Scout Jamboree Sutton park

[Russell]

I also went to the Jamboree in 1957 at Sutton Park
I was only a wolf cub at the time with the 110th Birmingham group in Acocks Green (alas no more) but we 'performed ' to the music from Mars from Holst's Planets suite
I remember being dressed in blue? costumes with flashes on

I also collected autographs from many of the scouts from round the world who attended and still have the autograph book!!
I wonder where they are now

 

[Frothblower]

Funny that.... I was at the Jamboree Commemorative Plaque yesterday in the rain.

 

[farmerdave]

I took these three photos at the Jamboree. I was only 14 at the time so apologise for the quality. Dave.

 

[oldMohawk]

I put the pic below in the Sutton Park thread

A field kitchen in Sutton Park for the Scouts Jamboree 1957.

linked image only visible if logged in

 

[mikejee]

At one time, when I was young (and dinosaurs roamed the earth) I collected stamps. Today I was looking at the conglomeration I still have (first time in about 30 years I've opened the box) and spotted this. Heaven only knows why I got it. Assume someone sent it to me, though do not know who.

 

[colinshorey2]

Went on days outing with other lads from Forelands hospital.Two nurses supervised us in a mini bus.
Mom and Dad loved in Sutton and met us there.

 

[Mike Bond]

In the 1960's I lived very close to the Royal Oak Gate not far from the Parson & Clerk public house........ I felt the Park never fully recovered after the Scout Jamboree. Still have my wonderful memories though-couldn't take that away. Mike.

 

[Morturn]

Mike, thanks for that, an interesting comment and alternative point of view on the scout jamboree. I know from the photos it must have been a massive event and I understand that they put new roads in etc.

 

[Vivienne14]

There were concerns expressed in several newspapers at the time about the potential damage of holding the Jamboree in Sutton Park. The park undoubtedly would have been affected by such a large concentration of people living in one area over a short period. But there was probably another contributing factor; a storm at the start of the Jamboree (6 August 1957). See article from 7August 1957.

I shall move the Jamboree comments to the specific thread. Viv. Edit - now done.

 

[Mike Bond]

My comments that I thought the Park had never fully recovered from the Jamboree is illustrated very clearly by driving from the Streetly Gate entrance along that roadway until you nearly reach the end. Look to your left and you will see huge square areas of Park land which is covered in vegetation but is completely flat in stark contrast to the untouched land. I suppose you would only really notice this if you are from my generation that remembers the Park before hand. Sentimental old codger.
Best wishes, Mike.

 

[sospiri]

Mike,

I can well understand your concerns, it being in effect a public park. The Scouts have a well-used patch of land on the edge of the New Forest near Ringwood, which I presume that they either own or it is owned by someone sympathetic to the organisation. It's busy throughout the summer with the annual camp of many different groups of Scouts, but is unused during the winter. I have in the past when driving past at wintertime, stopped and taken a walk into the unused site, and it doesn't recover. It's pretty obvious what the site it used for. It's officially about half a mile outside of the actual New Forest area, which doesn't have an external fence or even boundary markers, so any impact does not affect the Forest itself.

Maurice

 

[Pedrocut]

"Nightjars formerly bred in the park; the last recorded being in 1957, the year of the Scout Jamboree." Wiki

 

[60Footer]

"Nightjars formerly bred in the park; the last recorded being in 1957, the year of the Scout Jamboree." Wiki

See link for more information, seen by S Bodnar in the park 1979 ! http://www.spnh.scnhs.org.uk/bi-recs.html

 

[Two]

34 Postcards/Photos of the 1957 Jamboree -

 

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[cba]

Even though I was only 6 years old I vividly remember the Queen driving past and the Native Americans and Wigwams.

 

[Morturn]

Well that is a super set of photos, thank you for posting them

 

[Two]

 

[Pedrocut]

Scouts arriving at Sutton Station in 1957 for the Jamboree.
The lost railways of Birmingham by Kieth Turner. (1991)

 

[Graham S]

Only just come across this. I was there, with 151st Brmingham (Saltley Methodist) scouts. We (I say "we" - I was just a young nipper and our elder statesmen did the work!) found a farmer in Little Hay, near Sutton, who begrudgingly agreed to let us camp on his land for the week (he'd had a bad experience in the past with scouts, apparently), and we travelled into Sutton & back to attend the celebrations. It led to a long relationship with that farmer, who was so impressed with us that he insisted we could come back any time and he'd find us a field to camp in. That association lasted beyond his lifetime and continued when his son took over the farm, until sadly it disappeared under redevelopment.

My lasting memory is that it was VERY wet!! I recall being woken in the middle of the night and marched down the middle of the road in torrential rain to a house whose owners had taken pity on us and insisted we spent the rest of the night under their roof; another relationship that lasted many, many years.