Cambridge District Scout Archive
In the 1912 Annual report the start date of St Clements is given as 23rd May 1912
Littleton House School moved into Mid Cambridgeshire in 1935, the whole of the District being reabsorbed into Cambridge c 1946. DuringWW2 they were run by members of Girton College. From Girton’s War: The Village 1939 – 1945, by D R de Lacey we have reminiscence’s from two of the leaders. Mary Callister and later Pam Gregory were Akelas. The following descriptions are from the recollections.
‘In July 1943 we took the pack camping in a field near the school and I was asked to do the cooking on a field oven, which was completely new to me.’ ‘ One night a German bomber, presumably on his way home, opened fire with his machine gun and some bushes caught fire. There was no panic and the fire was quickly extinguished, but not before one of the boys said “It’s like Moses and the burning bush ‘Miss!”‘
We may hypothesize that the camouflaging of the tents was insufficient.
The school was described as being for ‘Mentally deficient boys’ and the inexperienced leaders taught them knots. ‘Fortunately being mentally deficient , they had forgotten each week what they had learned the week before so it was not really taxing. Then I discovered tracking which was a huge success.’
Closed (above) meaning of restricted access; open meaning not having restrictions to membership placed on it by a sponsoring body. County reported Troop closing in 1984.
Note: On one archive record from before the Great War 15th Cambridge (St Giles) and the 16th Cambridge (St Clements) had the word ‘Catholic’ added to their titles. This does not appear to be part of the official title but an indication that whilst part of the Church of England they self identified or were considered as ‘Anglo – Catholic’ in approach. See Local History/ Religion in Cambridge Scouting
JWR Archivist Mar 2019
Cambridge District Scout Archive 