I understand that many of you were in the 26th Boy Scouts, those of you that were not, please accept my apologies. If you can give me email addresses for any other former Scouts then I will add them also. If you want to be removed from the above email list ( because I thought you were a scout ) also let me know. I have included Messrs. Wain and D. Barker from the Official Old Boys Association, so they can keep an eye on us 'Youngsters' cough, cough.............. 

I think that there may be seperate discussions / contacts / meetings going on between  former BGS 26th 'Old Scouts', somebody told me at our school reunion in March ( was it Chris Warbuton ? ).   Anyway I recovered some interesting stuff from the Scout Hut prior to its demolition, but not as much as I would have liked. The place was a right tip, looked to have only recently been vandalised and trashed.

IMPORTANT -

Firstly, If you do not have access / knowledge of to 'How to join our BGS Reunion 'Yahoo' Group' please email John Evans  JOHNEV4NS@aol.com I am sure he will send you a link to click on.

Look ( eventually, not just yet ) in the Photos sections for an album called 'BGS Scouts, stuff recovered July 2007' if you can help identify anything, give info / amusing stories etc. please let me know.

One problem I have is that after the 26th Scouts dis-banded, the 4th Burton Scouts were using the building, so some of the memorabilia may not be 26th related.

Another problem is that I am now trying to trace a 26th Scout, David Toon Esq.  I found an exercise book that he used to record his 1960 Hike around Hatton, Marston Montgomery area ( possibly for DoE award ). It is in very good condition, with sketches, pressed flowers, route map all detailed, and amazingly it is in good condition considering i found it on the floor ! It would be nice to repatriate it.

I found some cracking stuff, some amusing, some historical, some unbelievable, downright dangerous. If you have any ideas as to how I can use this / show this off without boring everyones pants off, I would be grateful. I am happy to do it like this ie on email, but perhaps there is a wider audience, a better way forward, than just archiving it on a database / group with access only by our 1967 to 1972 / 74 former pupils.Some of the coincidences are astounding. I will elaborate with time. I currently have over 140 photos just from this weekends 'panic visit' and as I said, I do not want this to become boring.

Perhaps a talk evening / reunion? using slide show type projection, or does that sound VERY boring ? This email is my way of keeping you informed, it may take me a while to get the 'Yahoo Album' up, so I WILL let you know when it is created.

 I was not a Scout by the way, I was in the Army Cadets. There was nothing left in the building from the ACF days except for the Gun Safe, where the Bren gun was kept. I thought twice about trying to rescue it. Luckily ( for my backs sake ) it was bolted to the ground. 

I remember other scouts / leaders, Walt Chadbourne of course, plus Keith Olner, Ian Whitfield, Dave Mayger, George Woolley, Andy Barker etc. etc. It would be nice to have them in with us from the off plus any other persons interested in my mad exploits.  ( I have Whittys email address somewhere ).

 Your feedback would be much appreciated, I enclose a snippet taken from a book I found at the Scout Hut entitled 'Have fun with Science', obviously written before the Health & Safety Act became fashionable.  So, as a youngster, firstly you must obtain a glass of water and a razor-blade...............

Best regards to you all, Keith

Note from Keith Large says that....

This is the first of two stories, this one is of less interest to those not in 26th Burton Scouts / Venture Scouts and / or the BGS Army Brigade 16th/5th Queens Royal Lancers but please at least read the ending reference photographs.........

I had a phone call from Ade Leese, landlord par excellence of The Elms Inn. In a nutshell, he told me a lady teacher from Abbot Beyne school was in the pub, she told him they were about to demolish the old scout hut / army cadet hut. It took me a while to trace the caretaker, eventually I spoke to him this morning. He did not apologise for forgetting to let me know that the building was to be demolished on MONDAY, he was going out but would leave the building open for me. So I grabbed a torch and the letter of permission to remove any contents I desired ( official document from the current Head Mistress ), then for 3 hours or so, ferreted about the building seeing what was of any worth. The building is clearly in a bad way, now vandalised, and damp.

Q1. Does anyone remember what was likely to have been stored in the large attic area in the Scout's main hall ?

I removed plaques from the walls, picked up photographic slides, a couple of books, a shield and a trophy, but sadly apart from these items, not a great deal of other stuff worth taking. The building is littered with paperwork from Winshill Community Club, Scouting stuff from the 1990's and What appears to be Youth Workers brochures etc. The scout hut had recently been used by The 4th Burton Scout Troop.

There is a store room that has some canvas style old tents and steel tent pegs and poles that may be useful.

 I opened up the garage door and was hit by THAT bloody smell, it had come back to haunt me.... fibreglass resin smell and thinners, the same smell that used to be under the stage in the Main Hall, where we made Canoes at great personal risk. See the photo, there they are, in the flesh, those canoes, the ones that put me off sniffing solvents for the rest of my days.

Q2. Does anyone want a canoe, before they go in the skip ? I have only one day to rescue more items.

It is clear that nothing from our days in the Scouts or Cadets remains except for an empty gun cabinet and some smelly tents. Nearly all of the filing cabinets are empty. The place looks sad and ready to expire.

It was John Evans who mentioned today the irony, as The Scout Movement are this very weekend celebrating their 100th Anniversary of their founding by Lord Baden Powell, the BGS Scout hut will be being demolished. Anyway, life goes on, and at least I had a chance to capture the building in the attached photographs for posterity.

Now this is interesting, I went back for one final check to see if I had missed anything, I saw a booklet, face down on top of a filing cabinet, turned it over, hey presto, the trip was worth it, 30 pages, entitled "26th Burton Venture Scout Unit, Arctic Circle Expedition '72". It is both historical ( and hysterical if you remember those haircuts ! ), and I am sure those that went on the expedition will have a copy of this booklet at home. If not, let me know, I will photocopy one for you.

Many of the faces you will recall, and it is pleasing to see that 9 of our former classmates, namely, Messrs. Hemingway, Winfield, Hague, Larbey, Murphy, Warburton, Neal, Leese and Doug Taylor went on this grand tour. Also on the photo is our local partner in crime, Andy 'Basher' Barker.

 Strewth..... I was just about to post this to you, you will never believe this, my good lady wife Cathy has just returned from visiting my sister-in-law, ( she best remain nameless ! ), who works as School Secretary at Abbot Beyne. On hearing where I was today, she remarked that the school did not really want me to recover any momentoes on 'Health and Safety' grounds. Tough, the deed has already been done, but at least it explains why the normally very helpful caretaker did not contact me.