When I last wrote I told you about my time as a Wolf Cub in the 12th Morden Group which, as you know, could be regarded as the 'Great Grandfather' of the 1st Lower Morden.

When I was eleven years old it was time to move from the Cubs to the Scouts. That would have been in 1960. Goodness, that's 48 years ago! As you might imagine it was quite a testing time, as it were, moving from being a 'top dog' (or Wolf, I suppose!) in the Cubs to a brand new 'tenderfoot' in the Troop. They were all so much bigger than me but I did move up with my pals Paul and Nick, so I suppose it wasn't so strange. Thinking back, though, it must have been quite something for the Pack to lose all of it's experienced 11 year olds in one go!

So, to the Troop then! I was put in Eagle patrol. The colours on our long, shoulder flash ribbons were green and brown and I recall that the other patrols were called Woodpeckers, Kingfishers and I cannot remember the fourth. Can anyone help? Brian Whalebone would remember! The Scoutmaster, for that was what they were called, was Keith Pocock and I do recall that the G.S.L. Timber Woods was always very much in evidence. Patrol nights were Tuesday and Troop night was Fridays. Our Uniforms were khaki short sleeve shirts, shorts and socks with green garter tabs. They were more for show, I think, than to hold our socks up. Well they rarely stayed up anyway! The scarf was the same as in all the group, green with a yellow border, triangular, an emergency bandage if you needed one and a green beret with the scout emblem, fleur-de-lis on the front. We did customise our uniforms a bit because even in those days we were somewhat fashion conscious - hated those shorts, of course - and we had woven woggles for the neckerchief, or ones made from bone or fur for the more adventurous. We were also allowed to carry sheath knives once we had passed out Axeman badge. These were regarded as a part of the Uniform and were worn quite freely and were regarded simply as a tool, nothing more. Some of us wore the largest knife we could legitimately set our hands on and we would have them on a second belt, hanging low like a six gun in a John Wayne western with a leather lace tying the sheath to the thigh! I had one which had a small knife in a sheath sewn onto the large sheath in a sort of pick-a-back arrangement. How hilarious this seems from this distance in time but I am sure that we did think that we were the bees knees at the time. That being said, those were different times and although we were all very aware of what we were carrying as part of our Uniform it would never have occurred to any of us to think of the knife as anything other than a useful tool. Frankly, any use of it as a dangerous weapon would never have occurred to us! So there is a conundrum. Was youth in 1960 any different from youth today? In some ways maybe but the question should be are Scouts today any different from Scouts of the 60's. I would think largely not and that is because of the training and awareness that the Movement gave then and still provides today.

We also carried staves which were pieces of straight timber made of Ash, I think, They were about five feet long and were marks in feet and inches. The Patrol Leader sometimes had a pennant on his. In this staff you had a measuring device, a tool, and a hiking aid. With two you had the makings of a stretcher, with three the frame for a red Indian style litter or a tripod. With several and some proper lashings you had a sheer legs for lifting or a frame for carrying. Bearing in mind that everyone in the troop had a stave, with several around for extras, then you had quite a lot of material for many useful construction jobs!

We did a lot of Camping. Camping was what Scouts were all about. We had Whitsun Camps, Summer Camps and Patrol Camps. Also, with the terrific grounds that we had behind the Bow Lane Headquarters we had ample space for weekend camps for no other reason than because we felt like doing it! Do you still have those grounds and woods behind H.Q. I wonder. Hope so and I hope that you make just as good use of it as we did. I do wonder though, whether half a dozen lads are able to spend a weekend camping like that without adult supervision. We did, no problem.

I think that my first camp as a scout was a Whitsun camp at 'Patches'. Patches was a large area of woodland on the east side of Leatherhead Road, the A243, down the road from what was then Chessington Zoo and not far from Junction 9 on the M25 (which of course was only a planners dream back then). The area is shown on the map as Ashtead Common. I remember that sometimes we would get there by hiking a short distance from Ashtead railway station. There is still a place nearby called Pachesham Park. I have looked on the Scout Association website but can find no mention of Patches at all but back then it was a proper scout site, quite basic but with clearings for tents, water pipes, camp fire circle and an ariel runway which was great fun but which I am sure was not as long or high as it seemed to me than. Patches grew an abundance of forest and fern and we made good use of it for mattresses (air beds were for girls!) and shelters. I remember staying out there for two nights in a home made shelter as part of my Backwoodsman badge. Patches was great. We could get away and camp and do all the things that Scouts did and I hope still do, with little supervision other than our Patrol Leaders and common sense and it was an excellent character building way of spending your youth and it was good fun, too. We were very self reliant but Scouting also instilled in us the value of the team or patrol and of friends on whom you could rely and who relied on you. I would be interested to find out whether Scouts still use Patches, and if not, why not.

The tents which we used were very different to those you see today. Have a look in any Halfords or Blacks Outdoor shop and you will find and number of space age looking tents made from light modern materials and held up with air or slender carbon fibre poles! The 12th Morden used large heavyweight patrol ridge tents called the 'Niger'. They were made by a company called Benjamin Edgington which is now part of the Blacks Outdoor Company. Did you know that the company started as sailmakers and also made canvas hangars for Army Airships in the Great War?

These tents slept 8 to 10 people, depending on how big we were, of course, and the poles and the ridge were of wood which was about 2 inches in diameter. It all folded up into an enormous canvas bag which was at least three feet by two feet and the poles were extra to that, so a hiking tent it wasn't! Built in groundsheets were unheard of and each day we rolled and tied up the sides and doors of the tent in an operation known as brailing up. This was to allow air to circulate and dry it all out! The tent pegs were wood and about a foot long and were driven in with an enormous wooden mallet.

In these days of cruising the Mediterranean or jetting off to the Caribbean, it sounds very old fashioned of course but when you think that only a few years earlier people went to Butlins Holiday Camps and stayed in ex-Army bell tents for their holidays it gives you an idea of how we lived and the way things were.

The tent was emptied every day for inspection. We were shown how to lay our kit out for inspection on a groundsheet and we did it each day. It was a way of training, which I suppose was a left over from National Service times, but I am sure that it had its purpose although as an 11 year old, I couldn't see it and to this day I still cannot. It wasn't a problem though. It was just the way we did things.

Camps were always a time for hiking expeditions, wide games ( a manic hide and seek affair like paintballing but without the paint ) with tasks like first aid emergencies, map reading and bridge construction with staves, knots and lashings thrown in at checkpoints for good measure! We would swim and make rafts if there was water and the facilities were different depending on whether we were at an official scout site or in a farmers field. Wherever we went it was always good, safe fun and we were able to put into practical use all the skills which we had been taught and tested on at H.Q. throughout the year.

My first Summer Camp was at Kingsdown Scout site near Deal in Kent. I think that there has been some changes there since I camped there in the '60's. I'll tell you more when I write again.............................

John Wilkin once a Wolf Cub, Scout and Senior Scout of the 12th Morden Group, Bow Lane.

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