Letter from former Standlake Sea Scout

I, and my brother were both in the troop in the early days.

My brother, Andrew joined in approx. 1963 when Felix was troop leader, assisted by the Rev. Gibbons, (or "Gabby" as he was known).

My brother was  under the impression that he was one of the founder members. Perhaps the  troop had previously closed down for a while???.

For the first year there were approx. 15-20 people, and they used to have the troop meetings in Felix Ingham's barn at Cheswell cottage, and to  start with they had no uniforms until Felix arranged this.

Initially, there were two patrols, The Otters and the Springboks.

After approx. one year, (1964 ?) they transferred to the village hall in  the High Street.

I moved up to the Scouts, from the Cubs in 1969 - There were still only two  patrols, but the Springboks had been replaced by the Lions-Why and when this change took place I don't know (possibly political ???).I became patrol leader of the Otters - I, somewhere, still have the original otters pennant flag. The only camp we had was Whitsun camp at "fastwaters" near Newbridge - Very cold every year !!!

If I remember we only had two old Army tents that Felix had scrounged from somewhere.

We had two sailing boats and a few very old canvas covered canoes. Due to the poor state of these we spent several of our meetings in Oxford making some new fibreglass canoes as replacements.  To help raise money, both patrols staged a play every year, at Christmas in the village hall, with everybody taking part. It was normally performed to a full house, and great fun. Also the jumble sale in the village hall that was always well supported.

At that time there were still only approx. 20 of us. Felix was still Skip, assisted by Michael Farthing. Approx. 1971, due to increasing numbers two more patrols were formed - The Gannets and the Kingfishers. Around this time John Cook and Larry Pavier came on the scene.

Our summer camp was on the Gower in Wales (due to John Cooks connections) Some of us travelled down by train and some by our first troop bus - A very old army ambulance, again scrounged., I think, by Felix. I'm fairly sure that the cost per scout for the ten day camp was £11, everything included. I think the above details are fairly accurate, but if I can help at all.

Steve Rance 

Leaders