• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Scout Jamboree Sutton park

Alberta

Super Moderator
Staff member
Do any of you more mature ladies remember the Scout Jamboree in Sutton Park in 1957.
I was 15 and can still remember the red fleece jackets of the American scouts.Here in the UK the teenagers were still in drab colours.
My friends and i tried to chat up scouts of all nationalities but ending up with the ones from Newcastle,mind you they spoke a foreign language.
 
I remember it. :lol: I was there with me woggle... don't you remember me? - the smartest, best looking one there. 8) I was with the Birmingham 107th Bishop Latimer's troop. :P
 
Of course, I remember remarking to my mate 'Isn't he handsome and what a smart woggle hes got'.
I bet your woggle got drenched because from what I can remember the weather was awful and some of the campsites were flooded.
 
Yes, it turned out a bit like Woodstock. Being a superhero, I can remember rescuing some seascouts from the floods. :wink: All that and without getting me woggle even slightly damp. :P
 
Looking at the scale of it in that fantastic photo, I wonder if we would be able to organise it again without going £17 billion over budget and six years late. ::)
 
Me and a cable-jointer named Jack Smith did most of the telephone cabling for the jamboree.
 
I was at British Rail New Street working when the Jamboree happened. So much organization for British Rail in connection with this event. Can it be 50 years? I travelled to Sutton Park several times to help out and it was very interesting since there were older Rover Scouts there. My friend Margaret and I had a great time and met scouts from France and the Faroe Islands.
I met an American Rover Scout from North Carolina, who was my penfriend for a couple of years. He will be coming to Sutton Park this summer for the 50th Anniversary Reunion.
 
Iranian Boy Scout

Scout_Jamboree_Sutton_Park.jpg
Here's a photo of an Iranian scout my brothers made friends with at the Sutton Park Jamboree.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I feel a little bit like Max Boyce, because I can say I know to all that has been said, because I was there. I don't know whether I am getting old, but although I was about 11 in 1957, I can't remember much about it now, except that a good time was had by all
Lynda x
 
hi all
cannot find many photo's of the 57 jamboree, surely there must have hundreds of photo's taken, and is there still a bartley green troop who I attended with there must be photo's of our march past , can anyone advise?
regards
paul
 
hi paul, where can you find pictures of the 57 jambouree i was there not a scout tho just a visitor i was 7 yrs old at the time went with erdington homes .
 
I was only 6 when my dad took me to the park to see the scouts. All of the photos of that era were taken on a box brownie camera, not sure if 35mm film was available then but the small photos did tend to get easily mislaid. Probably the reason not a lot of the jamboree still exist.
 
hi rosie
I don't know why there isn't more photographs of the jamboree. there must have been1000's taken. I went with the bartley green troop I cannot even find out if they are in excistance still because they must have photoed all those that went??
regards
paul
 
hi paul , thanks for message yes there must be some more photos of jambouree maybe somebody else might know more . best wishes rosie
 
My Dad was a passenger guard on the railways working from Walsall Station back then .I remember him coming home one day with a huge plastic sack ,almost as big as present day rubbish sack. It was full of of Scout badges from all over the world . Whatever happened to them I dont know. I cannot recall being given them to play with. Probably dad sold them to a man who knew a man who knew a another man. Some Scout must have left them on the train, bet he was sick as a parrot . I would have been.
 
I went to the jamboree in Sutton Park and still have the autograph book I filled with names of scouts from all over the world.
 
I was a "spark man" performing to Mars from the Planet Suite as a cub age 10/11 (160th Birmingham)
 
Last edited:
I have a couple of group photos of my friend and myself taken at the Jamboree in 1957. I will look them out. One group was from the Faroe Islands I remember.
 
Do any of you more mature ladies remember the Scout Jamboree in Sutton Park in 1957.
I was 15 and can still remember the red fleece jackets of the American scouts.Here in the UK the teenagers were still in drab colours.
My friends and i tried to chat up scouts of all nationalities but ending up with the ones from Newcastle,mind you they spoke a foreign language.


It's the 'Broon Ale' that does it!
icon12.gif
I remember Dad driving us through the park in our old sit-up-and-beg Ford Pop, and seeing all the scouts; I was only six at the time and was furious that I couldn't join the scouts there and then!
 
I was there too....aged 11......I seem to remember being the only one in step...
 
Here are a couple of photos from the Sutton Jamboree in 1957. They aren't in great shape though. The photos are taken with older Rover scouts from the Faroe Islands....nice looking bunch now I come to think of it. I thought I had a photo of two groups of scouts but I actually have two photographs of Faroe Island guys. The larger group photo has my dear friend Margaret on it....no longer with us I'm afraid. I am in the smaller group photo. I have mentioned I did meet an American Rover Scout from North Carolina in a previous post. I wrote to him for a year. Looked him up some years ago via Internet and he is still involved in the Scout movement.
 
Lovely photo's Jennyann with a tale to match. I remember going with my brothers but I don't remember much as I was only four!
 
I was a guide then Jenny and we went to Windsor Castle in 1957 to see Lady BP.
My brother was camping at Sutton Park with the Yorks Wood Rovers and we went to visit. Mo
 
Just found an old photo of a Jamboree Special Train arriving at Park Station in Sutton in 1957 bringing scouts to the event. The train is hauled by Brittania class loco `Lord Rowallan`, and had a Tudor Rose headboard View attachment 64236
 
Back
Top