Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    X607/5
  • Title
    Album of photographs entitled "Rev. E. Scott, D.C. Memento from South Beds 1937" - Contains photographs of all South Bedfordshire troops in 1937. The album contains also an account of the history of scouting in the area written by Mr. Scott
  • Date free text
    1937
  • Production date
    From: 1937 To: 1937
  • Admin/biog history
    HVNC LIBRVM MIHI PARTIS BEDFORDIAL AVSTRALIS PER XVIII ANNOS PROPRARTORI DONVM DEDFRVNT EIVSDEM NMGIONIS PVERI IVVENES MAGISTRI INSTIGANTE STANLETO I BENNETT AMICO MEO FIDLISSIMO ET COADIVTORE KAL EST ANNO DOMINI MCMXXXVII A SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH BEDFORDSHIRE MCMX CIRC USQUE MCMXXXVII When Bedfordshire was first organised for scouting there were two separate districts of South Bedfordshire and Luton. The latter consisted of the Borough of Luton, the former took in all the rest of the county south of a line running immediately north of Hulcote Lidlington Millbrook Ampthill Maulden Clophill and Shefford. Howard Spensley became District Commissioner of South Beds. about 1912 in succession to a Captain Hope. The Commissioner for Luton was Mr Green, one of the firm of Brewers. He was absent on war service. In the December of 1918, I became assistant to them both and received two war-time warrants. On the decease of the first County Commissioner Lord St John, Howard Spensley became County Commissioner and held that position until his death in 1938. Mr Green resigned and I again succeeded them both as District Commissioner and received my two ordinary warrants from the Chief Scout himself at the County Rally held in Luton Hoo Park in the July of 1919. A little later the separate district of the town of Luton was abolished as unnecessary and of this great district of South Beds. I acted as sole District Commissioner until it was finally divided at the end of September 1937 Organization had naturally been reduced to a minimum during the war of 1914-1918 and it was necessary to restart and found local associations to deal with this large area. The final arrangement was of six associations in two rows of three; to the north, from west to east, Woburn, Ampthill, and Shefford; to the south, Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable, and Luton. There was also for a while an association at Arlesey but it failed to act and we closed it down. Shefford was also replaced by Henlow, when Christopher Gurney joined us and when later the district of East Beds, was formed, Henlow became part of it. But the other five associations continued to work until the district was divided when they were each made into a Commissioner's District. For a long time I administered this area alone, but in 19 Stanley J Bennett ("Beano") became my first and loyal assistant. For a while too I had the help of Gurney in Henlow and for a very short period a Mr Powell, a cousin to the Chief, was my assistant in the Woburn area. Later we appointed sectional assistant commissioners, Cyril Illsley as ADC for Scouts, Christine Day for Cubs and Russell Mowse for Rovers. Lastly we appointed as ADC for Leighton Buzzard, Fletcher Brotherton who had been for many years G/Scoutmaster of the Buzzards (The 25th Beds.) The subsequent history of these most loyal colleagues is as follows. Mr Powell left the district. Christopher Gurney became successively District Commissioner of Mid Beds, and then of East Beds. He was also appointed a Deputy Camp Chief and gave the most valuable help when I was running Scouters' Training Courses as Assistant County Commissioner for Training. Most sadly we lost him by death in 1939 when still quite a young man. When we divided the district of South Beds in 1937 Stanley Bennett became District Commissioner of Luton with Cyril Illsley, Russell Mowse and Christine Day to help him as before. The last of the three has since become Assistant County Commissioner for Cubs. And Fletcher Brotherton has become District Commissioner of Leighton Buzzard. At the time of writing this survey, I am myself District Commissioner of Dunstable, where in fact I began work as a Bedfordshire Scouter in 1915 when at the Army Signal School. I took over the First Dunstable (the 30th Beds.) as Scoutmaster in that year and was made District SM in 1917. There has been one case in the history of South Beds where we have controlled the Scout Group of another county and conversely one case where another county took charge of one of ours. When the Linslade Group was formed, we got permission to attach it to Leighton Buzzard Association. This was a good thing at the time for the Group had been formed by dissidents from Leighton who might have caused friction. But although the two towns are outwardly one, the county boundary rurs between and county feeling is strong. And later Linslade formed a Buckinghamshire Association of its own, which was all to the good. In the other case we asked the Hitchin Association of Hertfordshire to look after the unit at Arlesey, when the local association there was closed. That Group came back to us for good when the District of East Beds. was made. The case of the Woburn Association is interesting. It was first called the Woburn Sands Association but never worked happily. This was, I found, because of the sentiment which forbade the older village of Aspley Guise to accept the leadership of Woburn Sands. But, by transferring the headquarters to Woburn this difficulty was overcome. This shows how necessary it is for organization to respect local feelings. The photographic record in this album is a very complete one of the district, as it was when divided at the end of the Scout Year 1936-7. The following Groups have not got any picture herein, Caddington (28th), The Cedars Leighton Buzzard (102nd), Rockliffe (76th) Besides the Groups whose pictures are given here and the three others mentioned in the last paragraph, there have at various times been Scout Groups also as follows:- in the AMPTHILL Association, Barton, Maulden, Silsoe and Westoning: in the LUTON Association 2nd Luton, Leagrave, S.Gregory's School and Cockernhoe: in the DUNSTABLE Association Eaton Bray, Toddington and Kensworth: in the LEIGHTON BUZZARD Association, 2nd Leighton Wesleyan and Stanbridge: in WOBURN Association, Woburn Sands and Ridgmont. In the Associations of SHEFFORD, ARLESEY, and HENLOW which later became the East Beds District, we had troops at various times at Shefford, Arlesey, Henlow, Campton, Upper Stondon, Meppershall and Stotfold. Two Groups only have had nicknames that have become famous, the 25th Beds The Buzzards (obvious but well-sounding) and the 80th The Blue Foxes. They were a "mission" founded by Patrol-leader Arthur Gorbold of Dunstable under my guidance in 1917 at St Saviour's Luton. The first Patrol Leaders were trained in a Fox Patrol and wore blue. Hence this title which has survived. The transitoriness of some Scout Groups is a sad feature of Scouting; especially is it so in country villages where the loss of a good scoutmaster often means the end of the Group as well. Happily among the Groups shown here there are a number who have had the great advantage of a long continuous history during which a strong tradition has grown Since the division of South Beds. some new groups have appeared but they are of course outside the scope of this survey. But of them as of those mentioned here we can so say FLOREANT A.M.D.G. April mcmxl At Eversholt E.S
  • Scope and Content
    Containing photographs of all rovers, scouts and cubs in the district, as below: LUTON. 3rd Beds.1st.Luton. Rovers. p. 1. 3rd Beds.1st.Luton. Scouts. p. 2. 3rd Beds.1st.Luton. Cubs. p. 3. 31st Beds.St Christophers.Scouts. p. 4. 31st Beds.St Christophers. Cubs. p. 5. 80th Beds.St Saviour's. p. 6. 81st Beds.Waller St. p. 7. 82nd Beds.St Peter's. Scouts. p. 8. 82nd Beds.St Peter's. Cubs. p. 9. 83rd Beds.St Mary's. Scouts. p. 10. 83rd Beds.St Mary's. Cubs. p. 11. 85th Beds.King St. p. 12. 88th Beds.7th Luton. Rovers. p. 13. 88th Beds.7th Luton. Scouts. p. 14. 88th Beds.7th Luton. Cubs. p. 15. 89th Beds.Bury Park. Scouts. p. 16. 89th Beds.Bury Park. Cubs. p. 17. 92nd Beds.All Saints. p. 18. 93rd Beds.Christ Church.Rovers. p. 19. 93rd Beds.Christ Church.Cubs. p. 20. 93rd Beds.Christ Church.Scouts. p. 21. 97th Beds.St Andrews. Rovers. p. 22. 97th Beds.St Andrews. Scouts. p. 23. 97th Beds.St Andrews. Cubs. p. 24. 103rd Beds.St Matthews.Scouts. p. 25. 103rd Beds.St Matthews.Cubs. p. 26. 112th Beds.High Town. p. 27. DUNSTABLE. 30th Beds. 1st Dble. p. 28. 57th Beds. 4th Dble. p. 29. 58th Beds.St Peters. p. 30. 84th Beds.Houghton Regis. p.31. WOUBURN. 54th Beds. Woburn. p. 32. 68th Beds.Aspley Guise. p. 33. 73rd Beds. Eversholt. p. 34. AMPTHILL. 33rd Beds. Ampthill. Scouts. p. 35. 33rd Beds. Ampthill. Cubs. p. 36. 17th Beds.Flitwick. p. 37. 49th Beds.Clophill. p. 38. LEIGHTON BUZZARD. 25th Beds. 1st Leighton. p. 39. 26th Beds.Leighton Church. p. 40. 75th Beds. Heath and Reach. p. 41.
  • Level of description
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