Reg Mitchell Patrol 2nd Rushden St Mary’s Troop Boy Scouts (Feb 1955) ‘Look Wide’ Reg Mitchell (Spitfire) Patrol Spring 1955 P/L R. Miles P/S J. Collins S. Fensome D. Newell (Treasurer) Scouter in Charge A.S.M.(S) N. Wildman (Nog)

Reg Mitchell Patrol Log book

Feb 3^rd 1955

It was decided and the motion was passed, to form a Senior Patrol, at the court of honour on Feb. 3^rd 1955.

We gained access to the Ranger den and our first night was Tuesday 8^th Feb at 7.30. The first few nights were taken in re-roofing and a general clear out was made. A clock was presented by A.S.M. J. Burton and the next few nights were held was discussions for camp, socials and activities in general.

[The Den was over the stables near the Rectory in Rectory Road. Several outbuildings and a cottage were there. The cottage was for Mrs Brown, who worked at the Rectory, and her son. - no pictures found!]

The first hike was held on Sunday the 24^th April being attended by four members and was reported to be wholly satisfactory.

April 1955

Our social on April 21^st raised enough money to pay for the roofing felt used on the roof. The social although not a complete success was not a flop and the younger boys had quite a good time.

Work was resumed on the H.Q. and the small room was repainted just after the Easter holidays. At this point J. Collins was taken to Northampton General Hospital with a blood poisoned hand developed from blisters received during “Bob-a-job” week.

A record player has been kindly donated by A.S.M. J. Burton and a “stags head” from the Y.M.C.A. A Rover canteen was purchased for 17/6 and together with a 2^nd hand kettle and a tea pot it was hoped to build up an attractive set of camp and hike equipment.

Whitsun Camp. May 28-31^st 1955. Melchbourne Park

Was the first camp attended by a senior patrol since 1949 and with excellent weather and site it was undoubtedly the best camp since then. The seniors were represented by T/L J. Nicholls, P/L R. Miles, P/S J. Collins, S. Fensome and D. Newell who didn’t sleep but turned up every morning at 8am and stayed until 9pm.

A second hike was held on the 5^th of June led by A.S.M. N. Wildman and P/L R. Miles who were accompanied by 4 junior members who no doubt will not forget the day.

August Camp. July 29 –August 5^th 1955. Llangollen, North Wales.

The seniors were not represented as a patrol but 2 members (J. Collins & S. Fensome) however were placed in charge of 2 junior patrols. Rumours were heard of an evening visit to a Guide camp followed by a night under the stars – together with other events this camp will perhaps remain unique.

Work was resumed on the den again and Wednesday 31^st and Thursday 1st Sept saw the putting in of a new floor by R. Miles and S. Fensome and we could then call our H.Q. safe, habitable and it didn’t look too bad either.

S. Fensome was taken to hospital and said goodbye to his appendix but never the less returned after a week with spirits high.

Friday 7^th October, everyone went to see “The Dam Busters” after which N. Wildman, J. Burton, R. Miles and J. Collins retired to the rectory where in the company of Higham seniors we spent a social evening. However with cups of tea we managed to persuade Higham to return to their tent and managed ourselves to crawl into camp beds – at 2.30 Saturday morning. Saturday was spent cooking – and cleaning up the mess – while the juniors prepared for the afternoon competitions which, of course, St Mary’s won. The Guides were invited to a camp fire in the evening which for various reasons was not considered a complete success, this was remedied later however when about 15 senior Guides, the Higham seniors together with a few gash scouters (after they had cleared up the camp fire site), sat down, talked, devoured tea, biscuits and sandwiches in the den at the seniors expense. The Guides left at about 10 pm and unfortunately T/L J. Nicholls was sober enough to find the Rectory and eventually crawled up our steps, however at about 11.40 pm we left him singing down the drive and spent another couple of hours with Higham seniors, crawling into bed at about 1.30 am. Despite our lack of sleep we managed to get some breakfast and be in time for church parade Sunday morning.

One Tuesday evening we were visited by the Rector, the result of which, the week after, N. Wildman will not forget. On October the 7^th the electricity supply was re-installed and with 3 framed photographs and a felling axe from N. Wildman we were living in luxury. We had been sending the “Scout” every week to Patrick Drage in Northampton Hospital who has now returned home. One Tuesday just before Xmas our A.S.M. began throwing his weight around due to our “supposed” lack of support for his feeble attempt to arrange a social. As a result “the boys” decided to do something about it: the British Legion Hall was hired; a date fixed; an M.C. found and half the invitations sent out within 4 days.

December 1955 – January 1956

There were no celebrations in the Scouting world during Xmas or the New Year; our time was mostly taken up arranging and preparing for Jan 26^th, our Social and Dance date.

Our third hike was to be held on Sunday, Jan 22nd, if the weather was fine. We were blessed with a beautiful sunny morning and 5 cheery scouts set out towards the scout H.Q. where lo and behold there was Nog in civvies, recovering from Saturday nights hangover, sitting on top of a radiator. So surprised on seeing the lads in full hike kit and uniform: “You’re not going are you?” “I’m not, the weather forecast said that it might rain and you never know it may be muddy.” We never knew whether he wanted to go fishing or that it was a woman who kept him away but whatever happened he didn’t want to get his knees cold. However under the leadership of P/L(S) R. Miles, J. Collins, S. Fensome, D. Newell and P. Corbett set forth on another “first class” hike. (Note: The mud was quite bearable and as for the rain, Nog wouldn’t have been able to get drunk on the amount of rain we had that day).

Our Social and Dance on Thursday, Jan 26^th at the British Legion Hall fell nothing short of an 100% success. All of our guests said that it was the best they had been to; Nog was so surprised at what we could do, yes and even old Nick came along with his “Yeti”. It even resolved Higham Scouts to try the same thing. Thanks must go to Mr Charles Jones, admirable M.C.; Mr H. Tear, piano; Mr B. Adams, drums; Mrs Miles and Mrs Brown, catering; and all the girls who helped with the refreshments. The attendance, together with the scouts, etc. was nearly 70 and although our net profit was only £3:12s:0d we were satisfied that “in true tradition” everyone had had a good time, including the girls . . ., and that our next would be even more of a success.

Our “one year old” birthday fell on the 3^rd Feb and on 21^st (a little late) we invited up Higham seniors and about 15 guides and friends. The Rector gave a short talk after which we ate biscuits, cakes and drank tea. The evening was finished with games conducted by Don Wildman and all had a good time. N.B. Nog was never seen with the girls, he spent the whole evening in the small room . . . washing up!

3 members took the handyman’s badge test on 23 Feb. R. Miles, J. Collins, S. Fensome set forth on the Venturer’s badge hike on 7^th April . . !

Whitsun Camp 1956

Melchbourne was again the site of our Whitsun camp, in grand style & grand weather. Collective patrol cooking was again reverted to and as expected the Seniors were loaded with all the constructive work. Our “spare” time however was spent in more lighthearted entertainment – on Monday we were visited by 15 girls . . ! Poor old Nog was so upset he even took his shirt off . . . an action appreciated by only one of our female friends – the others took flight “to the woods” at the sight. Everyone went home “satisfied” however after their day out with a difference. For this Camp “The Boys” welcomed a new member: M. J. Walker – otherwise known as “Man ‘ook”, and it is hoped that he will remain with us.

On June 8^th 1956 the writer of this book gained his Queen’s Scout Badge . . . the last test - part of the Venturer badge was gained with the help of 1^st Rushden Scouts, D.C. Don Winters & R. Clayton after the refusal of “The Boys” to have any part in the matter – a true sign of scouting friendship & spirit of “The Boys” towards their P/L.

We started off last year with good scouting intensions and I hold myself to blame for the deterioration of spirit which we started with. Throughout the past year our A.S.M. N. Wildman has practically always turned up in uniform – us nil. Our scout work on Tuesdays apart from “build” our den and discuss future scouting matters has been nil. The spirit of “The Boys” has fallen to a couldn’t care less & blow you Jack I’m OK attitude and although I am partly myself to blame I am ashamed of the Reg Mitchell patrol. I hope that in the near future we shall learn by our mistakes and as I now finish writing this record as a P/L and take steps the become an A.S.M. I hope that we the St Mary’s Senior Scouts and for that matter the St. Mary’s Scouts we continue in the spirit in which we set out.  Roger Miles.

After cooling off . . . I find myself dead lumbered with this same position until after August and so to remedy matters I have done some stirring up among our lackadaisical Scouters and with respect to the patrol a heap big shake up is due . . !

July 1956

4 Scouts turned up in uniform at the annual garden fete and gave a very helping hand with the stalls . . . a tea in the den with the girls afterwards was excellent.

All further Tuesdays were spent in “full uniform” when a masterly display of lumberjacking & tree felling was put on. The Rector seemed also rather concerned with these events and others and it appears that The Boys will have to do some shaking up in other directions. 2 cricket matches were played up the Jubilee Park, the first against Higham Scouts which we won by 5 wickets and the 2^nd against Podington Scouts which we lost by 28 runs – but all enjoyed the “expts”.

Myself & J. Collins are preparing for a hike in North Wales – while our A.S.M. is getting niggled about the possibilities of a flop at August camp – I will assure him that he need have no worries about this, but it also appears that the district officers are beginning to wear their hats too high, seeing that they themselves are probably the cause of a large percentage of the local deterioration of figures.

August 1956

A most enjoyable 5 days were spent by myself and J. Collins in North Wales where among other things Snowdon was one of our objectives (all 3,561 feet of it) but with a little bit of sun and a little bit of rain and 60lb rucsacks we got a taste of everything.

August Camp 1956 Sandringham Jamboree

Souvenir from Sandringham

Our August camp started in fine style wit a steady drizzle and as the seniors, being on the lorry, were first on our site at Sandringham Park, the marquee was smartly erected. Site did I hear someone say? 800 square feet with two trees of criminal size (about 70 feet high and occupying about 300 square feet each) to hold 5 patrol tents, a store tent and a 30ft marquee – however with a big moan at the Sup-camp leader – who had the habit of presenting himself anywhere at anytime – we smartly moved our boundary rope back 6 yards, the result of which our adjacent camps cooking gadgets went for a proverbial “muck cart”. Life for the first few days was rather up and down (more down than up). The food arrangements, menu and cooking were literally atrocious but after another heap big moan this was also remedied. However: Scouts Own on Sunday was attended by the troop and no doubt Joe Soap will remember that same service for another reason; the Deputy Chief Scout arrived late on Sunday and we were “inspected” by him on Monday morning (note: If other inspections followed this same principle it would be a good thing). At the expense of the Deputy chiefs address on Monday afternoon an afternoon and evening was spent in Hunstanton with Higham Seniors - another memorable occasion. A night hike on Thursday (from 10pm to 1am) was indulged in by about 150 senior scouts and a great deal was gained by all, except Nog who lost his torch, for myself a cough, a cold and a good soaking were about all I gained - a new method of thumbing a lift was discovered by some members . . . Nog meanwhile, nursing a sprained ankle, was doing the rounds with the local nurses.

Friday morning our ubiquitous Sub camp leader decided to kick us out of bed, a most pointless occupation. When asking: “Why don’t you build more kitchen gadgets?” . . . he was given the most unusual reply of the day – “what do we buy the wood with . . .buttons?” 90% of our cooking was done on primus stoves however. The camp on the whole was O.K., many friends were made (the Germans, the man from Garvestone and his “cuppa dirty ‘ot”, a real R.S.M. to mention only two). The campsite to a visitor did no injustice to Scouting and with 3,500 scouts there the organisation was good up to a point. The general moan and glum feeling in our troop was the strictness and lack of activities – or should I say our kind of activities.

On Friday John and Dave went to East Runton on business and the rest of the camp went to Hunstanton to the Swimming baths followed by a real gem of a camp fire on the return. Following a Court of Honour on Friday evening Nog and the Seniors pushed the troop around on Saturday morning to get the work done - this was done very well apart from one rather unco-operative bod or should I say conscientious objector - the S.M. However after being pulled out of the mud by the RAF and the USAF the lorry was only 3 hrs late and we arrived home by 10.30pm.

October 1956 – January 1957

On October 2^nd we welcomed two new members to our patrol, they being Seniors of St. Peter’s troop.

We had during the period between August camp and October lost two of our members who had left to become officers, although still wearing Senior Scout uniform, complete with flashes and gash wallpaper obtained during their course as Senior Scouts.

Senior Patrol Second S. Fensome hoped to complete his first class journey on October 6/7^th. P/L(S) J. Collins completing his on September 1st/2^nd.

Subs have been revived after a few months without. 6d. per head, per week was agreed upon.

The Patrol is now under new leadership with J. Collins as P/L and Stew Fensome as P/S. Our total manpower is now: J. Collins, S. Fensome, M. Walker, G. Fensome, J. Dickenson, B. Lawman, the latter two being the two from St. Peter’s troop.

Between October and Christmas the lads had a slack period, but in other spheres we covered quite a lot of ground. In the region of about a dozen parties were attended.

The B.P. Guild and Local Scouts had a social at the Waverley Hall on Tuesday, 22^nd January 1957 at which R. Miles and J. Collins received their Queen Scout badges. At the social the boys monopolised the bar.

During the early part of the year most of our Tuesday nights were spent Spring cleaning.

Senior Scouts Hike, 20^th October 1956

P.L.(S) J. Collins, M. Walker, A.S.M.(S) N. Wildman. Weather cool and sunny, turning to rain.

11.00. Left with S.M. W. Knott in car to starting point. This was unknown to the participants as party was blindfolded before the start.

11.40. After a rather puzzling journey we were released and left to fend for ourselves and after locating the point as Newton Blossomville we fixed a compass bearing on Newton Blossomville Church. 340 degrees. This was from the Beds/Bucks County Boundary sign at our Starting Point. Proceeded in an easterly direction thus having the river Ouse on our left and railway on right.

12.52. Continued in same direction mainly because the road went in this direction and passed a wind pump on the right. With the river still running almost parallel on our left the righthand side developed into a spinney and then opened out into green fields with a sprinkling of trees growing. A low stone wall surrounded this area.

12.00. Arrived at cross-roads with small stone lodge on our right. The only point of interest being a coat of arms on the side. Bearing on Turvey Church at this point 360 degrees.

[Gap in story at this point]

Whitsun 1957

The Whit Camp was again held at Melchbourne Park. It was another memorable “scout camp” with the boys camping as a patrol. Most of the boys time was spent playing records on the portable gram and “Giddy-up-a-ding-dong”, after Lights Out will no doubt be remembered for some considerable time. After taking Communion at the village church (with more gen marching) the boys returned for dinner. Rabbit and stew were on the menu and a good meal was had. We were visited by some females on Sunday afternoon which filled in some more time, meanwhile a game of cricket was in progress and the juniors seemed to be enjoying themselves. The journey home was uneventful, but most remarked that they had a “bon” time.

1957 Summer

During the summer our activities were numerous but most memorable was our “bash” at pioneering. Pioneering did I say: well a Monkey Bridge was our effort. After a little practice we built our first bridge in public at Riseley Church Garden Fete. The rector had just started a troop and asked us along (with our bridge). The bridge was quite a success except when the vicar fell off (good job it wasn’t over a river).

Souvenirs from Sutton Coldfield

The Jamboree will be remembered for the great distances one had to walk to get anywhere, but the Jamboree itself must have been one of the greatest shows and world get-togethers of scouts there has ever been.

1957 Autumn

The rest of the year was spent discussing what to do next August and it was finally agreed to have a hiking tour in Eire. We got in some practice hikes, one of which is referred to a few pages back in this log.

1958 Spring

During the early part of the year two hikes were attended. The first was when the boys were driven blindfolded in the S.M.’s car to the other side of Kimbolton. Lunch was had in a wood just this side of Kimbolton and after lunch we struck off in the direction of Rushden. After wandering about in the wood we finally got lost (even with a map & compass). We met a local boy and he told us we were just the other side of Dean, so we thrashed down to the road and had an uneventful journey home.

The other hike was in a different light, namely a night hike. The route being as follows: Scout H.Q. - Wymington Road - bridle path - Bedford Road - Forty Foot - Podington Aerodrome - Dungee Corner (where a meal was had) - Farndish - Irchester - Ballast Hole - Sandpits - Scout H.Q. After numerous attempts and much cursing and pushing we finally got the A.S.M. Wildman’s car started and were delivered home at about 7 o’clock.

Whit Camp 1958

The Whit Camp was again held at Melchbourne Park. It appeared the locals were having a Garden Fete on the Saturday and they thought the scouts would like to put on a show. A bridge was decided upon and all the poles were cut to our specifications and given to us by the owner. Although no seniors were present at the camp, J. Collins went over on Saturday and watched the juniors put up the bridge, which they made quite a good job of.

Summer 1958

During the “summer” months the boys scouting was quite active. We put in a great deal of work on the bridge which we proposed to put on as a display in the arena at Rushden Carnival.

With an eye to the future and purchase of some hike tents, both the troop’s marquees were put to good use and served useful purposes at many functions during the summer, e.g. Hawkes, Tennyson Road School, Carnival, Wymington Gymkhana and Souldrop Flower Show. This lending of marquees is quite profitable although we cannot charge and all monies received are donations. Also during the summer to help with funds some pencils were bought and sold by the scouts and cubs for the camp equipment fund. While all these activities were going on seven of the “boys” were planning and preparing for a fortnights hiking trip to Galway, Eire. Thanks are due to many who, during the preparations gave help and advice and especially to our own S.M.(S) Nog Wildman who arranged most of the travel which involved quite a lot of time and correspondence.

Rushden Carnival, Saturday June 18^th 1958

The bridge, in condensed form, was delicately placed on Stevens’ lorry and followed by a large USAF Crash tender and an old steam engine with fairground organ we joined the lengthy parade. The lorry was driven by S.M. John Orritt, accompanied in the cab by S.M.(S) N. Wildman whilst numerous other Senior Scouts and gash hands adorned all parts of the superstructure dodging missiles in the form of pennies.

It was estimated that the front half of the parade was entering the hall park while the rear end was just leaving Spencer Park – the crowds were very thick all along the route but unlike other Carnivals there was no rain! Our display was to begin at 5.30 and bang on the dot the boys sprinted into the arena in immaculate order carrying tripods, spars, rope, mallets and all the rest of a complicated collection of equipment – the commentary over the speakers was given by Reg Clayton. S.M. W. Knott and A.S.M. R. Miles were exhausted and out of the act after knocking in 4 stakes in 3 minutes at one end and N. Wildman was likewise indisposed after completing the same feat at the other end. However, numerous Senior Scouts were busy with spars, lashings and pegs and the bridge went up in record time, it looked good and it held too! (if it hadn’t there were enough of us there to hold it up so no one would have known). Immediately after the completion the arena was invaded by n (where n is a large integer) small, screaming, fighting, shouting, running kids – in the chaos following there were as many as ten of them on it at one time and it still held! Good thing those stakes were in well, nevertheless sanity was restored and photographs of the bridge and its builders were taken – it wouldn’t have looked better if the River Kwai had been running beneath it.

The Boys Brigade were giving a P.T. display immediately after our show – at least so they thought, but you can’t run and jump about with 3 foot stakes protruding ad lib from prominent spots in the turf. So whilst all the little B.B. boys were lined up in shorts back came a dozen or so of the Seniors with tripod and block and tackle and proceeded to extract the stakes one by one. An ingenious method of extraction discovered by some half wit, never been used before by us but brought many cheers from the crowd and many curses from the B.B.

Sketch of the Bridge	How to extract Stakes

Preparation for Irish Tour July 1958

After the Carnival and before the 18^th July were work, worry and waiting for our coming tour. The tickets, transport and all the official preparation and work was done by S.M.(S) N. Wildman and it was a blow to us all when he was taken ill and could not come. John Harrison had to enter hospital just before and so our party was reduced to 5: A.S.M. R. Miles, P/L J. Collins, M. Walker and S. Cutmore from St. Mary’s and D. Ward of the 1^st Higham Ferrers troop.

The troop had already purchased 3 brand new Bukta Falcon hike tents and with axe, trenching tool, water bucket and many other articles new from the shop, together with the older and more recognised articles of scout gear we set forth from Rushden Station at 7.25 pm on 18^th July.

This tour was a large step forward in the progress of the Reg Mitchell patrol and it is for this reason that an accurate Log report is being devoted to it. To save repeating myself I will only give an outline of the event as it happened and not go into detail.

The journey across was long and pretty miserable but we eventually found our first camp site – The Silver Strand in between Salt Hill and Barna. The first two days of hiking were blessed with glorious rain but as time went on the weather improved and by the time we reached the North West Corner of Lough Corrib, Connemarra and Joyce’s Country it was very warm - the scenery, houses, people were such as to give the impression of a world on their own.

We had to adapt our menu to include only the food we could buy and that came mostly in tins. The only trouble we had was from our feet which were continuously adorned with rich ripe blisters. Our tour round the lake took us only a week and included many amusing incidences such as the walk all night and the peat bog - the row across the lake. We passed through places with names - some unheard of - some world famous such as: Moycullen, Oughterard, Doon Hill, Connemarra, Cornamona, Joyces Country, Clonber, Cong, Ashford Castle, Headford and of course Galway, returning to the caravan site on beautiful Galway Bay our remaining week was spent recovering and with more local expeditions into Galway and to the sea with a camp fire each evening and songs such as: “The big man”, “Grand Coolie Dam”, “Nobody loves like an Irish man”, “Galway Bay” and many more will remind us of that fortnight in Galway, July and August 1958.

Nog’s Farewell

On 21^st August, the Troop Scouters and the Senior Scouts gathered at a fish and chip supper in the Scout H.Q. to say cheerio to Nog who went to take up his job in Southampton.

Norman Wildman first joined the troop just after the War and went through to the Seniors to become ASM in 1951 just before doing his National Service. He came back to the troop in 1953 as ASM and camped at the Coronation Camp at Delapre Park, Northampton in Whitsun 1953 – Walesby, August 1953, Sharnbrook, Whitsun 1954, Broadstone Warren, August 1954 and then as ASM(S) when this patrol formed at Melchbourne, Whitsun 1955, Llangollen, August 1955, Melchbourne again in 1956 and the Jamboree at Sandringham, August 1956 – his last camp with us was at Melchbourne, Whitsun 1957 and we were all sorry he could not have made his last camp in Ireland.

He was presented with a statue of a scout and we wish him all the very best in the future, may he never leave the spirit of scouting and we remind him that he will always be welcome back with us.

Autumn 1958

Soon after the departure of Nog the troop S.M. W. (Bill) Knott took over as S.M.(S). Most Tuesday evenings were spent speculating the future as we had lost contact with some of our members. The weather, which had been atrocious, got steadily worse as the year drew to a close. It apparently got a grip of the S.M. who missed a few weeks with a touch of the “nages” (proverbial variety).

Two members of the patrol J. Harrison and G. Fensome took and passed, I think, their first class and Venture badge hikes. I am a little dubious about these facts as we have almost lost contact with them during the festive season.

An attendance board was installed in the small room although signatures on it are few and far between through non-attendance or laziness, I don’t know.

Many plans for next years holiday were made and passed by and numerous leaflets were also browsed over during our “sits round the fire”, although now it seems that most members are going their own ways. Some of the suggestions were Scotland, the Caledonian Canal, Denmark and the Rhine Valley or Austria with the troop Nog has joined down in Southampton.

Some ideas for Whitsun were also put forward and we settled on a hike in Dovedale, Derbyshire, although the method of getting there was not quite clear, cycling, car or train.

One dirty, wet, dark Tuesday night we spent delivering leaflets in the Wymington Road, High Street South area and with the ones we have delivered before Beau thinks we have made a record for this sort of thing in the town.

Christmas 1958/January 1959

During the past few weeks we have had some fleeting visits from Nog who told us about his life and scout work down south, but he always had an excuse to rush off to the wilds of Ringstead and the S.M.(S) is offering odds of 10-1 that he will be getting spliced very soon and raising a troop of his own.

While talking about this tender subject it has come to our notice through the local rag that one of our old hands John (Nick) Nicholls has got married and another, Johnnie Burton in contemplating the same fate.

On December 23^rd the last Tuesday, those who left the warmth of their own firesides were rewarded at the Den and a bottle of sherry was enjoyed by all and a “merry” Christmas in the offing, with the New Year looming ahead.