a first place to the two 3rds he had gained in the slow and obstacle races.

The Troop had no competitors in the under 14 event but both Stephen Chalk and Richard Hime reached the final in the under 16 event. It looked like Richard was going to win but he finished second after he lost his chain just before the finish.

Overall, the Troop finished 4th with the event being won by the 34th Enfield.

 

On the 2nd November the Venture Scouts won their Handball competition and upon doing so claimed to currently hold all of the District Shields as well as one County Shield.

 

Three weeks later it was the Scout competition with an amended format so that everyone played three games. With the team having won their first two matches everything hinged on the last game against the 10th Finchley. A win would result in overall victory, a draw would mean the 17th Finchley would win the trophy and a defeat would mean 3rd place.

Unfortunately it was a defeat by one goal meaning that the 10th retained the Cup.

 

The Cub Swimming Gala was held on the 29th November with 15 Groups taking part. The 22nd finished 9th.

A week later it was the turn of the Scouts and Venture Scouts. Unfortunately only 2 Scouts wanted to take part so Richard Hime and Mark Crawford had to share all of the over 14 events, with Richard winning 2 of them.

The Venture Scouts had more competitors in their event and jointly won the Fouracre Shield with the 15th Finchley. However, in the Group Team Relay the 22nd managed to regain the Kelsey Shield that was taken from them in 1979 by the 15th.

 

From the 29th December to the 3rd January five members of the Unit went to Brussels and stayed at a Scout camp site in Dworp, east of Halle and south of the city. Full details of their trip are not known but on their last full day, Friday 2nd, they were shown round Brussels by a Belgian Scout Group before dinner and then spent the rest of the evening drinking, talking and singing.

 

In the first issue of ‘Look Wide’ for 1981 it was confirmed that the Borough had agreed to give the necessary planning permission for the new HQ; this was required due to the change of use of the land from allotments. However, it still needed to be agreed by the Greater London Council.

Fundraising for the new HQ was also under the spotlight with a target figure of £20,000 being mentioned. A 100 Club had been started, sales at local markets would continue, as would Webb Ivory sales, socials and newspaper collections.

 

Over the weekend of 16th – 18th January Geoff Wright, Malcolm Duff and Alan ‘Curly’ Durrant again took part in the Annual Winter Hike. Although this had started as an AHVSU activity and continued as an AHST and then a Scout Fellowship one, it had now become an annual get-together for any current or ex leader or Venture Scout from the District. On this occasion it took place on the Downs to the north of Brighton.

 

There was an additional passenger on the journey south – Curly’s mother who was going to visit her daughter in Brighton.

On the 1st February the Unit entered the County 5-a-Side Football Competition at Picketts Lock. There were three other Units from the District that took part: 10th Finchley, 11th Finchley and 6th Friern Barnet.

The event was primarily a league competition but those teams that lost their first game entered a separate ‘losers’ knock out competition. As a result of this format the 22nd went into the knock-out event but then went on to win.

The victorious team comprised Martin & Simon Hime, Mark Waterhouse, Amar Shah and Peter Trott.

 

A week later (8th February) there was another football competition, this being the District 5-a-Side for Scouts which was held on a very good indoor pitch at Southaw School in East Barnet.

The last time that this knockout event was held was in 1977 when it was 7-a-side on a muddy outdoor pitch, and won by the 22nd.

Eleven Troops entered the competition and the teams were split into four mini leagues. Victories against the 15th Finchley and 6th Finchley secured a semi-final place which was against the 10th Finchley, who won and then went on to beat the 5th Finchley in the final.

There was no third place play-off so the team, comprising Martin & Stephen Chalk, Mark Crawford, Richard Hime and Alan Price jointly shared that position with the 17th Finchley, who had lost their semi-final.

 

The second ‘Southern 50’ took place over the weekend 21st – 22nd February and members of the Unit formed their own team as well as a joint one with the 11th Finchley.

Although Keith Shah and Chris Hunter from the 11th did complete the 50 miles the others had to retire.

Clinton Hudgell from the 11th Finchley along with Andy Butcher, Malcolm Duff and Geoff Wright formed a Leaders’ team with only Geoff completing what was described as a ‘seriously tough’ course. Indeed, of the 188 starters only 53 actually finished.

A copy of the report that appeared in the District Bulletin can be found in the Gallery.

 

The District Cross Country took place on the 15th March and was won by Richard Hime. Mark Crawford finished 4th but as there were only two competitors from the 22nd they could not win the team race. This was won by the 15th.

In the Venture Scout race Simon Hime finished 2nd, Mark Waterhouse was 4th and Martin Hime was 5th with Peter Trott, John Schmitt and Paul Crawford all finishing, which was good enough for them to retain the Miall Shield.

 

At the end of March there were 20 Cubs, 8 Scouts and 10 members of the VSU that had finally been officially registered as the 22nd Finchley (Biggles) Venture Scout Unit.

 

April was a fairly quiet month although there was plenty of test and badge work, including the Link Badge for the Cubs that were due to progress to the Troop. Three Scouts entered the District Table Tennis Competition with Alan Price managing to reach the semi-finals.

News about the new HQ was positive – the lease had been agreed and was being prepared by the Town Clerk’s Department and favourable quotations had been received from the Lee Valley Water Company and the Eastern Electricity Board.

 

Over the first weekend in May 5 of the VSU went to North Wales and stayed at the little village of Beddgelert at the base of Snowdon. On Saturday they climbed the mountain in the snow and on Sunday they visited an old slate quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog in the rain.

 

Vic Shewry retired as the Group Chairman at the AGM. He had been associated with the 22nd for several years and had once been one of the Group leaders. Andrew Crawford was elected as his replacement.

 

Twenty Packs entered the District Cub Sports on the 6th June which saw the 6th Finchley win by a big margin. The 22nd though did extremely well to finish joint third with the 2nd Golders Green, just a few points behind the 10th Finchley who were second.

 

The 22nd were the only Group in the District to have a float at Finchley Carnival and as such were the only ones to be promoting Scouting in the District. An articulated lorry was lent to them by ‘Lee Valley Erectors’ on which the VSU built displays that depicted their activities: climbing, canoeing, cycling, camping, hiking and cooking.

 

Ron took four boys to the District Sixers’ Camp in the middle of July. The theme was ‘Space’ with approximately 70 boys attending. The programme included Wide Games in the spinney, sports games on the main field, a video of Star Trek, and assorted games where the boys built space vehicles, periscopes and laser defence shields.

 

Just when it was thought that all had been settled with regard to the lease it was revealed that other interested parties had to have their say, which resulted in a further delay. Despite this the Estates Department gave permission for preliminary work to begin on the site.

Whilst this was great news the Group had to take into account a number of other issues which caused another hold-up, as was seen later.

 

There were no Cub or Scout Summer Camps in 1981. The Venture Scouts though did go away – the trip was a cycle expedition on the continent visiting Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium, covering a distance of about 500 miles.

Mark Waterhouse, Robert McKenzie, Simon Hime, John Schmitt, Peter Trott and Curly Durrant, along with Malcolm Duff, set off on Friday 14th August and did not return until Sunday 30th. A full report later appeared in ‘Look Wide’, snippets of which together with some photos appear in the Gallery.

 

The Group’s third family camp was over the weekend of 12th – 13th September but was not very well attended.

 

The following weekend the Venture Scouts spent a weekend in South Wales. They took part in ‘Freeway 81’, a County event held at Llangattock, near Crickhowell, where they were able to enjoy caving, rock climbing, canoeing, shooting, pony trekking and grass skiing.

Around this time Jenny Chalk started to help Geoff with the Troop by providing the younger boys with training for the Scout Standard. This particularly benefited the older boys who then had more time to pursue the Advanced Scout Standard and Chief Scout’s Award.

 

The Cub Swimming Galas took place on the 21st November but the 22nd did not feature. The Scout Gala which was scheduled for the 5th December had to be postponed and rescheduled for the 16th January.

 

It is not known how many Units entered the competition for the Jubilee Shield on the 6th December but it was the presentation of another cycling expedition that won. The 15th Finchley claimed the shield in respect of their trip to the Isle of Wight while the 22nd finished second for their journey in Europe between Cologne and Brussels via Trier and Luxembourg City.

 

The Scout Handball Competition was held on the 13th December and after wins against the 5th Finchley and 6th Finchley Martin & Stephen Chalk, Mark Crawford and Alan Price faced the 3rd Golders Green in a semi-final match. A win, in a game that was much closer than the score suggested, set up yet another final against the 10th Finchley.

Although both teams hoped to make it 3 wins in 5 years the honour went to the 10th who won 3-0 and claimed the AHST Handball Cup.

 

As the year drew to a close there was a further update with regards to the lease for the new HQ and the cost. The lease had been received from the Council and sent to the Legal Department of the Scout Association for them to review, while the Group’s HQ sub-committee had come up with a new amount to cover the cost of providing a fully equipped meeting place for the Group – £34,825.39 (just over £121,000 in today’s [2024] money). Armed with this new estimate the Group were then in a position to make an application for a capital grant.

 

Around the end of the year Mark Waterhouse, having completed the necessary requirements. became a Queen’s Scout. In addition to attending the National St. George’s Day Parade at Windsor, where he marched past Her Majesty the Queen, he later provided assistance at two Buckingham Palace functions. One was at a Garden Party and the other was cloakroom duty and a guard of honour for the Duke of Edinburgh at a DofE Gold Award ceremony.

 

The VSU started 1982 with two new members; Mark Crawford and Stephen Chalk, reuniting with Richard Hime who had transferred from the Troop a few months earlier. They started the year with one of John Schmitt’s wide games that involved finding clues in telephone boxes.

 

Heavy snow played a major role during the crew weekend at Frith Grange. As well as trying to clear as much as possible from the drive and walkways there was plenty of fun to be had with snowball fights.

There was still snow on the ground when the Scouts and Venture Scouts went to Copthall on the 16th January for the Swimming Gala that had been postponed from December. The Scouts finished a disappointing 9th out of the twelve Troops that took part but the Venture Scouts won their event.

Geoff, Malcolm and Curly went on the Annual Winter Hike and were joined for the first time by John Schmitt, with Malcolm providing the transport.

They hiked in the Ashford, Kent area and although they did not cover many miles they all had an enjoyable weekend. It was at least a useful exercise in preparation for the ‘Southern 50’ which followed a few weeks later.

The Group entered two teams in the Southern 50 Challenge that was held in February. The Leaders team comprising Andy Butcher (GSL), Malcolm Duff (VSL), Geoff Wright (SL) and Mark Waterhouse (QM) completed the distance in 15 hours and 19 mins but their finishing position is not known.

Four Venture Scouts (Mark Crawford, Simon Hime, Richard Hime and Peter Trott) made up the other team, but as one of them had to drop out with just a few miles to go they were unable to finish as a team.

After the snow had cleared at Frith Grange a major project that would last for most of the year got underway. This involved all of the Service Crews coming together to dismantle the old Crew Hut and prepare the site for the erection of a replacement hut that would have its own toilet and fresh water.

The District Cross Country was held on the 21st March and although the Scouts did not feature the Group did come away with both the Miall and Barclay Shields. In the Venture Scout race Simon Hime won while Mark Crawford was third and Richard Hime fourth. In the over twenties race the first three home were first, third and seventh.

Around this time the number of Cubs at Pack meetings was slightly swollen. Numbers at the 4th Finchley had dropped to under 10 and as they were having some temporary leadership issues they held joint meetings with the 22nd until the summer break.

By May the shell of the new hut, which had been the Cadet Hut at Alder School, had been dismantled and re-erected at the Camping Ground with the help of the 22nd, but there was still plenty to be done including the installation of the fixtures and fittings.

On the 5th June all members of the Group, with some parents, raised funds by holding a picnic/work day at the allotments at Downway, off Summers Lane. The work was principally clearing the site of old rubbish.

The County held a Cub Adventure Day at Tolmers on the 13th June which quite surprisingly was attended only by 5 members of the Pack.

During the summer months the Scouts would whenever possible hold their Friday meetings at Frith Grange and because of the high proportion of younger boys the programme was geared towards the outdoor aspects of the Scout Standard. They were able to practice pioneering, tent pitching and axe work, as well as being able to use the spinney for wide games.

To celebrate 75 years of Scouting 1982 had been designated ‘The Year of the Scout’ and a special badge to mark this anniversary was worn by all members of the Movement. In addition, the Scouts put on a display at Finchley Carnival and the Cubs provided a spectacular performance in the arena. This consisted mainly of about 250 Cubs all holding large cards upon which were painted the Scout Badges of different countries and of course the name of the country where Scouting still flourishes.

There is no record of their being a 22nd Finchley float at the Carnival but the fund-raising committee organised a stall that was run by the Group supporters, who managed to raise £300.

Only 2 boys from the combined Pack attended Sixers’ Camp a week later, one from the 22nd and one from the 4th.

The Troop’s Summer Camp, covering one week in the middle of August, was held at Tolmers. The dates were chosen to coincide with an activity fortnight at the site and as such provided the Scouts with a variety of opportunities that would probably not have been available if they had gone elsewhere.

It was also thought that as only Martin Chalk had previously been to camp it was an ideal way for young inexperienced Scouts to get an introduction to camping at a Scout camp, as well as allowing them to mix with other Groups and enjoy the wide games and camp fires that were being arranged for everyone.

One unexpected event that occurred during the week was provided by a contingent of Swedish Scouts from Trollhäten, who put on a display about Sweden and provided samples of Swedish food.

Geoff thought that the week was a success although most of the nine boys having a lack of camping experience caused some problems. With assistance from John Schmitt they were usually sorted out and everyone learnt a little more about how to camp as a Scout.

After the summer break the 4th Finchley Cub Pack temporarily closed with the boys affected being given the opportunity of officially becoming a 22nd Finchley Cub. The number of boys attending Scouts grew and a third Patrol, the Falcons, was formed.

As Andy Butcher, the Group’s GSL, was responsible for its design, it should be mentioned that around this time the District badge was introduced, to be worn alongside the County badge. The Finch is from the old Finchley District badge, and the cross for Friern Barnet was the symbol of the Friars who owned this area. Gold and green symbolise the former District of Golders Green and the black diagonal lines represent the two branches of the Northern Line (High Barnet and Edgware lines) that run through the District.

The Group’s annual Open Evening, at which all the awards and trophies are presented, was held on the 17th September at Frith Grange and was followed by a Do-it-Yourself BBQ that was enjoyed by all those that attended.

The very next day several of the Cubs were back at Frith Grange for the District Cub Adventure Day. The fun started at 7.30am and included cane weaving, making coloured pancakes and lapel badges, rifle and pistol shooting and the opportunity of using a CB radio. Action Space provided a blow-up cavern and tunnels for the boys to crawl around in and the Army provided an acrobatic display. Free ice cream, hot dogs and soft drinks were also available.

During November Stephen Chalk, Mark Crawford and Richard Hime were, after a long delay, finally invested as Venture Scouts. Also during November several of the Unit, along with a few Venture Scouts from the 11th and 15th, went on a sub aqua course lasting six weeks at a swimming pool in Central London.

The Swimming Gala for the Scouts and Venture Scouts was held during December. Unfortunately only one Scout took part but several of the Unit were present and put in some excellent performances enabling them to retain the Fouracre Shield.

Also in December, the Venture Scouts along with some past members of the Unit held a Christmas Dinner get together at Monte Bello in Ballards Lane.

Six Scouts along with Geoff finished the year by holding a short winter camp, using the Cyril Allen Hut at the Camping ground. The date chosen was the weekend of the New Year and with the sleeping accommodation being fairly limited six was the ideal number.

Cooking was straightforward thanks to the excellent kitchen but outdoor activities were reduced on Saturday due to the wet weather. Thankfully Geoff had brought along a BBC B microcomputer with games that provided an extra indoor activity. The event was considered a success with everyone enjoying themselves.

The start of 1983 was fairly uneventful. There was the usual round of Cub and Scout competitions which were not all well supported and in none of which they did particularly well. Apart, that is, from the Cross Country where the Miall and Barclay Shields were retained by the Venture Scouts and the over 20 team.

There was however better news for the Group with it being reported that the lease was very close to being agreed. In anticipation of being granted access to the land attention turned to what would happen next.

With the fence posts that had been obtained during 1982 and stored at Frith Grange needing to be cleaned and painted it was decided to undertake the task following a lunch time DIY BBQ on the 20th March.

The number of Cubs in the Pack had slowly been dropping and by the end of March there were only 9, the lowest ever. The number of Scouts was 17 and there were also 7 Venture Scouts.

 

Andy Butcher’s stint as the GSL came to an end when he resigned at the time of the Group AGM in May. Other priorities necessitated him giving up the role although he hoped to provide support as and when he could. Malcolm Duff took over, and in doing so emulated the feat of Martyn Daviss by going through the entire range of Group leadership appointments from Cub Scout Leader to GSL.

 

One of Malcolm’s first actions was to launch a recruitment campaign for Cubs in local schools, which resulted in 10 new boys. Around this time the Group also gained two new leaders. John Schmitt became an ASL and Trevor Sage returned to the Group as an ACSL. He had left the Navy, got married and set up home in Enfield.

 

A training camp for the Scouts was held at Frith Grange over the last weekend of June but with the weather being very hot it was a very relaxed affair. Nevertheless, there was enough camping instruction that would prove useful on a longer camp.

 

The Troop was involved in two aspects of the Finchley Carnival (14th – 16th July). For the first time ever, and not really knowing what to expect, they entered a team (Graham Austin, Jason Brown, Ketan Dhokia. Lloyd Jury and Stephen Stanyer) in the Young Superstars Competition.

 

On Saturday the Scouts joined with the Cubs on the float in the Carnival Procession. The float had been designed by John Schmitt to represent a partly completed headquarters with the boys dressed as labourers.

 

On the 1st August the Group finally took possession of the rather overgrown and uneven patch of land at the rear of 190 – 192 Long Lane, on which they were to build their Headquarters. This brought about a flurry of activity with much time being spent clearing the area of vegetation and preparing the ground for the erection of the fence between their land and the allotments. Cubs, Scouts, Venture Scouts, Leaders and supporters all helped with what was a monumental task.

 

The Scouts took a break from working on the Headquarters site when they went to Chalfont Heights (27th August – 3rd September) for their summer camp. They travelled on Saturday by coach from ‘The Hanger’ with all of the camping equipment and dry foods that Geoff had transported there the previous day.

 

Upon arrival at the campsite they hired two trolleys and made several trips transporting their gear to their site in the woods. After lunch and setting up the patrol sites they were able to explore and then enjoy a swim in the heated swimming pool.

 

On Sunday morning the Troop attended the Scouts’ Own in the open-air chapel and during the afternoon undertook a number of activities that included building a mouse-trap, an egg timer and a set of musical instruments. In the evening they had their first wide game. Monday morning was devoted to Scoutcraft and during the afternoon they hiked to the Chiltern Open Air Museum a few miles away.

 

The museum, only opened to the public in 1981, is a collection of buildings reflecting over 500 years of life in the Chiltern area. Although they were able to view a mediaeval cruck-framed barn and an Iron Age House it was the Victorian privy that interested them most.

 

Activities during the rest of the week included a pioneering project building a rope bridge, a sleep out in bivvy bags and a night hike when they had trouble following one of the footpaths, only to discover later that they had actually crossed the M25 which was under construction and obviously not shown on the map. With the weather being hot there was also plenty of time for swimming in the pool.

 

Over the weekend of 23rd – 25th September there was a County Venture Scouts Freeway event in the Peak District at which Malcolm, Geoff and John provided assistance. Malcolm and Geoff organised an orienteering session and John a wide game.

 

In the meantime work continued at the building site and negotiations continued with the building suppliers. Daphne Duff provided a financial update and pointed out the importance of continuing to raise more money now that some of the building fund was being spent.

 

The fencing finally went up during October and looking ahead there would be ditches to dig for the supply of electricity and water.

 

Following an initiative by the 4th Finchley a Scouts’ Local Christmas Card Postal Service was launched this year. The 4th arranged for the printing of the stamps which were sold during December by the Groups (one from each delivery postcode) to friends and family, or on their behalf by local retailers to members of the public. Cards were posted in special boxes and after sorting, the relevant Group delivered the ones for their area.

 

The 22nd Finchley joined the scheme and took responsibility for N2. The cost of the stamps was considerably less than ‘real’ stamps, and although the scheme did not make a lot of money for the Group (£31.13) it was fairly good fun and a good service to the community.

 

The Scout Table Tennis Competition, which was not very well supported, was held on the 18th December at the 3rd Golders Green Headquarters. In the under-14 event Vimal Shah reached the final where he lost to D Merryweather (16th Finchley) by two sets to love. In the over-14 event Martin Chalk also reached the final and in a very close match against D Wing (3rd Golders Green) was defeated by two sets to one.

 

A regular event in the Group’s calendar that has not been highlighted before was Malcolm’s Christmas Outing. This was usually held a few days after Christmas Day and took the form of a one-day hike/ramble at an undisclosed location. Although this was an open invitation to everyone only a few of the Venture Scouts turned up. This year those joining Malcolm were Geoff Wright, Curly (Alan Durrant) and Martin & Simon Hime.

 

In a bout of nostalgia the leaders decided that it would be nice to hold a traditional-style Group Christmas Party for all members of the Group at Frith Grange on Friday 30th December. Upon arrival at the camping ground it was discovered that there had been a burst water pipe above the bunk room and all the mattresses and bedding hung out to dry. After clearing this away the evening commenced with a series of silly games organised by Curly Durrant and Simon Hime.

 

This was followed by the traditional meal of sausages, chips and beans, followed by fruit and ice cream. After a few more games everyone apart from Geoff, John and 6 Scouts headed home.

 

For the second consecutive year the Scouts decided that they would spend the weekend in the Hut and see in the New Year, so they found some dry bedding and made the bunk room habitable. They had hoped for snow but this did not appear and they spent much of their time playing games. They also constructed a 6ft high hot-air balloon from balsa wood, which they flew indoors with the aid of a fan heater as the wind outside was too strong for such a fragile craft.

 

The first District event of 1984 was the 1983 Swimming Gala. Having been postponed from December it was held at Copthall Pool on the 14th January. Sadly, none of the Scouts wanted to enter the competition and only one Venture Scout (Richard Hime) took part. Richard entered all the individual races and amazingly won them all. This gave the Unit enough points to retain the Fouracre Shield for another year.

 

The first part of the Scout Handball competition was held on the 5th February with the 22nd entering 2 teams. The A team comprising Graham Austin, Vimal Shah, Nirav Khiroya and Martin Chalk were somewhat disorganised but won their games against the 4th and 6th Finchley to reach the finals a week later.

 

The B team, some of whom had not played competitively before, were outclassed and unable to progress.

 

On the 12th things did not go as hoped and the team ended up playing the 11th Finchley for 3rd place, which they managed to win. The Cup was won by the 17th Finchley who beat the 10th Finchley in the final.

 

Progress on the Headquarters project was still being made, although at a slower pace than had been hoped. During January and February the roadway was dug up and the water and electricity supplies were laid in. The site had been partially cleared by a JCB and several large lorry loads of earth and rubbish were removed. There was also a lot of ditch digging, some to reroute a surface water drain and some to enable the connection of the foul sewer.

 

Fundraising, of course, also continued under the direction of Daphne Duff.  Stalls were held at as many bazaars as possible and a jumble sale was held in February that raised £60. The newspaper collections continued, having raised £669 during the previous year, and the half penny collection that had been going since October 1980 now stood at 35,598.

 

The Group had received a grant of £250 from the Metropolitan Police Lost Property Fund and applications for grant aid had been made to the GLC, London Borough of Barnet and the Royal Jubilee Trusts. The Fund currently stood at c£14,000 with £20,000 needed to put down the base and purchase the building.

 

It was though not a case of ‘all work and no play’ as another of Malcolm’s initiatives had been to get the Group’s Supporters’ Club up and running again. John Schmitt had agreed to take on this task. They tried to meet once a month and had recently held a games evening, been to the theatre, had an outing to Cambridge and had plans for a BBQ in May.

 

The District Cross Country was held at Brook Farm on the 18th March with races for Cubs, Scouts, Venture Scouts and those over 20. Entering the Cub race over 1 mile were Gareth Crispen, Mitesh Patel, S Sahi and H Elshovkawi.

 

Gareth, being under 9½, had a one minute start and after the race settled down he took the lead which he held all the way to the finish. However, it was the team from 15th Finchley that won the Arthur Cave Shield with the 22nd finishing in about 5th place.

 

Lawrence Perkin and Stephen Stanyer were the only two Scouts who turned up for the event which meant that they did not have a team. Stephen finished 3rd, one place better than he had achieved in 1983.

 

There were no Venture Scouts so they relinquished the Shield that they had held for four years. In the over 20 race Mr Stanyer, the father of Stephen, one of the Scouts, won the race. With Geoff finishing 4th and John 5th, the Barclay Shield was retained for a further year.

 

At the end of March there were, according to the District census, 17 Cubs in the Pack, 12 Scouts in the Troop and 3 Venture Scouts in the Unit. Around this time Geoff Wright was awarded the Long Service Decoration, having been a leader with the Group since 1967.

 

Furthermore the Venture Scouts lost the use of the ‘The Hanger’ which was not only being used as their meeting place but also where the newspapers from their collections were kept. To solve the newspaper problem they were initially moved to the old Frith Grange Crew Hut that had been acquired and re-erected on the building site.

 

Over the first weekend of May (4th – 7th) Malcolm took two of the Scouts and Venture Scouts (Ketan Majmudar and Martin Chalk) to Snowdonia, accompanied by Geoff, John and Mark. They camped at Beddgelert, climbed Snowdon and walked along the old railway through Aberglaslyn.

 

A week later, and despite the amount of work that had to be done at the building site, the Group continued to honour their commitment to provide a Service Crew at Frith Grange. On this occasion they were also joined by Brian Shaw, a new member of the Unit, who had been a Scout with the 6th Finchley and was known to them having been at their joint summer camp at Santon Downham in 1979.

 

On the 20th May Geoff took some of his Scouts canoeing as part of a District day at the Docklands Scout Project.

 

During the Summer the Cubs and Scouts filled two minibuses and set off for a day at Thorpe Park, an adventure playground in southwest London. Apart from a series of rides and entertainments similar to those found at Disneyland, the park also had some very interesting educational exhibits, including a working farm to wander around.

 

The big Venture Scout activity of the year was the County Expedition ‘Freeway 84’ to Norway. Although open to all Units in the County there was a relatively small number of attendees. These included members of the 2nd Edgware and a party from the 22nd which included some ex-Venture Scouts who were still linked to the Group, and their good friend Zoe Anderson, as no one else from her Ranger Company was going.

 

The event was held over the last week of July and the first two weeks of August, with the first two weeks being spent on the Lofoten Islands, an archipelago which extends into the Norwegian Sea. They travelled initially by boat from Harwich to Kristiansand which was not without incident.

 

It was very stormy and a few miles out from Kristansand Robert McKenzie wondered whether by opening his jacket he could be pushed across the deck. He was, and it resulted in him flying into the railing and cutting his leg open quite badly. After he had been patched up by the ship’s doctor and visited the hospital the journey continued by train to Bodo via Oslo, followed by a lengthy boat trip to the Islands.

 

The location is renowned for its dramatic natural landscapes with towering mountains, deep fjords, surf-swept beaches and idyllic fishing villages, including Nusfjord where they stayed in the fishermens’ huts for two weeks whilst the fishing fleet was at sea.

 

Although the County organised the travel and accommodation, they did not organise any activities. Fortunately Malcolm Duff (22nd Finchley VSL) got together with Roger Colebrook (2nd Edgware VSL) and they took over the day to day running of the trip. They organised their own trips and activities and came together for some joint ones like a Mini Olympics, which included boats and fish throwing.

 

While on the island Richard Hime became the second casualty of the trip when he cycled off the end of the pier into the fjord on a bike he had borrowed from a local who didn’t tell him that the brakes did not work. Fortunately he only injured his wrist.

 

For the third week of the trip they returned to Bodo, located on the Bodo peninsula between the Vestfjorden and the Saltfjorden just north of the Arctic Circle, and camped at a Scout campsite by the edge of a lake. Because the County had not organised any transport, Malcolm and Roger hired a minibus which enabled them to get out of the city and explore the area, including a trip to the Arctic Circle. The 2nd had the use of it for the first three days and the 22nd for the remainder of the time.

 

The Scouts did not hold a summer camp this year.

 

Slow progress continued to be made at the building site, partly due to the reduced number of helpers, with the ditch digging being a seemingly endless task. During the summer Malcolm obtained an old metal garage that was transported to the site and used initially to store tools, and later in the year tarmac was laid for the car park. In addition, slow progress was being made in getting the building plans approved.

 

The Cubs and Scouts had another outing in the Autumn. Their first port of call was the Thames Barrier, where after looking at the ‘real thing’ they went to the visitors’ centre to look at a model and an audio-visual presentation about its construction. They then went to Greenwich to visit the Cutty Sark before having lunch in the park. The outing finished after a visit to the Observatory where they saw all sorts of telescopes, chronometers and charts.

 

The Supporters’ Club continued to get together on a regular basis and following the BBQ in May they attended a concert at Kenwood in July that finished with a firework display, went to the theatre in October to see ‘Big in Brazil’ and enjoyed a dinner together at the start of December.

 

As the end of the year approached there was good news from Daphne – the building fund had increased by more than £1,700 since March. Income from the sale of Christmas cards was £99, more than double that raised in 1983, and the Scout Christmas Post raised £78 against the previous £31. There had even been a substantial increase in the collection of ½p coins (41,203) which may have been down to the fact that they were about to be withdrawn from circulation.

 

It was also decided that all future work at the site would be undertaken by contractors and hoped that the issues surrounding the building regulations could be sorted out early in 1985 so that builders could get started by laying the foundations.

 

More to follow

 

Gallery
To view press cuttings and associated photographs click here.

Memories

Alec worked for Thomas de la Rue the banknote printers and he had a contact with Portals who provided the special paper from their Laverstoke Mill near Overton in Hampshire. Alec happened to mention one day (in 1959) that his Scout Group was looking for a camp site and one of the Directors of Portals said that he would be happy to offer a field on his private Estate. The offer was accepted with alacrity and many happy years were spent there. The only stipulation was that the boys were barred from fishing for Trout in the River Test which ran through the Estate, but otherwise they had the freedom of the area. Apart from one occasion when horses got into the field and ate some of the stores there were no problems – they even made fires and caught skinned and cooked rabbits. A highlight was always a day trip to Winchester by bus – at least it enabled the leaders to have a civilised meal.

Vic Shewry – 22nd Finchley

(Taken from his short history of the Group, written 1985)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Having moved to Finchley after my degree I soon volunteered as a leader with the 22nd Finchley. I was fortunate to have worked with some great leaders – Martyn Daviss, Malcolm Duff, Ron and Jenny Chalk. Also a number of ex-scouts who stayed on the help with the Pack and the Troop, in particular Trevor Sage, Alan Durrant and John Schmitt.

In almost 20 years there are many memories – even some that I can mention here. Being reprimanded by the ADC for being too enthusiastic at one Sixers’ Camp. A parent who told me that her son often came home from Cubs muddy and tired. So I told her that it was OK for him to leave or transfer to another Pack. She replied that he enjoyed everything, it was that she just wished the meetings were a bit more restrained.

 

The satisfaction after running a successful meeting, seeing the Cubs and Scouts gaining badges, certificates and trophies.

Weekends as the service crew at Frith Grange. Staying in the old crew hut with the rats, deciding on the Friday that we would have an impromptu camp with the Scouts, dealing with a “brown alert” blockage in the sewerage pipes for the toilet block, spreading the old road scalpings in the car park before they set solid.

I suspect that like many it was the small things which happen at camp that stick with you. The Cub camp where one boy was having a disturbed night, so we moved him into the spare tent, and early the next morning a couple of the Cubs came to our tent saying “someone has stolen Arjun”. Spending half the night making souvenir plaques for the Cubs.

The Guernsey camp where the Scouts took sugar bags home as presents because there was rationing at home.

 

Also we let the Scouts pack any extra personal kit in with the Troop kit that was to come back separately. When some bits of this kit got delayed there was one Scout in particular who was most exercised about losing his stuff. We told him that it was all insured, but his concern became clearer when he admitted that he had invested his pocket money in cigarette lighters that he planned on selling at a profit. Neither the chemical toilet nor his lighters ever made their way back to Finchley.

The Aberystwyth camp where one young Scout found the local telephone box and kept ringing home. After the camp his father commented that the camp had cost more in reverse charged phone calls than the camp fees!

Spending the night at Fleet Services when Ron’s minibus broke down, and then following the pickup that we borrowed with some of the older scouts on the back.

The Nottingham camp where one Scout came across to us one night sleepwalking and we had to guide him back to his tent.

The Scouts streaking at a weekend Tolmers camp to the amusement of other campers.

On the first evening at the Santon Downham camp we had a visit from the police who were surprised to find there was a campsite. They told us that a dangerous escaped criminal called Dino had lived nearby and may be hiding in the woods. They said that they would be conducting a sweep through our part of the forest tomorrow, and that to avoid worrying the Scouts we should probably go out for the day. So we went out visiting Grimes Graves, but the presence of armed police at every road junction did little to reduce their concern.

Night hikes and activities always seemed to generate memories. Like going out for a night hike and finding one of the footpaths very difficult to follow. Then realising the next day that we had been crossing the M25 which was under construction.

 

Sleeping out in bivvy bags on a clear summer night, waking the Scouts for a late night wide game.

Was it all worth it – definitely yes, and then I went and did it all again in Cranleigh and Guildford with a new collection of memories.

Geoff Wright – 22nd Finchley
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I joined the 22nd in 1971. I didn’t go through Cubs but joined the Scout Troop directly as a friend of mine, Simon Smith, was in the 22nd.

I rose through the ranks to become Patrol Leader of the Panther Patrol, Mark Waterhouse being the Assistant Patrol Leader.

I think I only attended one summer camp my entire time at the 22nd as a Scout, as my family spent every summer in Italy (I’m half Italian).

As an older Scout and then a Venture Scout, I much appreciated the many trips to North Wales and other places, camping and hiking through the mountains. This was almost entirely down to Malcom Duff, his Austin Maxi, and his unstinting commitment to the 22nd and us misfits!

In 1980 the Venture Scout Unit, led by Malcolm, took part in Freeway 1980, a County trip to Iceland. The Unit (christened ‘Biggles’) raised the money to go doing all sorts of jobs including painting the doctor’s surgery in Squires Lane.

Once on the trip, we realised that the County hadn’t done a great job frankly, and Malcolm, again, stepped up to the plate and hired a Land Rover for us to go on a ten-day trip into the interior of Iceland. What an adventure!

And so, my time at this point with the 22nd was spent at Frith Grange crewing, helping with Scouts and Cub camps, quartermastering and fund raising, every single week there were multiple events, activities and meetings – the monthly scrap paper collections being a particular ‘strain’!

In 1984 I moved to Norwich for work, but stayed in touch and occasional activities with the 22nd. In that same year, another Freeway, this time to Norway, and a somewhat better organised trip, again, thanks to Malcolm, we had a most fantastic time!

In 1987 I returned to London for work, and re-joined the 22nd as Venture Scout Leader, with Richard Hime and Virginia Seaman as assistants. We organised various activities, with trips away and film making (which seemed to be their favourite activity!). Upon return, I saw how much more effort was going into fund-raising and work parties at the new hall off Long Lane. This activity sucked a great deal of energy from a small band of people, again, Malcolm driving forward the work.

Also in 1987 I instigated the ‘The Flintstones Climbing Club’, affiliated to the 22nd. Many old boys from the 22nd joined, including Martin, Richard and Simon Hime, John Schmidt, Malcolm Duff and others. We went on many regular climbing trips, and during one year, I logged 87 days on crag and mountain!

In 1988, Mark Waterhouse (now with the 2nd Edgware), myself and a small group of leaders, organised a County Freeway event to The Italian Dolomites. It was another great trip, camping on my dad’s land in Italy.

Around 1989/90 I decide to hang up my scarf and leave the 22nd to pursue a career, but I still remember fondly the lifelong friends I made in the 22nd and an appreciation for the commitment made by the leaders, mainly Malcom Duff and Geoff Wright who made such a positive impression on me and other lads.

Alan Durrant (Curly) – 22nd Finchley
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

There are many special memories I have about the 22nd Finchley, starting from when I first joined as a Cub in 1968 right through to my time as a Venture Scout.

I joined at the same time as my friend Mark Waterhouse who was a neighbour across the road and remember Geoff Wright calling in one evening for an introductory discussion with my mother.

Cubs
I have only three distinct memories of Pack and District activities. Firstly the scout swimming competition, where I was the Cub in the group team relay, the Cub leg generally being the weakest link in the team – not sure how many times I participated as the Cub, and when we started our run of wins. I think Mario Diaz, a reasonable swimmer, was the Venture Scout during most of the earlier years.

Then there was Cub Sports Day at the sports ground along Summers Lane with the knot relay where a team of 4 had about a 25 yard run to a stake with a piece of string and needed to tie four different knots. I took the last leg having been taught by Geoff to tie a bowline with one hand by a clever sequence of twisting the wrist. Our team was fast and I was first to the stake, tied my bowline and then as required, as part of the show piece, leant back on the line of rope, only for one of the knots to fail. I remember being lambasted for leaning back too hard.

Last was that Mark, I and two others were the first in District to achieve the newly created map making badge over 4 weeks. It required us to cut and use polystyrene to make contours and other features from a section of an OS map.

Scouts
I moved up to the Scouts in the summer of 1972 and had the opportunity of going on summer camp that year to Wales. Feeling a bit intimidated and with most of my close friends not going, I declined.

I believe my first PL was Chris Martin although can’t remember the name of the Patrol. When Malcolm took over the Troop he reorganised the patrols and the PLs/APLs choose 4 new names – Falcons, Buffalos, Panthers and Bulldogs.

 

I joined the Falcons as APL with Trevor Sage (Mr Purple as he always wore purple shirts and cords and who ended up cleaning holocaust plaques in Poland) as PL.

We were very fortunate to have Malcolm and Geoff as two of our leaders. Geoff, an expert map reader, would join a lot of the Scout weekend activities, and they were always game for constant activities, which included a lot of weekends walking and camping in Wales and the Lakes, at any time of year.

We would always actively compete as a Troop in District competitions. I remember having great loyalty to the 22nd as it always seemed that we were up against much larger Troops with bigger and stronger boys.

Here are some of the more memorable events, activities and occasions:
Handball: (not the modern international version which where one dribbles like basketball and then throws the ball into a small football goal) – Scouts’ handball was the 4 in a team back breaking, knuckle bruising game of playing the ball on the floor more like football but with hand only. It was a really well liked sport and we competed inter-Patrol and in the District. The Troop team was made up of the older bigger boys – Mark in goal, Alan, Simon Smith, and me with a sub.

 

Simon the centre forward would charge and aim to score with his first hit after the whistle. We would always put up a good fight and made semis, maybe only won the competition once. 15th and 3rd Golders Green always seemed to have much older boys. The competition was generally hosted by 11th or 15th.

Swimming Galas: My brothers (Simon and Richard) and I were fortunate in that we were very good, and along with Paul & David Wiseman and a few others, managed to win several events. The Group team relay was always enjoyable but unfortunately the age gap between my brothers was never big enough to allow a ‘Hime’ team.

 

One year we recruited Curly to swim the Venture Scout leg and even handed over a considerable lead when he entered the water. But, apparently he had problems with his trunks and he had to use one hand to hold them up. We did win but all Curly could say was ‘It was a very exciting race’. The other thing about the gala was the Bovril provided at the end of the competition – those were the days.

Cyclo-cross: I remember that it was too muddy to cycle much so ran pushing bike most of the way. There was a large depression that everyone just slung their bikes down and hoped to pick up a still working and complete bike at the bottom. As well as Alan having a broom stick saddle, his other bright idea was not to have any tyres or inners to avoid punctures.

 

In Malcolm’s van we all thought that that was a good idea until warming up before the race he realised that it was virtually impossible to cycle as the wheels just sank into ground and got stuck.

 

It was pretty astute of the organisers to have a separate race for those with ‘choppers’. A great aesthetically pleasing bike, but it was way too heavy with poor handling for anything other than riding on flat roads, and too expensive for typical Scout.

Church Parades: Once a month we met at Oakfield Road and then formally paraded to St Paul’s Church with the flags and sat through the family service. We hated it most of the time but Patrol points were awarded for attendance and there was a cup of tea after.

There was always one amusing moment as one of the older Scouts, he and only he, would always answer correctly the vicar’s questions to the congregation. It was impressive.

 

Another memorable parade was the District St George’s Day Parade when all the Troops formed up in Northway to march together to St Jude’s church next to Henrietta Barnett school. Whilst waiting the 11th marched past to wolf whistles and John decided to show us his highland dancing, accidentally kicking and breaking our flag pole in the process. Fortunately Geoff pulled out his pocket knife and did a temporary fix so long as the flag was carried carefully. I was the flag bearer.

Ad hoc camps: One Wales trip in the summer involved climbing Snowdon, which we had climbed many times before, but instead of walking down an established route we screed down the west slope. We flew down, best screeing ever, despite shouts from people claiming that rocks were tumbling onto the footpath below. It was our fastest ever descent, but never repeated. But, one of the best ad hoc camps I remember was when Malcolm/Geoff decided on the spur of the moment to camp at Frith Grange. No activities planned and we just hung around doing things with games in the spinney. I remember it was one of the only occasions that Malcolm and Geoff cooked for everyone, with the boys washing up.

New Year Camps: For a least 2 years, some of the older Scouts – Trevor, Alan, Mark, John, Raj and I, would camp at Tolmers to see in the New Year going up a few days before via Ron (for a small fee) and being picked up 2/3 Jan. We messed around in the grounds of Tolmers, a great camp site, walked the mile or so into village for breakfast and were introduced to the delights and dislikes of Pomagne (I couldn’t touch cider for 20 years after).

 

On one occasion another Troop were there in the huts rather than tents, I think 3rd Golders Green, and they came over one evening when we were playing cards. One of them challenged us to a proper card game – Brag. I hadn’t heard of it, but Alan casually accepted. The stakes were very high – 5p pieces, don’t where we got all the coins from. The memorable final hand was an intense affair, no one spoke as the pot kept creeping higher, there was over a £1. When “see you” was finally called, Alan had a prile and won.

 

Another great and brave win for the 22nd.

 

Friday nights: most of those who lived near the south part of Long Lane would finish the night with chips and chat outside the local fish and chip shop. We were always in uniform but there was never any trouble with other boys. One winter with us all wrapped up in our Parkas a skinhead walked past in just an open cardigan, nothing underneath and Alan said, far too loud for our liking, “bet he’s hard”.

Summer Camps: I have lots of memories from all the camps but will limit them to just a few highlights. 1973 (Mevagissey) we camped in a farmer’s field and we had to use water from a well. Simon Smith was so taken with it that he took some home for his mother to drink.

 

1974 (Guernsey) Gache (pronounced gosh), a fruit loaf, and tea, became a favourite when out for the day. Chris Martin and Bobby Mukherjee were the only two Venture Scouts at that time and were camp helpers.

 

1975 (Rydal Hall, Lakes.) My first camp as a Patrol Leader, and as such I was involved with a pre camp inspection of the proposed site and during that trip I was introduced to a pub lunches (my first ploughman’s).

 

For the cooking competition during the actual camp I did Toad in the Hole in a large billie. It was excellent but did not win as some of the bottom was burnt. Malcolm and Geoff also introduced us the benefits of a cup of hot tea when the weather was hot.

 

1976 (Mevagissey.) Who can forget the journey down as reported elsewhere?

 

1977 (Nottingham.) When there someone ‘the mad axe man’ had escaped from the local prison and we saw the police searching the woods nearby. It added spice to the night wide games. I left camp early to join my school rugby training week.

 

Venture Scouts
When I reached Venture Scout age there were enough of us to form our own Unit. Again plenty of memories but I’d like to add a bit about Freeway 1980.

 

Apart from the trip being hugely improved by Malcolm hiring a Land Rover for us to tour the island, I remember: none of the geysers were fenced off and we had great fun visiting all the main ones and playing ‘chicken’; the off licences only opened at the weekend with long queues outside; and many of the inland roads needed fording. Most worthy of mention though is that we climbed Hekla, and we all asked Malcolm why it was smoking, and I think his answer was volcanoes always smoke. It had a major eruption on 17th August 1980 a week or two after we climbed it.

Expedition Competition: The District had an expedition competition and so we (Alan, Mark, Raj and I) decided to enter it in 1978 and our expedition was to walk Offa’s Duke the length of Wales.

 

Raj’s father took us and bought us breakfast at Severn Bridge services when some bright spark suggested we start the walk by walking across the Severn Bridge. This took us most of the day. The walk finished with us paddling in the sea at Prestatyn.

 

For the competition we prepared an innovative audio visual display by recording on a reel to reel tape our adventure with accompanying music and a slide show with technical assistance of Simon Smith. It was great fun but despite our walk and presentation being far more interesting and entertaining than others teams’ we never won which we were hugely disappointed about.

 

Martin Hime – 22nd Finchley
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

My first introduction to Cubs was when Martin Hime took me along one evening, I remember him telling me the first night the new boys always get a bit of a ‘kicking’ all in good humour of course.

From Cubs to Scouts in the Panther Patrol. One evening was rope skills climbing up a rope attached to the beam in the church hall. When it came to taking it down, I remember Martyn Daviss unceremoniously crashing to the floor. Scout summer camps were always a highlight of the year, the incident of John Schmidt’s cooking competition dinner disappearing into the wet-pit, the unsolved mystery of the holiday plates that never made it to the Hime family home and who can forget Mevagissey when the minibus broke down at Fleet and there was not enough space in the hire vehicle for most of the kit and the four patrol leaders; problem solved put the kit on a flatbed truck and tie the patrol leaders on top of the kit along with Curly’s sound system which played Beatles all the way to Cornwall. The Scout Cyclo-cross should not go without a mention, en route to Cuffley Curly’s saddle disappeared and he completed the event sitting on a broom head borrowed from the campsite crew.

Venture Scouts, how did we have time for anything else, as Curly said thanks to Malcolm giving up so much of his time, we were given so many opportunities to get away on mini and full-on adventures. During ‘O’ level year for most of us Curly, Martin, Raj and I walked Offa’s Dyke long distance footpath, we walked across the Severn Bridge to start the journey in Chepstow. Cycle trip around the New Forest in preparation for two weeks cycling through Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium along the Rhine and Moselle, happily it was the season for wine festivals, a lot of them. The big County camps of Iceland and Norway were highlights which of course we carved out in of own individual way.

During Scouts and Venture Scouts, I was part of the 22nd Finchley crew that looked after Frith Grange once a month, Curly and I seemed to spend a fair bit of the summer working at Frith looking after international Scouts and moving mountains of tarmac for the new carpark.

Scouting has provided me with so many life skills and friendships, friends that I still see now. I am still involved in Scouting, helping out at the Ridgeway Scout Group in the Chilterns teaching cycling and navigation skills. I am also part of the committee for the GLN Scout County Southern 50 Challenge and plan the event routes.

Mark Waterhouse – 22nd Finchley/2nd Edgware/GLN Scout County Southern 50 Challenge