16th Reigate Scout Group

Newsheet

Number 195

October 2004

Several bits of news have come in during the six months since the Reunion edition.

Both at the Reunion, and in the subsequent News-Sheet, I forgot to thank those who sent me good wishes for my cruise last January. The Galapagos Islands are well worth visiting, and the Inca site at Macchu Picchu is everything the archaeologists say it is. The Galapagos Islands are right on the Equator, but the temperature is quite pleasant. The wild-life is very varied, and I saw all the birds, turtles, seals, and fish that were expected. I even went snorkelling for the first three times in my life, making it easy to appreciate the brightly coloured fish. I also found that one of our local guides was a Scout Leader in the only real town on the islands. He sent greetings to all my Brother Scouts.

Since last March, in the course of visits to Norfolk, I have met Patrick and June Carpmael, Peter and Margaret Brice and family, and Keith and Sue Chappell.

Peter Brice took me on a stroll round Worsted, once a weaving town which gave its name to the cloth. Like many East Anglian villages, the size of its church indicates that the population was once much greater. It makes up for this now by holding an annual festival of crafts and local activities, - attracting large crowds. At one stage, I wondered whether Peter’s back garden was an extension of this, with grandchildren bouncing on a trampoline.

My brief visit to Keith Chappell also included ambling round the village, - Banham, in south Norfolk; but we had earlier chatted into the small hours, reminiscing on early Scout Group camps, particularly those in Luxembourg and the Black Forest. Keith himself retired from teaching some years ago, but still does occasional supply work and examining.

Patrick Carpmael is still teaching in Norwich, but now lives near Mundesley on the north Norfolk coast. Among other things during my visit, he got out a photograph album and showed me pictures of an exciting incident at our 1978 Spring Camp. The News-Sheet for June that year carried the headline :
“Scouts rescue damson from raging torrent”.
( The typist corrected the numerous other marvellous spellings ! ) We had built an ambitious, but very successful, suspension bridge across the River Medway. Mark Patchett’s sister, Sally, had dared to try crossing it, but somehow managed to slip. ( The first photo suggests that a mischievous Scout might have had something to do with this ! ) Sally was left dangling a foot or two above the water. One or two other parents have since remarked how impressed they were with the efficient way a couple of Scouts in canoes followed Robin’s instructions, and rescued her, dry
Either Patrick or June recorded the whole escapade with photos, and with the magic of modern electronics we are able to reproduce them here.

Freddie Huggins was recorded in the 1956 ‘Scouters’ Song’ as “always losing things”, when he was a first-year Scout. He recently got in touch with the School, and has also sent me a potted biography.
He remembers singing the ‘Choirboys’ and ‘Fairies’
songs in what must have been our first Scout Concert. It seems he left School before the end of his fifth year, but did achieve a place in the hockey team. He went into the Army and later was awarded ‘Regimental Colours’ for Hockey, Orienteering, Cross-Country Running, and Skiing. He also ran three London Marathons. His twenty-five years of Army service finished with the Falklands conflict, by which time he was a Battery Sergeant-Major. This rank gave him his own cabin on both the ‘QE2’ and ‘Canberra’.
After a brief bit of security work, Fred spent fifteen years as landlord of the ‘New Inn’ at Abthorpe in Northamptonshire. At the end of this, he was given a celebratory military send-off by the villagers. (I have a contact address for him for anybody interested.)

Nearly five years ago, I was settling down to watch a BBC2 programme about Ancient Rome when the presenter mentioned the name Chris Wise. ‘We had a Scout of that name,’ I thought; and when he appeared on the screen, there he was, - hadn’t changed a bit. The programme was showing an attempt to see whether the Romans could have put an awning over the spectators at the Colosseum. They managed to rig a 20ft. vertical pole supporting a similar horizontal one sticking out over the arena. Then they realized they needed a pulley at the far end, and discussed who would climb out there. ‘Just like Scouts on a pioneering project !’ I thought. Chris also pleaded guilty to having designed the wobbling Millennium Bridge. In September this year, he came to talk about engineering as one of the School’s ‘Tea Time Lectures’, which proved most interesting to some of our Sixth Formers and visitors from other colleges.

I have recently seen James Chesterton playing hockey for Reigate Priory. He has just started in his first post teaching Geography and Games at St.George’s College, Weybridge.

We have heard about the beautiful Mariella in Switzerland, the daring Sally on the Medway, and the Guides on the Portmadoc train. If any other Old Scout has exciting memories, it might be fascinating to share them. Indeed, tell us your news; others are interested.
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I have recently been reading a biography of Robert Baden Powell, by Tim Jeal. It is very comprehensive, and obviously thoroughly researched, running to several hundred pages. Tim Jeal tries hard to be objective, but also to defend our Founder from the criticisms of earlier writers, and such programmes as that on Channel Four. In his long life, B.-P. naturally made mistakes, and equally his opinions changed, so that he often said or wrote things which appeared to contradict earlier statements. This biographer makes it clear that B.-P. never intended Scouting to be a military cadet organization, though he did suggest that Scout training might be a useful preparation for Army service. After the First World War, he clearly wanted the Movement to be a world-wide vehicle for encouraging Peace among the nations.

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There will probably not be another News-Sheet this year, so have a
Happy Christmas.

Robin H. Bligh, 39, Monks Walk, Reigate, Sy, RH2 0SS.
< robin@reigategrammar.org > 01737 - 248135