The Early Years

Setting the scene

Many of the earliest recruits to the 2nd Edgware were drawn from the ranks of the church choir and the Boys Club, and once Troop activities were in full swing, many of these lads led quite a busy social life. Master at Arms night (physical education) was on Mondays, choir practice was held on Tuesdays and Fridays, and normal parade nights were held on Wednesdays. There were monthly Saturday visits to Stanmore Common for wide games, monthly patrol visits to London and weekly patrol meetings. Sunday morning was, of course, always reserved for the church service, and from an early time the last Sunday in the month was reserved for church parade, the first being on 29 December 1929. The log also records many visits to neighbouring Troops.

Truth Hall was the venue for most of the Troop’s parades for the first couple of years, although there is evidence that the church hall was employed as well. Les Phillips believed that Cub meetings may also have taken place in the latter.

As was the fashion at the time, soubriquets of a Native American nature were employed. Martin was referred to as ‘White Chief’ or just ‘Chief’, while Leslie Martin was referred to as ‘Black Panther’ (names inspired, according to one interviewee, by their respective hair colours). Bill Wilson was known as ‘Lone Pine’. The headquarters was often referred to as ‘The Wigwam’. The Cub Pack, of course, drew on Kipling’s The Jungle Book for its names, Edith Moss taking the name Akela.

The first camps

On 16 April 1930, three days before the Easter weekend, the Troop acquired its first item of equipment, a bell tent purchased from the Scout Shop in Grays Inn Road by Soden and his Second, Fred Wilson. It was manhandled back to Edgware on the Underground. The following afternoon, the two Scouts loaded up a trek cart loaned by Soden’s father (a decorator) in Station Road. This incurred the wrath of a number of motorists and the police duly arrived to see the novice campers on their way. Two tents, the new purchase and one other borrowed from the council, were pitched at a site described in the Troop log as Clay Lane, Edgwarebury Lane, marking the start of the Troop’s first camp. It was not the most auspicious introduction to the outdoor life: ‘Tired and weary they wrestled with the tents in the pouring rain and managed to get one up… that night was one that few of us will forget, cold and miserable we lay awake listening to the fitful gusts of wind and rain. Good Friday dawned, bitterly cold. Snow, rain and hail each strived for first place.’

The foul weather was to continue throughout almost the entire camp. Personnel was restricted to Patrol Leaders and Seconds, presumably in order that they could learn campcraft themselves before imparting the knowledge to their juniors. As well as the three PLs and three Seconds, Chief, Black Panther and Bill Wilson were present. Despite the weather, the campers managed to complete a reasonable programme of activities, including cooking all meals over a ‘well built up’ fire. They also managed to make themselves look presentable for attendance at church on the Sunday morning, despite being ‘surrounded in thick slimy mud and (with) most of our clothes soaked…’ The Bulldog’s log, unlike the Troop log, reveals that two of the party succumbed to the harsh conditions. On the Saturday ‘Black Panther … went to the village for a shave – as he said – but he slipped into the Express hall and had lunch, wise fellow…’ while after the visit to church on Sunday morning ‘…(Soden) slipped home and stayed to dinner, and had to hike back to camp in the pouring rain.’

The first camp for the whole Troop was held on the Whitsun weekend in early June at Scratch Woods, and in considerably better weather. Fifteen Scouts, Troop Leader Bill Wilson and DSM Black Panther made their way to the site in the back of a lorry, communal transport being necessary even for short journeys in the days when relatively few people owned private motor cars, and Group vehicles were distant aspirations. The whole camp took place in glorious weather, during which the boys underwent training in a range of camping activities, interspersed with more leisurely pursuits such as treasure hunts and sunbathing.

A further training camp for PLs and Seconds took place in mid July in preparation for the main event of the year – summer camp at Saints Farm, Guernsey. The venue once again was Clay Lane, and this time the sun shone. The main event of note was an injury to Second Brian Jeffery, who cut himself badly on broken glass. Even allowing for the fact that Martin had visited Guernsey before with the Hiawatha Troop, the choice of a campsite so far from home, and over water, seems to have been an ambitious one for a first summer expedition. It must have been a terrific adventure for many of the Scouts, many of whom had not been away from home for any length of time before, let alone abroad. The Troop left Edgware at 7pm on the Saturday evening, taking the train from Waterloo and the SS Lorina from Southampton. Mrs Moss, Assistant Cubmaster, was present, performing cooking duties. The fortnight was spent engaged in large amounts of exploring, hiking, sightseeing and cricket matches against other troops camping in the area. Arthur Pitcher recalled that Scout W Anderson got sunburn and was given primary treatment with lard by his fellow Scouts. Matters deteriorated when, after using the farmer’s telephone to summon a doctor, Chief Martin subsenquently found himself stepping forward to greet the local vet!

The first concert

Inspired, no doubt, by the visits to other Group’s shows earlier in the month, the 2nd Edgware’s first concert was given in the church hall on 31 March. Organised by Cubmaster Claude Fox in aid of Troop (not Group) funds, it raised £12. Uniformed members seem to have had only minor parts to play, with the Cub Pack performing ‘The Toy Drum Major’ and the Troop giving a rendition of ‘Be Prepared’, a song specially written for them by the church choirmaster, a Mr Copas. Arthur Pitcher also recalled other contributions were made by his mother (piano), Cub Harold Shepherd (violin) and the church choir. This event was to be the first of many stage entertainments performed by the Group.

The autumn term

The first anniversary of the Group was celebrated on Thursday 4 November in the church hall, when nearly one hundred parents attended a ‘merrymaking’. As numbers at this point totalled 29 Cubs and 26 Scouts, of which a number were brothers, it seems that virtually every boy’s parents were at this meeting. The parents were entertained with displays of games and an exhibition of a contact game called ‘ankle-tapping’, a name which, Ernie Soden recalls, rather understated the physical forces involved! Light refreshments were provided. In speeches, the Rector, in his capacity as Group President, commended his leaders, (as did District Commissioner Durward) and pointed up the spiritual side of Scouting; Martin reported that he was having to turn away recruits due to lack of accommodation and a desire to restrict membership to those living in the Edgware area; and DSM Black Panther emphasised the importance of the monthly Saturday afternoon parades, in order to encourage the ‘out’ in ‘Scouting’. The evening ended with a campfire, including a number of sketches, ‘some extremely humorous, so funny, indeed, that a certain gentleman’s false teeth fell out onto the floor.’

In the remainder of 1930, the Troop attended the Armistice Day service, celebrated Guy Fawkes night, paid a visit to the City of London, and listened to a talk on stars from a Hampstead Rover Scout, Mr Bonacina. The Troop log also records that the Court of Honour (the decision-making body of the Troop, consisting principally of the Scoutmaster and Patrol Leaders) read over a proposed play, in preparation for a concert due in the early part of 1931. The calendar year was brought to a conclusion by diverse activities. On a very wet Boxing Day, five Scouts and Scouters went for a morning hike back to the scene of the Whitsun camp site at Moat Mount. Church parade was held on 28 December, at which the presence of some Cubs and officer from a Colindale Pack brought the total uniformed numbers to over 60. And a New Year’s Eve beanfeast was held, at which a toast to the Chief Scout was drunk, and ‘the Troop presented White Chief with a handsome casket containing cigarettes in appreciation of his excellent leadership during the past year.’ From a modern perspective, the gesture can be appreciated, but the nature of the gift would surely raise eyebrows!

Perhaps the most common recurring feature is the dedication, enthusiasm and ambition on the part of leaders and boys with which every page of these early records is impregnated. Many years later, Ernie Soden put it very simply: ‘Scouting was our life – there was nothing else’.

Our headquarters

The success, in terms of increasing membership, of the Group was already beginning to cause problems of accommodation. The Group’s pioneers had foreseen such difficulties right from the start, evidenced by an entry in the Bulldog’s log of 9 October 1929, when it described ‘the first official Troop night … held in the parish room – our temporary headquarters.’

Truth Hall was no bigger in the 1930s than it is today and the need for larger premises was urgent. We were in luck – the land of the church hall (between the foot of the Rectory Lane and Edgwarebury Lane) had been leased to St Margaret’s for a period of only 10 years, from 1921 to 1931. The church had clearly planned ahead and the construction of a new church hall (the one which stands today, next to our Scout Hut) began in March 1931. The removal of the old hall, a wooden army hut, was another problem. Although bought second- hand, it had still cost £960 (including furnishings), which in the early 1920s was a considerable sum. The church was understandably loath to merely destroy the building, but it was hardly saleable. An ideal compromise was to offer the building to the Group, provided that they organised and financed the removal of the hall to a position further up the accommodation road, and most importantly, on church land. Allowing for the cost of constructing a concrete base for the building to stand on, the Group would have to find approximately £120 – and that for a headquarters without water or electricity! The plan was accepted and the Group set about raising the money.

The hut was moved in late March and during the remainder of the year the building was redecorated according to contemporary fashion. The colour scheme is described: ‘…ceiling white, the top halves of the walls yellow, the bottom halves green with a red band around the middle. A loft is in progress at one end. Mr Fox works hard down there.’ The simultaneous construction of the adjacent church hall meant that the cost of laying on water and electricity was kept to a minimum.

Fundraising

In May 1931 we held our first jumble sale – a regular event that went on to help our finances until 1997. Collection of rummage was on 7 and 8 May. There is a divergence of opinion on how this rummage was actually collected, some recalling the involvement of a horse and cart, others a Scout-drawn trek cart. The sale itself took place on Saturday 9 May in the Group’s new headquarters.

Despite these misgivings, the sale raised another £10 for the cause. The Group’s first Garden Fete, held on Saturday 25 July, completed the trilogy of fundraising events. The fete took place in the rectory garden, which at that time extended right down to the edge of Hale Lane (Station Road). It was organised by a committee of Scouters and parents and, despite wet weather, proved a great success. Proceedings were opened by Sir Walter and Lady Kent, and visitors were then able to avail themselves of a number of diversions and distractions, including sideshows, miniature golf on the Rector’s tennis court, stalls and of course refreshments. Arena attractions included displays of rope spinning from the 1st Edgware Troop, something at which they were particularly adept. There were also extracts from the Hendon Juvenile Organisations Committee (JOC) pageant, which had taken place three weeks earlier. The Hendon Guides performed scenes from the reign of Elizabeth, while the 2nd Edgware’s more bloodthirsty contribution was a re-enactment of the Viking invasion. A public address system supplied by a Mr Chatwood of Dale, Forty, a shop in the new Mall opposite the Tube station, broadcast music, speeches and the voice of compere Claude Fox to the masses.

The Garden Fetes became an almost bi-annual event, running until 1971 when they were replaced with the annual Christmas Bazaars which ran until 1990.

‘A higher service’

The first year of the Group did not pass untouched by tragedy. On 17 May, Scout Henry Rendell was, in the language of the time, ‘called to higher service’, succumbing to what is described as ‘…a very rare throat disease of which little is known…’ Four months later Scout Frank Jennings died in Redhill (later Edgware General) hospital of appendicitis after an unsuccessful operation. From today’s perspective. it seems remarkable that the Group should lose two of its members in the space of four months, to the sort of illnesses which today are hardly considered life-threatening. But in 1930, decent housing conditions were still far from universal, many of the major medical advances of the century had yet to be made and the NHS was not yet a thing. A year later, we lost our first adult member – Claude Fox, who suffered a heart attack riding to work and passed away. He was 26.

Other activities

1931 again had three camps, Easter Camp at Bovingdon Vicarage whilst Whitsun and Summer were held at the same places as last year. As well as these Troop camps, the first patrol camp took place on 9 May when the Bulldogs revisited the Edgwarebury Lane site. On the weekend of 13/14 June, the same patrol represented the Group at a District Competition camp at Bentley Priory and won the event. A year later the Bulldogs Patrol was involved in 14 different camps between March – September, with a mixture of Troop and Patrol camps.

In 1932, the first weeks of January were largely occupied with rehearsal for the presentation of the Troop’s most ambitious entertainment so far, a play entitled ‘Of One Blood’, by E R Hougham. The play’s subject was the futility of war, and the power of Scouting to achieve reconciliation – not exactly lightweight fare for amateur players. It nevertheless achieved considerable acclaim from the local press, and the three accounts in various log books all agree on the production’s success. It played in the new headquarters for three consecutive evenings in January.

On 4 April, the log states ‘The band has now materialised and Mr Bandmaster of Childs Hill Silver Band has offered his services; we started practising for the first time this evening with the six trumpets, the bass and two side drums having been delayed; (at the time of going to press no complaint has been received). Mr and Mrs Whitehouse were members of the St Margaret’s congregation who lived in The Drive, and had offered the Group some money, to be spent on the creation of a band. Once it took off, the Band went on to play a key role in 2nd Edgware – you can read its history here.

The finishing touches of our Group foundations was the start of our Rover Crew – the section for members 17 and older. The Rovers met for their first meeting proper on 16 September under the leadership of Mr Pitcher, hereafter known as Skipper, assisted by a council of Chief, Percy Wilson, Fred Wilson and Frank Moss. Thus the first generation of Patrol Leaders passed out of the Scout Troop. There is the feeling, perhaps, that for some of these people, the formation of the Rover unit brought to a close the first great chapter in 2nd Edgware Scouting.