
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.
|