3rd Staines Scout Group

A meeting was held on Thursday April 14th in the Church room at St. Peter's at which the D.C., Colonel Childers, proposed that the group be founded.
The Scoutmaster was Rover W. Matthews, assisted by Mr. Ivan Smith
Patrol Leaders were William Clarke, William Baldock, Charles Matthews and Norman Bell.
Assistant Patrol Leaders were Albert Johnson, Jack Lipscombe, Norman Coombs and George Butler.
There were 22 Scouts in total.
Third Staines was officially founded on the 9th of June 1926 as ‘3rd Staines (St. Peters)’, troop registration number 15071.
At the time the group was ‘controlled’ (or sponsored) by St. Peters Church in Staines.
The first troop camp was held at Kempshott, near Basingstoke, starting August 7th, for a fortnight and would cost each Scout £1.
By 1928, our numbers had swelled to 28 Scouts, 24 Wolf Cubs and 16 Rover Scouts along with 5 Scouters.
By 1954, the group had land in Lansdowne Road, Staines donated by Mr. R. Scott.
During 1954, 1955 and 1956 £600 was raised for building costs and furniture.
Some wartime army huts were located at Wentworth, and Egham council donated a 60ft x 20ft hut to the group.
The original Scott Base was opened in 1957.
Scott Base was officially re-opened, with the unveiling of a plaque on the 22nd of May 1971 by Ralph Reader CBE.
To date 3rd staines remains one of only two groups in the district to wholly own the freehold of our headquarters.
The headquarters are used regularly, at least 4 evenings a week with fundraising and occasional camps at weekends.
In 1976 the group celebrated it's golden jubilee and was presented with a new group badge.
In 1980 we ended our sponsorship arrangement with St. Peters Church and became an independent group when we re-registered our name as ‘3rd Staines’.

The group is still in Lansdowne Road and our numbers have fluctuated over the years.
The Scout Association has changed the names of some of the sections, Wolf Cubs are now Cub Scouts and Rover Scouts became Venture Scouts and more recently Explorer Scouts.

With the introduction 10 years ago of a new section, the ‘Beavers’, the group is able to offer Scouting to young people from the age of 6 years to 18years.

Over the years, several people have been key to the success of the group:
Len "Kim" Pratt, involved with the group for 39 years, GSL between 1954 and 1971, sadly died 1972.
Mike "Rikki" Pursey, AGSL and "Scouter in Charge" between 1960 and 1990, sadly died 1990.
Colin Goulden, ASL and SL between 1967 and 1999, retired in 1999, now group president.
Keith "Cobber" Suckling, various positions in the troop between 1958 and 1999, retired 1999.

Lymington Sea Scouts
In 1980, 3rd Staines was twinned with 9th Lymington, a Sea Scout Group near the New Forest. Once or twice a year they will travel up to our headquarters and stay with us and we will also go down to stay with them in their headquarters.

Kandersteg, Switzerland
The troop have been frequent visiters to Kandersteg, Switzerland for over 30 years and were one of the pioneers of international scouting in the district.

To be continued ....

Achievements, Awards, Competitions
District Cub Swimming Shield 1956
District Cub Sports 1955
Cub Totem Pole Competition 1955
District Scouts Swimming 1955
District Scouts Swimming 1956

Queens Scout Award Holders
1957; Anthony Cash
1972; H. Booth, I. Clark.
1974; G.Dare.
1975, R. Dix, R. Minto, C. Mason.
1976; R. Lovell.
1977; S. Morley, P. Besant.
1978; R. Mason.
1980; C. Stevens.
1981; Bruce Crawford, M. Mason.
1982; Alison Moore, (the first ever female to gain the Queen’s Scout Award).
1983; C. Milner.
2000; P. Knight.

Gallery