1st Kirkby in Ashfield Scouts in 1960s

In my youth I was an active member of the Scouts, rising through the ranks to become Assistant Scout Master before I left Kirkby. We spent most of the time 'working towards badges' but since each patrol leader had considerable autonomy over what the patrol did, we spent most of the time on 'trees and birds' (learning to recognise them) in other words going out and roaming around the countryside.

Each year there was a summer camp. Things were very different then. For a start we travelled in the back of a van or lorry along with the tents, luggage, food and everything else. That was luxury compared with the camps before I joined where they went by train and walked from the station to the camp site carrying their rucksacks and pushing everything else in a trekking cart.

My first camp was the last with the old Scout Master – CV (Baa) Evans. He took us to the Lake District in an old van, which got a puncture near Warsop, so we had to roll it to the nearest garage to be mended since there was no spare. We also had to push it up a steep hill near Little Langdale. A few years later, I was the most senior scouter, and as ASM I ran three summer camps – to Hathersage in Derbyshire in 1964 (with Martin Kirk), to Thorp in Yorkshire in 1965 (with Andrew Harrison), and to Morfa Nefyn in North Wales in 1966.

Apart from activity in and around camp, the highlight of the week was a day out walking on the hills. In Derbyshire we took the train to Edale and then walked up Kinder. In Yorkshire we walked from the camp through Grassington onto Hebden Moor and then back through Hebden, and in Wales we took a bus to Trefor and walked up Bwlch Mawr. I didn't have my own camera in 1964, but I took pictures during the other two, which give a flavour of what we did.

If you recognise your younger self in any of the pictures, feel free to get in touch .

Pictures

Click to enlarge, and move between using arrows.

Leaving HQ in 1965	Footbridge over the river near Grassington 1965	Pause for a photo on the climb up Hebden Moor 1965	Taking a break by Grimwith Reservoir 1965
A waterfall on Hebden Moor 1965	Crossing a stream on Hebden Moor 1965	Crossing back over the Wharfe at Hebden in 1965	Leaving HQ in 1966
Porth Dinllaen Farm	Relaxing in camp 1966	A tent within a tent 1966	Donkey near the camp site in 1966
Meeting a flock of geese 1966	Squeezing through a style in 1966	Taking a break on the way up to Bwlch Mawr 1966	On top of Bwlch Mawr 1966
Evening entertainment 1966	More evening entertainment 1966	Sunset over the farm 1966	An evening at Scout HQ in Kirkby

You may also be interested in: Pictures of Kirkby in Ashfield Pictures of Mansfield

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