Milton & Landbeach

Cambridge District Scout Archive

Milton and Landbeach are linked here as neighbouring villages and generally as Scout Groups. It is clearly incomplete in a number of details particularly in the period when it was part of Mid Cambridgeshire District.

Much of the following has been taken from a history compiled by David Waterson in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. It does mention a Beaver colony which was opened in c.1986 which might set it later.  The original typewritten copy is held by Rob Farrington a later GSL of the group.  The history is as recalled by a number of the earliest Scouts then living in the village.  Many recorded incidents have been incorporated in other articles on this site.

13th Cambridge District (Milton)                        1922 – 1923                Open               10582

Registered 6th November 1922 with the IHQ number 10582, it was Open with 1 leader and 12 Scouts

  • SM B F W Levett (Bert)

It did not re register in October 1923.  Such hiatus are not unusual and may not imply more than poor communication or a hesitant return of paperwork whilst a new SM stepped up.

Founded in 1921 by Rector and Vicar Canon George Evans who started with 12 Scouts paying 2d. subs. a week.  He subsidized the uniform paying for the hats and staffs.  They met originally in the old School and adjacent Reading Room and later one of the three village halls.  During this time he was supported by Jack Mead, possibly the first scout in the group, and Fred Pearson who were members of the 12th Milton School Troop later known as the Gilbert Road Troop.  Badges were awarded during this first phase and Fred attended the opening of the Cenotaph as part of the Cambridge contingent.  George Wilson and Fred Pearson were also members of the Scout Rowing Club as was G C Pinney.

Canon George Evans was later to provide an old leaky boat which was repaired and a Troop flag which was located many years later on the Rectory outhouse but was beyond repair.  He did, however, take away the Boer War era rifles donated to the troop and used only once as ‘the Scouts are not a military organisation’.

13th Cambridge District (Milton)                        1923 – 1925                Open               11968

This re registration may have been the result of a missed yearly re registration or a brief perod of uncertainty until a new SM was found. Troop HQ was ‘The School, Milton’

  • Act SM       Gerald C Pinney          45 Abbey Road
  •                    E B Moss                  39 Victoria Park

It opened 20th November 1923 with one leader and 9 scouts. Magenta and Green scarf

By 1926 Gerald Pinney was SM, recalled as being of St Giles, Cambridge and the troop ran until the late 1920’s when it ‘fizzled out’. During these early years much of the leadership came from North Cambridge. Milton was, as yet, still a small village.

13th Cambridge District (Milton)                        1925 – 1925                Open               13721

Registered 4th May 1925, presumably a re-registration with a new IHQ number

  • SM             Miss Sue? Beecroft
  • ASM           Gerald C Pinney

With two officers and 16 Scouts.  Magenta and Green scarf Last known mention in records is in 1925 but it is recalled as ‘petering out’ in the late 1920’s. 

65th Cambridge (Milton) / Milton    1933 –1935 and 1935 – 1937

From 1933 the 65th Cambridge (Milton) was recorded as a Scout Troop.   An open troop, number 16458, it closed in 1937.   It, like Landbeach, had moved to Mid Cambridgeshire District in 1935 and changed its name to Milton, dropping the number 65th which was later reused within Cambridge District.  No records remain from this period.

In Waterson’s history it is recalled that during the 1930’s scout events were organised by Alfred and Charles Butcher but the existence of a formal Group not established. His informants were active in as Scouts in the 1920’s, not in the 1930’s. Their involvement in a formal group is not established in the few scanty records that remain. Both brothers were to die in WW2.  Census returns are given for 1936, 1937. In 1938 the 65th number was given to a new Group Holy Sepulchre Church, and any formal Milton scouting after this date is unclear.

WW2

Some occasional scout events are recalled as being held in the British Legion hall during WW2 (dates unknown) by an unidentified woman. During WW2 the new District ‘Mid Cambs’ was reabsorbed back into Cambridge District.  Milton village was effectively part of Cambridge from about 1945 but apparently closed in 1943 or 1944. It is not clear what this Group was. All the reabsorbed groups were formally renumbered in 1948 when the move became permanent.

45th Cambridge (Landbeach)

Landbeach is the only Group to use the name and number 45th Cambridge.  As a village it is not recorded as having an existence as a Cambridge District troop, an earlier format for Groups outside the town boundaries.

45th Cambridge (Landbeach)                        1931 – 1934

It was registered 20th March 1931 with the IHQ number 12735.  The named leaders were

  • Mrs Winifred M Denham       CM
  • Miss I Beeton                          ACM
  • Miss E Beeton                        ACM

An ‘Open’ Group it recorded 3 officers and 12 Cubs on opening.

Census returns were given for a pack in the years 1931 – 1934.  Scouts are mentioned in September 1933 but no figures given. 

Landbeach                                          1934 – 1944

 In 1935 it moved into a new District, initially named North Cambs, then East Cambs. and finally Mid Cambridgeshire.  At this date records are lost to Cambridge District.

As occurred across all Groups in the new District the naming format changed and 45th (Cambridge) Landbeach Scout Group became Landbeach Scout Group.

45th Cambridge (Landbeach)                        1945 – 1949

Mid Cambs struggled to retain its identity during the war and was re absorbed into Cambridge District in 1945.   Landbeach regained its old number, not all did.

No Census returns are recorded for this period and the pack is recorded as closed in 1949.  It was sufficiently active to be considered re absorbed in 1945 (those who transferred out in 1935 were not automatically assumed to still exist) and it is not clear that the groups temporary re-absorbed were recorded in the core Cambridge Census returns, though 1948 returns are clearly recorded.

It gains a passing mention in 1947 and was clearly working with Milton in 1948.  The pack is recorded as closed in 1949, probably a late formal notification.

Mrs. Winifred M Denham wife of the Rector, left the living, if not the village, in 1948 when her husband died. 

I have not found any reference to the 45th Cambridge (Landbeach) pack formally joining the 50th Cambridge or to it being some or all of the opening 50th pack.  It would appear likely that if neither of these was the case then at least some of the Cubs from the closing 45th would have brought their experience of Scouting to the new group which was intended to cover the two villages. 

50th Cambridge (Milton and Landbeach)    7th October 1948 – 1953         26640              Sponsored

Meeting at Milton Parochial School it was sponsored by the local church and listed both a pack and troop.  Briefly ahead of this formal opening date the 45th Cambridge (Landbeach) Cub pack was reported as participating with the 50th in the 40th anniversary of Scouting shortly ahead of the formal date of registration. This group was sponsored by Milton Church (All Saints) the Rector of which was Rev Jack Martin Plumley, later Professor Herbert Thompson Chair of Egyptology, was SM. He was known to be engaged in Rovers and running scout troops whilst a vicar in the East End of London during WW2. When he stepped away in 1953 the Group stuttered.  The 50th returned census figures

  • Scouts  1949 – 1950
  • Cubs    1949 – 1953

The CM was Mrs. K M Langley and later briefly Miss Margaret Shipp.

They are reported as closing in 1953.

*****

The name Milton and Landbeach is often shortened to Milton. This shorting of names is not uncommon in records, but it can induce doubt as to the full name.   I have not come across any formal registration that suggests it was ever just Milton since it became the 50th Cambridge.

*****

50th Cambridge (Milton and Landbeach)                1964 – date               36932              Open

Reopening in 1964 and meeting at the British Legion Hall the group retained the scarf (see below for colour).  This final rebirth was under Michael Nurse and he was joined by Sally Summerfield as CM previously of the 54th.

By 1967 the scout Troop was run by George Mills with Bob Patman (also ex 54th), in 1968 by David Waterson and in 1973 David Tiplady. Tony Stubbings was CM and a second pack was opened in 1974 in Landbeach under Mrs Norah Fuller. Michael Nurse was GSL to be followed by Rob Farrington in 1974. The Venture Scouts were initially part of the Cam Valley Unit, an amalgamation with the 12th and 54th but later as a standalone unit.

David Waterson, the author of the 1979(?) history, was SL from 1969 to 1974.  During his time the Troop engaged in joint meetings with the American Scouts at Mildenhall and with Milton Guides.  They moved to regular camping and built up their equipment base.   They dedicated their new flag in 1970 and gained their first Queens Scout in 1975.

The Group became part of North Cambridge District in the three way division of 1983, the two town sections, North and South Cambridge, reuniting in 2001.

Census figures available give:

  • Cubs                    1965 →
  • Scouts                  1966 – 1967, 1970 →
  • Ventures              1973 – 1975 , 1982 →                        Ventures re-opened in April 1981

The scouts did not report Air Scouts, Sea Scouts or Senior Scouts.

  • Beavers               1987 →
  • Explorers             2002 →

Leaders

Few records from the post war period to inform this very short Outline History which has now been greatly supplemented by David Waterson’s history from the late 1970’s .  Few records survive from the period when North and South Cambridge District sundered.  Much of what remains has been pieced together.

One significant name attached to the Group is that of Rob Farrington (silver wolf), a leader since 1959, and his family several of whom have been engaged for over 30 years.

Activities

It is evident that the group plays an important part in the social life of the village.  More widely the group has been very active in the Cambridge Gang Show, camped at the Coronation Jamboree in 1953 and at many District events since.

Scarf

Scarf colours   The scarf, always with a boarder, has been described as

  • Red with orange                     1948
  • Red with gold                          1950
  • Crimson with a gold edge       1952
  • Scarlet and gold                      1968
  • Red and gold                           2002

This shift in description is not unusual; the core colour-way remains unchanged.

JWR Archivist  Jan 2023