Scouting times part two ended at a Summer Camp at Kingsdown Scout Camp which is near Deal in Kent. I was eleven or twelve then and it was my first summer Scout Camp. I think that the site is still there although it now has a semi- private status of some kind but when I went there it was a National Scout Camp. It was on top of the cliffs with fabulous views over the English Channel and I remember seeing ships passing by all day long. The site was a bit barren, I think, with no woods or trees and that makes me wonder where we got the wood for our cooking fires from. Timber Woods, the Scout leader (Scoutmasters they were called in those days) was a purist. No Primus stoves for him and certainly not the new fangled Camping Gaz cookers. Everything was run on the patrol system and was very traditional with daily inspections, wood fires, tent ends open to the elements even at night and shorts for everyone! Yes, shorts!

We had two one day hikes or expeditions. Each patrol had set routes to be navigated by map and compass joining up at certain checkpoints where there would be some Scouting type task to do such as a mock medical emergency to deal with or a construction job to be done with sheer legs, lashings and the like. Then it was on to the next checkpoint for another task. All were examined and marked by a scouter and all the points were added up at the end of the day and at the end of the camp to decide the winning patrol. Winning or losing and competing to win was a normal and desirable trait in those days and competition was encouraged. We carried food and drink with us on these days out and I vividly recall as if it were yesterday, sitting in the sunshine on the top of the cliffs eating a lunch of corned beef which was sliced off of an enormous block out of a tin and cheese from a similarly large block. The corned beef was warm and soft due to the heat of the day and the cheese was sweating as well. Someone also had a jar of cockles in vinegar and they were quite tasty, too.

In common with most Association sites, Kingsdown had a Providore. That's a posh name for a tuck shop and one of the things you could do was to have the camp brand burned into your leather belt or knife sheath. All the sites had brands and we collected them along with various spare badges, cloth flags and the like with which we decorated our camp fire blankets. Each morning there was flag break, with flag down at dusk, when at a signal, we stood to attention while the Union Flag was raised or lowered. Similar to the ceremony which took place in Bow Lane each Friday troop night. A meaningful and respectful ceremony which I hope you continue these days. I cannot remember how we travelled to Kingsdown but it was probably in the back of a pantechnicon or furniture removal lorry. All the kit and rucksacks were loaded in and we all sat on top of them looking out of the open back at the countryside and passing traffic, such as it was. I imagine that travelling in this way in 2009 would be viewed as a Health and Safety nightmare which would keep many inspectors and welfare officers in days of employment filling in forms and assessments but in the 1960's we knew no fear and knew no different! And it was FUN!

Summer Camp only lasted a week and it was the culmination of a Scouting year full of instruction, patrol camps, badgework and progress. And in those days, of course, Summer was exactly that, a long school holiday with nothing but blue sky, sunshine and great weather.

In our Scout year there was always a Whitsun Camp, usually at Patches but sometimes at Walton Firs near Cobham and I remember that we also went to a site at the back of the Hand in Hand Public House near Walton on the Hill, Surrey. (Boiderhurst?) We also went to Frylands Wood which I think is near Croydon and I remember going to Gilwell Park, too. These camps were all different. There was really nothing at all at Patches except woods and ferns. We dug our own latrine pits which was a very unpopular job but which had to be done and we used wet pits which were for the disposal of waste water. The 'filters' were made from ferns which were burned every day and new ones made. Our tins suffered the BBB treatment..........they were burned, bashed and buried. I expect that today they are collected for recycling and quite right, too. At most of the Association sites like Walton Firs there were proper toilet facilities and we weren't allowed to bury tins.

Patches, being so 'wild', was great for roughing it. We would do our Backwoodsman's badge there and this involved building your own bivouac shelter and sleeping in it, gutting and cooking fish without pots and pans and of course making and cooking twists and dampers! Great and back then we were invincible. There was nothing we could not do!

Mentioning proficiency badges, there were dozens to choose from involving everything from camping and hiking to community service and learned pursuits. As I said before, a boy joined the troop as a tenderfoot. He first studied to become a Second Class Scout. I do not recall specifically what one had to do for that, but you got a badge! All the time, training for and passing proficiency badges, most of which were triangular in shape and were sewn onto the shirt sleeves. As one progressed, the tasks became harder, more involved, more adult even and one tried to become a First Class Scout. I remember that the badge was large and oval shaped. To attain this award the tasks were more difficult. Whereas one had to hike six miles as part of the Second Class badge syllabus, a fifteen mile hike, cross country camping out overnight was required for the First. That meant actually carrying you kit all the way. There were other tasks involved along the way, to do with topography, nature study or similar and all these things had to be written up in a log to provide a true and accurate record of the expedition, its aims and it's results. I wonder if you do this sort of thing today? I would like to think so and if so, I am sure that you do it every bit as well as we did. I remember going to many places with the Troop for Summer Camps. Places which come to mind are Brockenhurst in the New Forest, Gurnard Bay on the Isle of White (Timbers Son was a prison officer at Parkhurst Prison), Branscombe which was by the sea in Devon and Camborne in Dorset. The memories are flooding back to my mind!

As my years as a Scout went on I gained rank, badges, awards and rewards too, along with a certain maturity and confidence in the knowledge that I was part of a Movement which was well known and held in high regard. It is a fact that being or having been a Scout held weight with prospective employers, because it was recognised that the Scouts helped to turn out well rounded people who achieved things in their youth through service and adventure. And such people were and are still much sought after.

I hope that you find that my miscellaneous ramblings have a certain entertainment value. Next time I will tell you about a very special camp at Walton Firs and about the time the 12th Morden put on a 'Gang Show'. I will tell you about 'Mr. Brown and Miss Suzanne' and I hope that Brian Whalebone will forgive me when I mention 'Gerty'! John Wilkin

(Past Times 1)

(Past Times 2)

(Past Times 4)