The 1st Kingham Hill Scout Troop

by
William Todhunter
1963 - 1967

The 1st Kingham Hill Scout Troop was the epitome of serious scouting, or so it appeared to me at the time. I had been in the scouts in London before going to Kingham in 1963, but this was something much different. We didn't just play games and tie knots and bandages one evening a week in a cellar in Pimlico singing "Ging-gang-goolie, goolie, goolie", we had a whole afternoon to it, mostly outside, where one supposes scouting belongs! We chopped down trees, and we cooked strange things over the fires made from the trees which we had chopped down. We wore thin khaki shorts in all weathers and got our knees dirty.

Our Scoutmaster until 1964 was Mr Martin (MIT) Taylor, assisted by the late Revd. Donald Service, and "MIT" took things seriously. Our venue for the 1963 Summer Camp was a large field overlooking Widemouth Bay near Bude in Cornwall, where it rained a bit, the sun shone a bit more and we traipsed across Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor, and, I seem to remember, had lots of fun.

The Boy-Scout and Senior-Scout troops at Bude in 1963.

We must have had good weather that week, we spent quite a bit of time on the wide sandy beach, or so it seemed, where we mastered the art of riding the surf on bits of bent plywood rented out by some local entrepreneur. Well, I said it was serious scouting. There were a lot of jellyfish in the sea; I cannot remember who it was who discovered when you cook them over a fire (probably made from the tree we had just chopped down), they go opaque, solid and stop moving around in the cooking pot, and most importantly, they don't sting. That was really educational, and has enriched my life no-end. What else we did at that camp, . well, it is a long time ago. Any of you got funny stories to add?

When Mr. Taylor left, he was replaced by Mr. Ralf Mann, who also wore very shorts in all weathers.

The highlight of our activities was the Field-Day every Term, when we were allowed out for a whole day in the wonderful Oxfordshire countryside, usually on map-reading exercises, meeting unfortunately not for a pint and a pie somewhere, but for a packed lunch provided by the able hands of Dixie Dean and his staff - or we cooked things over our fire made from the tree which we had just chopped down. The CCF prided themselves on their Field Days with doing things like initiative tests, but we did them too! At the end of the day, we would meet somewhere, like in 1964 at the old swimming pool down the road to Cornwell (wasn't it?)

Where are we? The brothers Bell and William Todhunter, Field Day, March 1964

At the Old Swimming Pool in March 1964. We all have mugs in our
hands so there must have been something to drink.

During the Summer Half-Term, some of us would go off camping without a member of staff being there - freedom! One year it was behind the blister-hangars at RAF Little Rissington, another year it was on the Enstone Estate of the Jesuit College, where the Students had their own Rover Scout troop. I remember really serious scouting there, we built an aerial runway and were shown how to cook a hedgehog encased in mud, and we chopped several trees down.

Another year we went to a field at a bend in a river. It was very warm and, well we were away from School. People actually pay good money to go camping, but we got it for free.

Another time we canoed the upper reaches of the Oxford Canal, downstream to Oxford. It rained and rained, but it was good fun, and nobody fell into the water. I shared the boat with Chris Jowett. Years later, aged nearly 50, my wife, dog and I did a 5-day canoe tour in Sweden with friends. It rained too. So the Kingham Hill Scout Troop was good for something in later life after all!

The Summer camp of 1964 was at a place called Whitemeer, somewhere near Ellesmere, Shropshire. The only thing I remember about that camp was digging a big hole for some recreational purpose presumably and lugging heavy canisters of water up a hill, and as it was a registered Scout Camp-site, there were others there. I cannot remember whether we chopped any trees down. There was a big lake nearby and the avid anglers went night-fishing. My diary tells me I was duty cook with Chas Carter on the second day, 29 th July. True to form, there are no other entries, except that the camp ended on 5 th August.

Bude 1965, Peewit Troop area.

T. Doe and David Haynesworth Bodmin Moor - on top of Brown Willie (1,357 ft).

The following year we went to Bude again, back to the same field. The weather wasn't as good, at least we didn't spend so much time on the beach. Perhaps it was considered that we weren't there to have fun.

We did lots of scouty things on this camp, traipsing across the moors again, map reading, but somehow this camp wasn't nearly as much fun as the first year at Bude.

At the start of 1967, I moved up to the Senior Scouts. Now, this was much more like it. Our Scoutmaster Mr John Essame had served in the forces and, possibly as well because we were older, scouting became a much more grown-up affair. I don't think we chopped down so many trees. We did drill, because if the CCF did drill to look smart and be disciplined, we should do it to. It certainly amused the CCF CO.

My scouting days culminated in the 1967 Summer Camp, which was with 43 Commando Royal Marines in Plymouth (Devon, not the House).

But, before we left, we had 2 days on our hands before travelling down to Plymouth. Somebody had donated two old go-karts to the School and they arrived as though on order to keep us occupied. The circuit around the 1 st XV pitch was turned into a race track; past the Cricket Pavilion, across in front of Severn and Greenwich, up the hill to the Chapel, back down the hill to miss Durham on the turn back into the pits. We only got one of them going, so, no races. We did upset one member of the domestic staff with the noise but Mr. Essame, always the perfect gentleman, sorted things out and we continued with our fun. A crash-helmet? Who needs one of those?

Mechanics Playfoot & Wellingham and ?? get the thing going.

Philip Ware heading for the bottom of the hill.

Frank shows his brother how it's done.

And so to Plymouth by train. I seem to remember we travelled in the goods van - why?

The Marines had planned a very active week for us and it was terrific fun. On the agenda was:

Canoeing on the River Tamar, which included speeding up the river in a Gemini inflatable assault boat, shooting, dingy sailing, judo, circuit training, swimming, a 2-day hike across Dartmoor, and by the way learned that a pint of the local poison cost only 1s.3d (about 8p in today's money) !!!

And that was scouting KHS-style. We certainly had so many more opportunities than lads elsewhere, with our all-weather khaki shorts and dirty knees. We had also had the privilege of felling half the trees on the estate, if not in Oxfordshire. I wonder if they were ever missed.

The Author:

William Todhunter has been living in Germany now for 26 years with his family, dogs and horses. He married a German girl 32 years ago, having met at a gliding club party, whilst serving Queen and Country with the Royal Signals in Krefeld. Before being stationed in Germany he served in Bahrain, where scouty-type khaki shorts were again the order of the day.   He now works for a modial transport firm in Frankfurt, but has spent most of his career in international telecommunications, including BT

William (Bill)Todhunter

June 2007