Friends of the Fourth

NEWSLETTERS can be accessed using the links below. Please e-mail with contributions or news.

2007: FOTF News 20 FOTF News 19 2006: FOTF News 18 FOTF News 17 2005: FOTF News 16 FOTF News 15 
2004: FOTF News 14 FOTF News 13 2003: FOTF News 12 FOTF News 11 2002: FOTF News 10 FOTF News 09

Christmas Edition 2002 No. 10

Editorial

The "Friends" are now on the World Wide Web! If this means nothing to you, do not despair as we will continue to send you this newsletter by Royal Mail. However, the Group now has its own website for those who are able to "log-on". It is on www.4wp.org.uk and the site hosts the Friends' pages - at the moment only a copy of this newsletter is posted, but we do hope to attract more members by this medium. The Group's webpages are worth a look - you can see the current news from all the sections and keep up-to-date with what's going on. The new e-mail address for the Friends is fotf(at)4wp.org.uk. If you do look at the Group's website, you can also benefit the Group's coffers. A link to amazon.co.uk (the on-line shopping site) has been placed on the home page of the website. If you enter Amazon via this link anything you buy will generate commission for the Group at no extra cost to yourself. Please note you will only benefit the Group if you enter Amazon via this special link. Do your Christmas shopping and raise some money for the Group!

We wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and health and prosperity in the New Year.

Editorial Team

This is the tenth edition of the Newsletter and we are very pleased to announce that the editorial team of Peter Kinton ("Kim") and Les Prescott will be joined after Christmas by former Venture Scout Leader Patrick Jacobs. Patrick will bring some fresh thinking to the team and will be a good contact for a generation of former Group Members. Patrick has been busy recently as his e-mail will explain:

"Just a quick note to share our happiness at the birth of Sara Maria today, Wednesday 3rd July at 5.40pm in Kingston Hospital. At 20" and 5lb 11oz, she's got some growing to do, but is definitely capable of filling a large room with noise already! Mother and daughter are both doing very well; I'm still recovering from the shock of being present throughout!"

We send every good wish to Patrick, Alina and baby Sara Maria who are all doing very well at five months.

News from the Group

At the AGM Geoff Seaton stood down as Treasurer and Alison Thomas was elected in his place. Geoff was formerly GSL at 9th Cheam and then DC for Sutton and Cheam. Geoff has been an excellent Treasurer and a first class source of helpful and wise advice. We thank Geoff for all he has done for the Group. He will not be leaving us as he will continue as a member of the Fellowship and will be on hand to help in any way he can.

Hazel Richardson has decided that due to work and other commitments she has decided to step down as Akela of Brownsea Pack. The current helper team have agreed to keep the Pack going for the time being until a new Akela can be found.

At the October Scouts' Own, GSL Keith Daly presented Thanks Badges to Wyn Marston and Eddie Dibbens. Both have been very active and hardworking members of the Parents and Friends Committee for
many years and by their industry have helped raise many thousands for the Group. The badge is only a small thank you but does show their efforts are appreciated by Scouting. Congratulations to them both.

Richard Marston has now taken over as Chairman of the Parents and Friends (P&F) Committee. Terry Garlick previously held this challenging role for several years. He put in a huge amount of work into the role and had much success, with his team, in raising funds for the Group over a long period. Graham Hutton will be deputy Chairman.

Explorer Scouts (by GSL, Keith Daly)

Explorer Scouts are a new section for young people from 14 to 18 years old. They are being organised on a District basis but a Unit of Explorer Scouts will be based at our HQ. Alan Avery has agreed to lead this Unit and boys over 14 have already started to transfer from the Troops into the embryonic new section. The Group needs to agree a formal partnership agreement with the District and this process has already started. It is likely to take some time particularly to settle the financial arrangements but I hope all the formalities can be completed by the end of the year. In the meantime we wish the Unit well and hope all concerned continue to enjoy their Scouting and build a strong and successful Unit.

Summer Expedition (by VSL Alan Avery)

The main Venture Scout Unit event this year was the Expedition to the Pyrenees and the French Aquitaine coastline. We did a 50-mile walk in the Pyrenees in various conditions camping at 2200 metres and climbing to 2700 metres above glaciers. We moved on to the Aquitaine lakes for the therapeutic side of the trip and returned via the Cawley's family cottage near St Omar where we had our traditional final meal. Overall a very successful trip.

World Jamboree (by Ron Kinton and others)

"To bring together representatives of Scouts of the World after the example of the North American Indians, which is called a Jamboree." So wrote Baden Powell, Chief Scout, and the first Jamboree was in 1920 at Olympia, London.

At Christmas Gary Heron, the newly elected chairman of the Explorer Unit, will be travelling to Thailand to take part in the World Scout Jamboree. This will be an unforgettable experience, which he will thoroughly enjoy; meeting Scouts from all over the world, and maybe making lifelong friends. To fund such a visit one third of the cost is provided by the Group, one third by Sutton and Cheam District and one third by Gary and his family. Gary has worked hard to earn the money it has cost and will be a fine ambassador for his Group and his country. We all hope he enjoys his trip and gains a lot from the experience. Gary will be among 3,000 British Scouts who will fly on 22nd December to Malaysia thence to Bangkok, Thailand for two days before proceeding to the Jamboree site at Sittahip and join 30,000 Scouts from around the world. For eleven days the participants will be involved in a great range of activities. After the Jamboree the Scouts will proceed to Kuala Lumpur where they will enjoy home hospitality with Malaysian Scouts.

Over the years our Group has been represented at many Jamborees. Of interest was the Jubilee Jamboree held at Sutton Coldfield in 1957 to celebrate 50 years of Scouting. Dave Sweetland, Brian Yearley, Peter Kinton and Chief Fenner were involved in the event. Since the Second World War, Jamborees have also been held in France, Austria, Greece, Australia, Japan, USA, the Netherlands, Norway and Chile. Among those who represented the Group were Eric Daniel, Bob Yearley, Stuart Cornish, Simon Swift, Marc and Neil Wicks, and Roland Smith.

In 2007, the World Centenary Jamboree will be held at Writtle in Essex. It is hoped that the 4th Worcester Park will be represented and maybe the Group will have a day visit. Perhaps the Troops will camp nearby and we do hope the weather is kind for celebrating 100 years of Scouting.

News from Members

It was good to hear from Paul Dovey. Paul often visits us at the 4th, his latest visit being for the 50th birthday of "B" Pack (now Brownsea Pack). Paul was a Cub, Scout, Senior Scout and Rover in the Group and then Scout Leader of Purple Troop before emigrating to New Zealand (in the seventies, we think). He returned to the UK some years later settling in Hampshire and writes:

"Thank you the latest edition of the Friends' newsletter. I always find it an interesting read, hearing what others are doing in their lives today and also about what happened in yesteryear. Currently I am ADC (General Duties) for the Eastleigh District and also have a watching brief over adult training. I have many happy memories of the 4th and often recount them with Scouting friends.

I am still working shifts but am now on day shifts printing The Portsmouth News, amongst others, and this is only one of 149 titles we print weekly with about a dozen others we print monthly. My parents live in Somerset, although Dad ("Tiger" - ASM in Purple Troop for many years in the fifties and sixties) is not in the best of health, but he keeps smiling and enjoys hearing about the 4th and wishes everybody all the best of health for the future."

Paul sent a photograph of the winning patrol at the County Camping Competition in 1953. Paul was in the patrol along with Tony Burrage (Patrol Leader), Mike Edney, Roy Shenton, John Lamming and one other whose name Paul cannot remember.

We've also heard from Maurice Wilkins. Maurice and Rita are still busy globe trotting and Maurice writes:

"We left home at the end of May and took a special bus service down to Lourdes. We then cycled from there through the Pyrenees and down across Spain to our little hacienda on the Costa Blanca. Once there we spent a slightly more leisurely four weeks before coming home. We were only home for less than two weeks before departing again for a week in the New Forest then straight over to Brittany for another week at an International cycling rally. We were just two out of 15,000 cyclists!

Much of our time away from cycling is spent with the local Operatic & Dramatic Society and we are starting rehearsals for Fiddler on the Roof. I am in a supporting role as Lazar Wolf, the butcher, and have had to grow a very uncomfortable beard. Rita spends many hours sorting out the costumes.

It was nice to receive the Newsletter and read about old friends back in Worcester Park. Give our regards to all who still remember us and, if any are down this way, all are welcome to drop in."

Richard Duck has e-mailed us and mentioned he attended the 65th birthday party of Mick Pryke. Richard writes:

"At Mick Pryke's party, whilst talking about times gone by, I was astonished to learn that he, along with Bob Guille and Mick White, were all past members of the 4th. I have known these guys for the last 40 odd years and this is the first time the subject has ever been raised to the best of my knowledge. I believe they were all a couple of years after me so our paths never crossed in uniform."

Tony Hadfield and Martin Olney were also present at the party and are already members of the Friends. Richard has passed on contact details for the others and we have now signed up Mick White as a member - details at the end of the newsletter.

Stuart Cornish e-mailed us with news that Simon Hedger was over from Australia and would be meeting up with him. The editors were also pleased to meet Simon at the Summer Fair. Amazing how far folk come for events at the Fourth. Not quite as far as Simon, but we were also very pleased to meet up with Andrew Craton who came up from Ringwood for the Fair. It must be decades since he was last at the headquarters, so we took him around the "Estate". It must have been strange for him to see all the buildings that have sprung up over the years and also the loss of the elm trees to Dutch elm disease in the seventies. There is now no Beverley Brook which was culverted and the houses in Sandringham Road which used to be in full view, now cannot be seen as they are hidden by trees.

We also heard from Chris Willis in August from his hospital bed in Truro. We send Chris every good wish for a full recovery from surgery. We'd seen Chris earlier in the year at the annual Friends of Nonsuch Open Air Jazz Evening which the Group Fellowship attended in force. Chris is on the Friends of Nonsuch committee and was involved in the organisation of the Jazz evening.

One of your editors also met Barrie, Bob and Caroline Spelling at the North End. Barrie was over from the US on one of his business trips and the family took the opportunity to attend the All Soul's service at Christ Church with St Philip which happened to be on the first anniversary of their father Mick's sad passing.

Fireworks Evening

This annual event has become one of the best, and best value, displays in the area (visitors words, not ours). This year the event was badly hit by the rain that fell for most of the day and evening. A lull in the rain did result in a last minute influx of people enabling us to break even financially on the night. Thanks to Fred Fletcher (Charterhouse Pack) and his team for achieving another excellent event in extremely trying conditions.

Coming Events

The Group has a full programme of events as usual, and you are cordially invited to attend all of them. The main ones are:

Sun 15th Dec at 6.00pm Scouts' Own Sat 8th March at 2.30pm Grand Auction
Tues 24th Dec at 7.30pm Xmas Eve Service Sat 22nd March at 7.30pm Race Night
Sat 25th Jan at 7.30pm Beetle Drive Sun 30th March at 11.00am Scouts' Own
Sun 2 Feb at 11.00am Scouts' Own Sats 10th & 17th May at 2.30pm Jumble Sales
Sats 8th & 15th Feb at 2.30pm Jumble Sales Sun 8th June at 12noon AGM

See the Calendar and Events pages for full details.

New Members

A warm welcome to a new member, Mick White.