Lemington Upon Tyne, Scouting

A Memory of Lemington.

Scouting Life during the Forties

I was born in January 1936 in a large village, Lemington in Northumberland, England. Lemington bordered on the limit of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was a working class area and the houses ranged from coal miners houses with no indoor bathrooms to new ones that were build by the council around the time I was born. My family moved in to the house, I was born in two weeks, so they had a new house and a new son.
On the day I reached seven I went down to the scout hut to join the Cubs. The 1st Lemington pack, "The Lemons". My cousin was already a Cub. The Second World War was well under way and food, and other things were hard to come by. Uniforms were practically non-existent, but we managed to scrounge some triangular bandages and had them dyed lemon. We also had lemon knitted sleeves that we wore as stocking tops. The uniforms some of the scouts had were navy blue and with the lemon neckerchief and lemon stocking tops, in my opinion, looked very
smart. (Later on I managed to buy one second hand, or third" fourth what ever. The lemon-stocking top was, as I was told, an honour that had been won at a Jamboree). The scout hut was a large wooden building on its own field and was a gift lease from the Duke of Northumberland. A cast iron stove heated the hut and the fuel had to be scrounged from wherever. Sometimes coal could be gleaned from the local pit heap.

It was a tumbled down shack
With a bend in its back,
And it roofing all tattered and tom.
The old cinder path lead to the door at the back,
With the marching of feet it was worn
(From a poem written by one of the scouts about our troop)

As the scoutmaster was called up to war, members of the Rover crew ran Scouts. The Rovers that ran the show were people who worked in deferredjobs like coal mining and engineering. Bill Ramsay was still the headman and recognized as scoutmaster even if I did not see him until 1946. People who came up through the ranks ran the Scouting movement. Parents had nothing to do with it, except to help with trying to collect money for things we needed. There was no yearly fee or money coming in, except our weekly threepenny subscription. We collected jam jars and got l/2d for a l-lb jar and Id for a 2-1b jar. Beer bottles were hard to find, as people did not drink much in
their houses. The bar was the place for that. If beer was wanted for the house, it was brought home in a jug from the Bottle and Jug store, (off license). The pack and the troop were run on a military style. When the leader shouted, "Jump!" as you were jumping you asked how high. When asked to line up everyone's toes were on the same floor board and spaced equally. The Scouts were trained to be messengers for the air raid wardens in case of a communication failure. Two things that
were taught in the second class badge were Morse and semaphore. Things that I do not think that nowadays too many people know about. The Scouting movement was an all year thing, and there were no breaks like now. Each patrol took turns at cleaning the hut and lighting the fire before a meeting. There was no water in the hut, and if it was needed, it had to be collected from an overflow pipe belonging to a garden allotment next door. Seeing that we were in a built up area, pieces of land were put aside and rented out for gardening. Some boys came early to the meetings
as their sisters chose that night to have a bath. It was no mean feat to heat water over the fire and get out the tin tub so you could bathe in the kitchen-living room!
Camping did not take place until 1946, but camping skills were taught in the scout field. No trace camping was the thing. Fire places were made by cutting up a big piece of turf then building the fire in the hole. After the fire was put out the soil and the turf were replaced. All wood chips were also picked up and then it was hard to tell if anyone had been there. When camping did start, the only mode of transportation we were able to get was a six-ton truck that belonged to a local contractor. All the gear and the boys were stored on the flat deck and covered with a tarpaulin. Parents now would shake their heads in disbelief. As food was rationed and scarce, everyone brought what ever they could. The farmer whose land we camped on let us buy some eggs and milk. This was our training in black market dealings, as the farmer was suppost to sell everything to the government. He was not even allowed to keep anything for his own family. As the years went on the ration allowance got bigger. Rationing in Britain did not end until the mid fifties. Sugar and coal were the last to come off. Rabbits were in abundance although the local gentry owned them and taking them was poaching. Even so snares were set and meat for dinner was caught - our training in
poaching. Lord Baden Powell started scouting to teach young boys how to look after themselves. He would have been proud of us. We learnt to scrounge fuel, deal under the counter and poach game. Because of the food shortage, we had to come up with all kind of wonderful methods to make what we had stretch. Overweight kids were not a problem in our troop. All the boys that were in our troop were from poor working class families with not much to look forward to.
School leaving age was fourteen. The age was changed to fifteen, and I was one of the first to leave at that age. If you were clever at school you might get to go to Grammar school and on to university. Most boys worked as apprentices and studied at night school. But some members have done well in life, and I feel that it was the influence of the leaders and the work ethic that was drilled in to them. Two boys became King Scouts and received their badges from King George VI. One of the two is a professor of metallurgy and held a chair in the local university and one in a
university in America. The other became the CEO of the British Cement Corporation and was presented an OBE for his work by the Queen Elizabeth II. A third boy who came from a working class
family became, through night school then university, an English teacher and found work in a Public school (private) working with sons of the wealthy. Not bad for some raggedy arsed, holes-in-their-shoes kids that spoke with Geordie accents.
Myself, I have been employed for the last twenty years on management staff of a large smelter. I myself emigrated to Canada and held some jobs as a construction machinist. When I married and had a son, I became involved with the Beavers then the Cubs. The Scoutmaster at the time was another Englishman, and he ran his troop with no nonsense, and he was very well respected and liked by his boys. He was also a good mountaineer and taught climbing to members of the local mountaineering club. I spent some time at his scouting winter camps where all the boys learned to survive in below freezing temperatures. One thing I liked was he was always willing to get off his skis and brew tea; a true Englishman to the end. During my time as a leader, I took the Wood badge training and became a Gilwell scout. After my son left the scouting movement, I also left.

Lord Baden Powell wrote his book Scouting for Boys after seeing young boys of twelve suffer privations on the battlefields of South Africa. These boys had no education or training and suffered terribly. Now children are better educated and receive more attention from their parents. They learn at an early age when and how to wash themselves and that food is readily available. Outdoor activities and bush skills still need to be taught. It is a great for BP that schools are teaching these things to all, but it takes away from the scouting program somewhat. The scouting
movement still offers companionship and adventure although the program needs to be added to and updated. I am sure that people at the top ofthe movement recognize this and are looking towards the future.