1st Great Eccleston Scout History
Scouts and Cubs in Great Eccleston
The 1st Copp (Great Eccleston) Scout and Cub Group was formed in 1971,The registration number being 40089, but this registration was first used in 1945-7. So was there a Scout Group in Great Eccleston in 1945 to 47 and if so, what was its Title ? If you can help with any information about an earlier Group then please let us know. I was once told it was active during the war? The first meeting of the Scout Group Council was at Copp School on the 13th May 1971, and their were 19 members present. Mr. Geoffrey Ball was appointed as Chairman, Mr. Rees was elected Secretary and Mr. Huckerby became the Treasurer. In 1971 the Scouting officials were as follows :Group Scoutmaster- Norman Perryman; Cub master- Maureen Gibson; Assistant Cub master – Anne Thistlethwaite; Scoutmaster -John Cowgill; Assistant Scoutmaster Peter Coweill. There were 5 Shouters, 12 Wolf Cubs and 12 Boy Scouts. The Cubs and Scouts gave reports and Fund Raising was discussed at great length – a Coffee evening and Fashion Show at Millbank, Elswick had been held on the 15th of April and raised the princely sum of £9. The District in those days was North Fylde (not Wyre). The Headquarters was at Copp School and the Sponsoring Authority was St. Anne’s Copp Church (the Reverend Edward Barrett). It was decided to change from being a sponsored to an independent group just over 12 months later and The name was changed to 1st Great Eccleston officially on 1.1.1972, but continued as an Open Sponsored Group, i.e. associated with Copp Church but accepting and freely working with other denominations.
In 1980 it became a fully Open group with reduced association with Copp Church. On 2.2.1981 the membership was 19 cubs and 26 scouts, with the number of cubs staying reasonably steady at between 25 and 35 up to 1982 with a waiting list for new recruits. In 1982, presumably because more supervision became available, the cubs split into Odin and Thor packs with about 24 in each. Since then we have had the introduction of the younger section Beavers, and seen the demise of the Odin Pack. Currently Cubs and Beavers have between 20 to 24 members each, with a waiting list for Beavers as and when necessary, membership being limited by the ability to find warranted helpers to supervise activities. The membership is made up of young people from most of the surrounding village. But in contrast the membership for the scout section has been more variable, from a minimum of about 9 to a maximum of 31. Holding the attention of this age group is more difficult than it used to be; they tend “to have seen it all” with more direct experience, for example from greater family travel opportunities, and indirect experience via TV, peer pressures on this age range is also grater. Scouts tend to be recruited from a wider area than the cubs, including St Michaels, Inskip, Catforth, Thornton, etc. The nearest scout groups are Poulton-le-Fylde, Garstang, Kirkham and Hambleton, but as late it is becoming more and more difficult to attract and retain young people of Scout age.
Venture Scouts, for older boys, was outside the troop arrangement, and had a larger catchments area, with 15 members meeting in Great Eccleston in 1980 under the name of Leckonby. In subsequent years additional units were formed in Garstang and Over-Wyre and the Leckonby group fell apart; it was restarted in 1994 and became an end on Unit to 1st Great Eccleston, only to be disbanded a short time later by the District with the introduction of the new Scout age range, and the newly formed Explorer Section.
Funding of the Great Eccleston Group was initially by social events, jumble sales, tombola, barbeques, dances, etc. one of the more unusual fundraisers in those early days was a Balloon race (record balloon being found in East Germany), canoe and raft races were also organized to generate fund. The troop was generally well supported financially, and owned its own mini-bus, During this time they embarked on the provision of a permanent hut. And a hut was finally purchased from Weeton Camp, but installation took many months due to intermittent support, with drainage and access problems, with the hut not being in full use until about 1982. Unfortunately after all the hard work, the hut burnt down not long after the opening and had to be replaced.
From the earliest days, the scouts and cubs were involved in the usual working for badges, bob-a-job weeks, frequent local and long distance camping, sporting and competitive scouting activities etc. Also along with all the other things in those early days, Swimming was one of the regular activities, held mainly at Garstang on a weekly basis, and was regarded as an important skill to have, and this was probably the main route for boys to learn haw to swim in those early days. Another important addition to the activities in those days was a French troop spending a week camping at 1st Great Eccleston Scouts. Church parades were held monthly at first but this was changed to quarterly, and later just on special occasions. In more recent years under the Leadership of the Scout Leader Alan Cornforth, in 1989 the group also started to enter floats in the Gala, and helped at the Agricultural Show and on occasions at the local Tractor Pulling events.
They also began to hold a strong position in the local area, repeatedly winning many of the Wyre District awards for Scouting, and winning the Lancashire County Acorn Challenge Trophy for scout skills, along with the County Backwoods Cooking competition, and the County Camping competition on a number of occasions. And then having gone on to representing the County in the North West Regional championships, and managed to win a number of Regional competitions, and in so doing put 1st Great Eccleston Scouts, in the County Record Books. In 2004 they also gained a World Record for building a trebuchet with a power output of 170.8 kgm (1,240 lb.ft) another ongoing ambition was to replace the building. And after ten years of hard work by numerous committee members and helpers, in 2011 the group was finally fortunate enough to get several grants, and with this money they were able to replace the old building for a fantastic new one, which is not only used by the Scout Group, but also used for the benefit of the Village, and surrounding area. (This report finished in November 2011 after the new group Scout Leader of 6 months, asked the Scout Leader of 22 years to leave, because he did not want him on his team.)
Bevers
When you are 6 you can join the Beavers, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a Boy or girl, because at 1st Great Eccleston they take both and they meet on Monday night from 6.30 to 7.45.
They have a Motto Be Prepared but also say Fun and Friends and that’s what they do, have fun and make friends, what’s a Motto, it’s just a few words used to tell people about you. There’s this other thing called a promise that they all have to say when joining. I promise to do my best, to be kind and helpful and love god and like all the other sections it can be adapter for all faiths and religions.
They wear a turquoise sweatshirt and a neckerchief scarf the same as the Scouts and Cubs with a woggle to hold it together. All the Beavers together are called a ‘Colonies’ and we split up into small groups called Lodges.
Beavers do all sorts of things and its loads of fun doing them, they learn all about making things, and having fun, doing games, and learning about other people, and what they do, and haw everyone should be friends, and share things, and loads of stuff like that, but the best bit is doing things with all the other Beavers.
Cubs
Hi this bit is about the Cubs
Great Eccleston Cubs meet on a Tuesday night at 7.00pm and close at 8.30pm, we take both Boys and Girls in Cubs starting at the age of 8 up to 10.
Cubs do loads of fun things, like learning how to cook over a fire, or how to keep themselves fit and healthy, and sometimes Cubs go camping, and sleep in tents and do all sorts of outdoor activities and games. Or they may have a sleep over at the Scout H Q, or go on day trips and things, you also get the opportunity to try lots of new things like swimming, exploring, music, computing, sports, and hobbies. If you are good at them you can get Activity badges to put on your uniform, so everyone knows what you are good at. Yes you will get a uniform, the cubs have a green sweatshirt, navy activity trousers, and a group scarf the same as the Beavers and Scouts.
We have a Promise. I promise that I will do my best to do my duty to God and to the Queen,
to help other people and keep the cub Scout Law. This can be adapted for other faiths and religions.
The Cubs also have a Cub Scout law that is: Cubs always do their best Think of others before themselves and do a good turn every day.
Scouts
At Great Eccleston the Scouts meet on Friday Night at 7.30 to 9.30 or 8.00 to 10.00 in the summer and along with Beavers, and Cubs, this section is also open to both Boys, and Girls. What do I have to do to be a Scout is one of the most frequently asked questions, well that’s easy, because at Great Eccleston all you have to do is just turn up on Troop night (a Troop is the collective name for a group of Scouts) So far so good, but how old do I have to be is the next question, the Scout age range is from 10 1/2 to 14.
One of thing that sets us apart from other youth organisations is that Scouts wear a uniform, and for some reason this seems to put some people off joining , and that’s a shame. Because normally we only wear our uniforms at the beginning and end of Troop nights, and on official occasions, which is probably less than 6% of the time spent in Scouting, the rest of the time we wear whatever we want, and that’s usually activity clothing. Because that’s what Scouts like doing best, being active, whether its inside or out, doing allsorts of things from camping, to microlighting, or should I say from skin-diving to abseiling, or perhaps Backwoods cooking to Canoeing – whatever, if wearing a uniform puts you off, then perhaps doing these things is a bit to much for you, If not, then the biggest adventure of your life could be just round the corner. The beauty of being a Scout is whatever you have ever wanted to do, there’s someone in Scouting who can help you do it. The other thing is, you can go at your own pace, so say you just want to have a bit of fun canoeing then that’s ok. But lets say when you get older you want to become a canoeing instructor , then Scouting can help you achieve whatever you want to do. There’s nothing sissy about being a Scout, on the contrary it takes a lot of bottle. Did you know that 26 of the first 29 astronauts were Scouts, or that well over 60% of RAF graduates are former Scouts, and if you’re into football would it surprise you to fined that David Beckham was a scout, and the list goes on.
