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The 10th Woodley
Scouts Group History
The first Scout Group known as 10th
Romsey was formed in 1926 , Cubs and Scouts met at "The
Barn", Woodley cottage. The Cub mistress was a Miss Burford-Hancock
and the Scoutmaster was a Captain Wood. Not much is known
about the early days but the late Bert Young remembered a
camp which included an outing to see the Schneider Trophy
seaplane races at Calshot. This would have been 1929 or
1931. At this time the Group was called "Crampmoor and
Highwood"
In 1930 the Group had to find a new home.
Colonel Footner, who lived at Abbotswood House on
Braishfield Road, offered the Scout Group the use of a field
he owned and organised a fete to attempt to raise the money
to buy a hut. The hut cost £95 six shillings and eight pence
and the fete raised 10 old pence more than the required
amount. What the 10 pence was spent on is not recorded! The
hut opened in January 1931 on the land behind what is now
the 10th Romsey Headquarters. Doris Bunting can remember
going to "Gang Shows" there before the war, these being
organised by a Bill Everitt. Colonel Footners nephew, George
Taylor, was Scoutmaster for a while, as was Colonel Footner
himself, as well as being County Scout Secretary and
Assistant District Commissioner.
At
some time during the war the Group closed down. In 1947
Colonel Footner made a gift of the land to the Scout
Association but this did not include the piece of land
fronting Braishfield Road, known as The Orchard. It would be
nearly 40 years before the 10th got its hands on that!
The Group re-opened in 1951, now to be
known as "Woodley and Braishfield" At first the Scoutmaster
was Peter Lindsey with Peter Payn as his assistant. Peter
Payn took over after a few months. There were about 12
Scouts, the majority being from Ganger Camp including
Bernard Dittrich. Boys from Braishfield included Paddy and
Richard Glister and Jimmy Byrne. In April 1952 a variety
concert was held at Braishfield Women's Institute to raise
money for the Group. The concert was given by the "Shenton
Follies" led by Mr and Mrs Harris. Other performers included
Carole Bath, Jennifer Wright, Daphne Rogers, June Hart,
Gloria Bath, Valerie Edom and Maureen Sullivan.
The Scouts had camps at Calshot in 1951,
Dorset in 1952 and some boys camped at Arundel in 1953. Boys
from the Group sold Coronation programmes in 1953.
By 1954 membership had dropped
alarmingly, possibly because families were moving out of
Ganger, and the decision was made that Mr Payn and the 5
remaining Scouts would join up with the 1st Romsey Group in
the Town.
The
hut was dismantled and re-erected in Kings Sombourne, it
burnt down shortly afterwards. A petrol generator which had
powered the hut stood on its concrete base for a short while
and was then stolen. The concrete base is still there, level
with the walnut tree about 15 feet from the cemetery fence.
The Group was re-formed in 1959 as
"Woodley and Crampmoor" , first meeting in the small Girl
Guide hut in School Road, then in a storage shed in
Crampmoor Lane and then in a hut on Ganger Camp. In the
early 70`s the Group moved to its own new hut in School Road
next to the village hall, formerly the school.
In 1986 the Group (at last!) bought The
Orchard and began to plan the move that would take the Group
almost back to its 1931 home. The School Road hut site was
sold in 1992 and the Group moved to its new Headquarters
shortly afterwards. |