Selly Oak Girl Guides. No date, but possibly early 1900s (?). Viv.
-
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
Scouts Cubs Boys Brigade Girl Guides Brownies
- Thread starter SuBee
- Start date
Jeannie
master brummie
OldBrummie
master brummie
Age plays havoc with the memory so I am having difficulties remembering exact dates and names. I started Cubs sometime in the late 40's, joining 1st Olton. Mom was taken on to be Arkela (have I spelt that right?), Dad joined up as "driver and general go-for" and once we got going my younger brother joined. At the time, 1st Olton (Cubs & Scouts) was located in the grounds of Chapel Fields School, Olton. We subsequently re-located to Olton Park. Mom attended many training camps at both Yorks Wood and Gillwell. After a number of years Mom was asked to move to Yardley District as Assistant Commissioner Cubs and my brother and I moved from 1st Olton to 298th Birmingham. When we moved senior schools (Lode Heath Grammar Stream to Tudor Grange Grammar School) I was asked to assist setting up the Tudor Grange School Scout Group.
I remember we (as a family) spent a day at Sutton Park in 1957 at the Jamboree and were taken aback at the shear scale of the event, especially noting the extreme differences between the American style of camping and the 'bare necessities" of the English lads camp sites. We often spent time at Yorks Wood and also visited Gillwell to deliver and collect Mom when she attended conferences there. A name I remember from Yardley was Arthur Painter (Funeral Director) who was also closely connected to the Scouting Movement. Also the Installs. I can still see many of the people involved but am having a hard time trying to remember names. Here's another memory - sometime in the 1950's - camping at Kibblestone Park in Staffordshire.
Had a lot of fun in those days. Also the odd bad experience. But, I wouldn't change any of it.
OldBrummie.
I remember we (as a family) spent a day at Sutton Park in 1957 at the Jamboree and were taken aback at the shear scale of the event, especially noting the extreme differences between the American style of camping and the 'bare necessities" of the English lads camp sites. We often spent time at Yorks Wood and also visited Gillwell to deliver and collect Mom when she attended conferences there. A name I remember from Yardley was Arthur Painter (Funeral Director) who was also closely connected to the Scouting Movement. Also the Installs. I can still see many of the people involved but am having a hard time trying to remember names. Here's another memory - sometime in the 1950's - camping at Kibblestone Park in Staffordshire.
Had a lot of fun in those days. Also the odd bad experience. But, I wouldn't change any of it.
OldBrummie.
OldBrummie
master brummie
Attached photo Yardley District Management Team at a Butlins Conference approx 1957.
Harry & Evelyn Adams. Arthur Painter. My Mother. Bert Graham (I think). And although the last one is familiar, I don't recall his name.
OldBrummie
Harry & Evelyn Adams. Arthur Painter. My Mother. Bert Graham (I think). And although the last one is familiar, I don't recall his name.
OldBrummie
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
some very stern faces there.
I'm very impressed with everyone remembering the number of their pack! I know I left the Brownies in about 1962 and we used to meet somewhere near Dorrington Road Junior School, Great Barr. Every so often for some reason we used to parade with a flag around where Dorrington Road joins Tower Hill - I always wanted to carry the flag in the leather holder thingy, but maybe because I was only a 2nder Gnome I wasn't high enough. Maybe one had to be a 6er? After this I joined the Dance School just up the road from the Clifton Cinema for ballet, tap and acro. The building is still there - I wonder who meets upstairs nowadays...
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
Juniors 100 - The History of the Junior Section
Up until 1917 The Boys' Brigade had only catered for Boys aged 12 and over. However, in September 1917, Brigade Council (the governing body of The Boys' Brigade) setup the Boy Reserves to cater for Boys aged 9 to 12 years of age.
For several years prior to this a number of Companies had started to take in recruits under twelve, the Boy Scouts had done so too from 1916 as Wolf Cubs, and for this reason there were calls to lower the age limit to accommodate these Boys within the Brigade.
The uniform adopted by the Boy Reserves was nautical consisting of a sailor's cap, navy blue jersey and shorts. The NCO's working with them too had nautical ranks as petty officers. In the early days of the Boy Reserves there was a noticeable increase in attendance at Sunday School in those churches which had adopted the section and the number of Companies operating a Boy Reserves quickly started to grow. By 1918 there were more than 1,500 members of the Boy Reserves across the UK, the section continued to grow through the 1920's.
In 1926 The Boys' Brigade Boy Reserves merged with The Boys' Life Brigade Lifeboys and became known as the Life Boys. With this amalgamation membership increased to more than 30,000 Boys in the early 1930's and then to more than 70,000 in the 1950's.
In 1966 the Life Boys became a full part of the Brigade as the Junior Section, a name which was intended to be temporary, until such time as a better one could be thought of and still holds today; although now many often refer to the Boys and Girls of the age group simply as Juniors.
i had a job to google this,kept coming up with soap lol
For several years prior to this a number of Companies had started to take in recruits under twelve, the Boy Scouts had done so too from 1916 as Wolf Cubs, and for this reason there were calls to lower the age limit to accommodate these Boys within the Brigade.
In 1966 the Life Boys became a full part of the Brigade as the Junior Section, a name which was intended to be temporary, until such time as a better one could be thought of and still holds today; although now many often refer to the Boys and Girls of the age group simply as Juniors.
i had a job to google this,kept coming up with soap lol
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
Main article: Scout sign and saluteMany Cub Scout sections also use a two-finger salute. The salute was devised by Robert Baden-Powell and originally represented the two ears of a wolf cub, since the original programme was based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.[3] However, Cubs in several national associations now use the three-finger Scout salute used by the rest of the Scout Movement.
The Brownie Promise 1990:
I promise to do my best
To do my duty to God
To serve my Queen & my country
To help other people
And to do a good deed every day.
Motto 1990: Be prepared.The Brownie Guide Motto, prior to 1996, was:
Lend a hand
Last edited:
Jeannie
master brummie
Thank you.
The Brownie promise I made in 1955 was
I promise to do my best
To do my duty to God and the Queen
To help other people every day
Especially those at home
Something I will never forget, Happy days
Radiorails
master brummie
We have all, I guess, had these moments. For many here we would say it was a 'senior' moment.
I guess that was a 'junior ' one.
One 'junior' moment I often recall, at school, concerned a poor devil who lived in Worcestershire. He was asked to conjugate the verb 'to be'. He started off " I be, you be, he be" - he didn't get any further as he was hauled out and given six of the best! I never thought about until today, but I have the feeling that the master had heard him speaking, knew he would make that silly mistake, consequently using him as a scapegoat. There were good masters and some sadists. Good sense was recognizing that.
Scout rally at Handsworth Park in the1960s - happy bunch ! Viv.
A Sparks
master brummie
Might this photo be of the 298th Scout Band? It is labelled 26th May Wed, Rob. Butts on the back. (Which suggest 1954 or
1965).
At one time Les Humphries had a motorbike and sidecar. He offered to take me home one evening from some event at St. Giles' school hall and it was a bit of a shock to see his bike as I had expected a car! I think Les lived at the top of Bayford Avenue. He had a daughter, Joyce, who I think might have been Akela at some time. Other scoutmasters were George Farmer and Frank Bragg
mbenne
master brummie
That would be Les Eadrop who looked after 298 B and his wife was Akela. They lived on the corner of Bayford and Goldthorne. In 1965 Frank Bragg was in charge of 298A. He lived in Melton Avenue. His two sons Dick and Tim were also in 298A. Around that time he was replaced by by Les Humphries and Kim Checkley ( both lived near Greenvale Avenue/Silvermere Road). There was also a Canadian guy named Bob from Parkdale Road - he was part of the fire crew at Birmingham airport. Re the photo - not sure this is the 298 Group - not aware of terraced houses in the Sheldon area. Most of their parades were in Church Road and along the Radleys - but I could be wrong.
Last edited:
jmadone
master brummie
I didn't know there was a 298A and 298B. When I was a member I thought it was just Monday night troop and Friday night troop. I remember Frank, the scoutmaster, who also worked I think part time at Vaughan Motors on the petrol pumps. I had no knowledge that the troop was originally formed as an air scout troop. I can't remember the exact dates I was there and there was certainly no band as far as I was aware but I really enjoyed those Friday nights and "wide games" in the park.
The A and B is news to me too! My dad was treasurer for many years and those designations never appeared on the accounts. The air scout origin is new too and certainly doesn't figure in the earliest account of the troops origin, but then the history wasn't written down until a significant anniversary was reached and there were no original members. That history tells us that the original scout hut, in St. Giles' paddock, was made from materials recovered from the ack-ack huts at the Yew Tree, the 'air' connection?
UPDATE
A. Painter Esq. (of the Undertakers of that name), opened the 'New Headquarters', Church Road Sheldon 28th September 1957. The history included with the announcement says " The formation of the group began under the leadership of Mr T.G. King who held Air Scout meetings in a small troop room, in Sheaf Lane, Sheldon. The actual site is now occupied by a building which was until a year or so ago, a children's nursery". [Perhaps opposite Deepdale Avenue?]. A meeting held 24 November 1943 sought to find new accomodation.
Last edited:
"The 298th Birmingham Scout Group originated in 1941 with Scout meetings held in Silvermere School. Over the years hundreds of Sheldon boys have benefited from scouting in all its aspects in the Group's two Cub Packs and two Scout Troops. Some of these were also members of the Senior Scouts and the Drum and Bugle Band, both things of the past but much enjoyed by those that took part. The Band in its heyday won second place in the County Band Competition. The achievement of a worthy HQ for the group has exercised much of the time and effort of the Group Committee since the earliest days. For many years a small hut in the middle of what was the Church Field alongside the present Ragley Drive, had to suffice with some meetings still being held in Silvermere School. This was replaced by an ex-army hut laboriously and carefully rebuilt in the corner of the same field on licence from the Church, which did yeoman service for some 13 years. The crowning success was of course the provision of the present HQ in the corner of Mapldene School grounds. This fine building cost some £6800, £2950 of which had already been accumulated by the date of opening in June 1970. The present committee, as the obvious recipient of any credit due for the satisfactory footing which now exists, would readily admit that it stands on the shoulders of those who have gone before and whose strenuous efforts and steady upbuilding laid the sound foundations for present success. In forty year of change many a Scouter, Committeeman - and woman has given service, in and out of uniform -- only the effort and enthusiasm is unchanged".
[Extract from 289th Birmingham Group Festival Day programme 11 June 1983]
[Extract from 289th Birmingham Group Festival Day programme 11 June 1983]
Last edited:
mbenne
master brummie
Some more history:
Sid Edrop and his wife (r.h. of ladies in centre).
- Yardley Local Association Boy Scouts 1960 District Rally programme: Contains list of all Yardley Scout groups and meeting places. Rally at Cambell['s'] Green, references to Birmingham Society Model Engineers and train rides (3d!). Adverts for GR Field and WT Simmonds, Church Road Yardley. [yds001.pdf]
- Opening of the 298 Scout Hut 1957 - Contains a version of the history and lists group officers. Signed by George Farmer, GSL [yds002.pdf]
- Handwritten history of 298th headed '60 Years'. Claims group started in 1934. Name 'Pauline' in the margin. Unsigned. [yds003.pdf]
Sid Edrop and his wife (r.h. of ladies in centre).
jmadone
master brummie
James, wherever did you get these? Absolutely wonderful. There are a couple of names I recall, the first one being the guy in the photograph. I remember his sons more than him, Keith Edrop I used to see fairly frequently when we both ran separate age group football teams for a Solihull club named Coldlands Colts. I attended a Silvermere School reunion in October last year and was chatting to Keith's younger brother Whose name I can't recall to my embarrassment.
One of the cubmasters mentioned was a K. Hutchins. I wonder if this was the same guy who lived in Parkdale Road and ran a boys football team named Parkfield Star, the first football team I ever played for.
I haven't read them all through yet, I'll save that for later but well done again for this post.
![Balsall Heath Vincent St towards Moseley Rd(1)[1].jpg](https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/data/attachments/56/56353-54cad771cb56bdd1dd1efd614998e939.jpg?hash=VMrXcctWvd "Balsall Heath Vincent St towards Moseley Rd(1)[1].jpg")
OldBrummie
master brummie
More on 298th Birmingham.
1st pic is the Yardley District Management Team at a conference at Butlins - sorry can't remember the year - nor can I recall all the names. But, from the left husband and wife, Harry and ???. - Arthur Painter (Yardley Funeral Director) - my Mum Molly Platt. - Bert Graham - and cant remember the last one.
The second pic - at Yorks Wood, (again can't recall the year) my Mum, Jean Wood and Sheila Install.
All very active in the movement. My Mum was asst District Commissioner for Cubs having originally started in Scouting as Akela at 1st Olton Cubs when the Scout Hut was located at Chapel Fields School, Lyndon Road.
OldBrummie
1st pic is the Yardley District Management Team at a conference at Butlins - sorry can't remember the year - nor can I recall all the names. But, from the left husband and wife, Harry and ???. - Arthur Painter (Yardley Funeral Director) - my Mum Molly Platt. - Bert Graham - and cant remember the last one.
The second pic - at Yorks Wood, (again can't recall the year) my Mum, Jean Wood and Sheila Install.
All very active in the movement. My Mum was asst District Commissioner for Cubs having originally started in Scouting as Akela at 1st Olton Cubs when the Scout Hut was located at Chapel Fields School, Lyndon Road.
OldBrummie
