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Summer 2005 No. 15EditorialYou may have read in the national press of changes being made within the Scout movement. We in the Fourth have already benefited from the change in removing the upper age limit on warranted leaders which has allowed Fred Fletcher to become our new Group Scout Leader. (We are delighted that Fred has written a short article for us this month). Other major changes on the way from Headquarters are the introduction on 1 January 2007 of what Headquarters calls "co-educational scouting" throughout all age ranges, and possible changes to the law and promise. These are big challenges for all of us and we watch developments with interest. SubscriptionsWe have included reminders for those whose subscription is due. We have maintained the level at £2per annum and those who wish to pay in advance are welcome to do so. If, however, you wish to make a donation in addition to your subscription, we'd be grateful if you can clearly specify your wishes. Please continue to encourage former members of the Group with whom you are still in touch to join the Friends - the £2 a year subscription is their only commitment. Fred Fletcher, Group Scout LeaderMay I first introduce myself. My name is Fred Fletcher and I am the Group Scout Leader of the Fourth. I arrived at the Fourth along with my late wife Helen many years ago. Helen was Akela of Charterhouse Cub Pack until she passed away. We both loved this Scout Group and I certainly never thought I would become GSL. I want you to keep this quiet, but I'm actually enjoying the role. My aim is simple - keep the Fourth going and get everyone to enjoy what we are doing for our young people. May I on behalf of all the Sections, thank you for your continuing support of
the 4th Worcester Park Scout Group. We do appreciate it very much. Please
remember that if you are ever in the area of Worcester Park you are very welcome
to visit us. I'm sure we could arrange for you to look around our Headquarters -
it might have changed a little bit. Thank you very much for being a "Friend
of the Fourth". Annual General MeetingAt the Group AGM, we were pleased to hear from our new GSL that the Group is thriving and has increased its numbers since the last census. This is very gratifying. The Group Chairman, Ray Hammett, mentioned that the Group also has a healthy bank balance with the P&F continuing to raise much needed funds under its new Chairman, Kevin Mohr. Kevin has sons currently in the Group. Ray went on to thank the outgoing P&F Chairman, Richard Marston. TsunamiPat Worrall writes: "Sadly David Page, formerly of Silver Troop and Braemar Road, was one of the many victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. He was on holiday, with his long term girl friend Sharon and they had just agreed to get married. Even more sadly for Sharon, her two sons (aged six and eight) were also swept away. We heard this from Josie Cruisey, who still lives in Braemar Road and keeps in touch with David's parents." CharityThe Group has supported fund raising efforts following major disasters in the past and continues to support many charitable organisations in many ways. Following the tsunami, Charterhouse Cub Pack organised a fair and raised £225 for a Sri Lankan tsunami charity, and Birch Beaver Colony raised £212 in one hour with a fair in aid of the Shooting Star Children's Hospice at Hampton. The Scout District of SuttonWe reported in the previous edition of the newsletter of the plan to amalgamate Sutton and Cheam District with Wallington, Carshalton and District to form the new Scout District of Sutton. In May, many of us from the Group attended the very last Sutton and Cheam District AGM at Wallington Methodist Church hall. Wallington, Carshalton and District held their last AGM simultaneously in the Wallington District Scout HQ and the two Districts combined afterwards for the very first Sutton District AGM. Although one or two folk were mourning the passing of an era, there was generally much goodwill being generated for the new District. Very positive speeches were given by the new District Commissioner John Perkins, by the Mayor, Tony Brett-Young and by the Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake. All GSL's were then given "goody bags" by the DC containing new badges for everyone and new warrants for all leaders. The new badge depicts the oak tree contained in the Borough's logo, with the lavender fields of Carshalton in the foreground and Whitehall in Cheam in the background. ApeldoornScouts and Explorers from our linked Scout Group from Apeldoorn in the Netherlands will be camping at our headquarters in July. The scouts will be hiking from Holmwood to Bentley Copse, camping there for a few days while the Explorers will be visiting North Wales. News of MembersWe've gleaned the following titbits of information about Members over the past six months: Silver WolfWe were pleased and delighted for Sheila Kinton who was awarded the Silver Wolf in the St George's Day honours this year. This was very well deserved as Sheila has been in Leader roles in the District since her Sea Ranger days, with a short break while bringing up the children. In the Fourth she stepped into the breach in Brownsea Cub Pack in 1964 following the untimely death of the then Akela, Mrs C P Hunter. She continued as Akela for over 30 years until retirement in 1996 during which time she also undertook a District Cub Scout Leader role. Following the lifting of the upper age limit, Sheila has returned as a warrant holder as Beaver Leader of Birch Beaver Colony. She has also continues to support Brownsea Pack as a camp helper. Sheila attended the St George's Day Service at Windsor this year as an Award Holder. The photograph of the new Chief Scout, Peter Duncan, with his arm around Sheila is another story... New BabyPatrick Jacobs writes: "Just a brief note to share our joy at the birth of our son Alex (7½lbs) some three weeks early on Wednesday 9 March. The birth went smoothly (I woke my mum at 3.45am to come and babysit - who else can you 'knock up' at that time of night?), got to hospital at 4.30am, Alex born at 6.09am and Alina and Alex came home the next day. That night, Sara displayed a few spots and woke us in the early hours itching from head to foot covered with chickenpox. After several days, Alex had a blood test as his jaundice was worsening and was re-called to hospital for 24 hours with Alina. They came home yesterday and Alex seems much better. Unfortunately Sara is still spotty, and although delighted with her brother, is going through a very demanding phase!" RetirementLes Prescott has recently retired from his service with the London and Surrey County Councils and we wish him a long and happy retirement. He continues to lead Brownsea Cub Scout Pack which has a membership of 24 cubs and he has a team of six assistant leaders. Chelsea Flower ShowWe know of some Members who attended, but we were pleased to see another of our Members, Andrew Colquhoun, former Senior Scout and Queen's Scout in the Group, on television in his role as Director-General of the Royal Horticultural Society. Phil MenhennetMany of our readers will regret to learn that Phil Menhennet died in December. Phil was GSL of 1st Hook and County Commissioner for Greater London South-West for many years. Betty Farrow (nee Hadfield) We regret to record the death of Betty, daughter of the late Mr and Mrs Fred Hadfield and sister of Tony, from whose letter we quote: "It is a very sad time for my family as my sister Betty Farrow (Hadfield) died of heart failure on 10 March at Southend Hospital. As you may know she had, for over 20 years, suffered from heart problems which resulted in her having to have two major heart operations during that time. She will be greatly missed but at least we were all with her at the end." Victor WashingtonWe were sorry to learn of the death of Vic Washington, husband of Enid and father of Colin and Paul. The excellent toilet block at the H.Q. was designed by him in his capacity as a Quantity Surveyor. Contributions from MembersFollowing our "bumper bundle" of correspondence for the last issue, our postbag was less full this time! We would welcome comments from Members and don't forget that as well as writing or telephoning, you can now also e-mail us on fotf(at)4wp.org.uk We do hope that you can find time to keep in touch with us. In this issue, we will continue the item from John Pryke. You will recall from the last issue how John became known as "Brooza", and how he managed to scrape through his First Class Badge and preparations for the long awaited summer camp in Scotland. John continues... "Finally the day dawned when we were to go on our Loch Ness expedition. It was, I believe, the first Summer Camp undertaken by the Seniors independently of the main Troop. Peter Kinton led our group; our patrol leader was David 'Mousey' Simmons and also present were Bernard Lilley, Alan Verge and me. That afternoon I shouldered my Army surplus rucksack that, with its full load, turned our bathroom scales at over 801bs. The momentum generated by the effort needed to raise it to my shoulder almost threw me off of our front porch into a rose bush. It felt as though I had a small bungalow on my back! Amazingly, after two weeks' tramping around the hills and mountains surrounding Loch Ness I hardly noticed the weight. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be that fit once more? We travelled overnight by train and early morning found us at Fort Augustus, from where we got the bus to Fort William. There were three campsites beside the Loch. The first was at Fort William at the southern-most end of the loch and this is where we initially camped. At night the moonlight was quite eerie and it was very easy to imagine Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, pulling itself out on to the shore and lumbering about! A second camp was about two miles along the western side of the loch at Invermoriston, and the third was at Foyers, perhaps three miles along the eastern shore. This is where we camped for most of the two weeks. The camp was run by the Oxford University Rover Crew and our activities included the monitoring of all movement on the loch with the primary aim of locating Nessie. No, we didn't actually see it, but we could well understand why the stories have persisted - in a certain light or with a certain wind-driven ripple on the water, or even on one occasion what we finally established was a half-submerged log, even the most sceptical might be persuaded that there was truth in the legend. "To be continued... E-Mail AddressesAll e-mail correspondence for Friends of the Fourth should be addressed to: fotf at 4wp.org.uk
This page was last updated on 10 February 2006 |