Meldreth Matters, September 2021

Meldreth Local History Group www.meldrethhistory.org.uk On our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/meldrethhistory) we recently shared some photographs of Scouts in Meldreth. This prompted Stephen Marshall to get in touch with us and Stephen very kindly shared memories of his involvement with the Scouts in an article, which has now been published on our website. Below is an extract from Stephen’s article. His full account and additional photographs can be viewed on our website.

Personal Memories of Meldreth Scouts, 1982-1996 I first became associated with Meldreth Scouts in about 1982 when I joined the parents’ committee and also helped Rod Barnes, the Scout Leader as an assistant. In 1986 I was approached by the committee to ask if I would take on the leader role for the troop. I believed that as I had been a Scout in my youth, managing to attain my Queen’s Scout Award, I had a responsibility to the younger generation to try and pass on some of my knowledge and help them enjoy the type of good times I had enjoyed as a Scout.

Originally the Scouts met in the Village Hall, but with nowhere to store equipment and limitations on the boisterous games which could be played this was not ideal. We then had the chance to move into the old Red Cross hut, next to the British Queen in the High Street.

I believe this hut had been built in the 1880s as a working men’s temperance venue, paid for by a subscription of 10 shillings (50p) per man. Its history of use is somewhat vague, but it was used by the Red Cross, probably Groups working in the Scout Hut during WWII and after, but fell out of use by 1980. After considerable communication about its legal ownership, it was agreed the Scouts could have sole use of it for a peppercorn rent (never paid to my knowledge!) as long as we agreed it was owned by the local Conservative Association. When the Scouts “moved in” there was no electricity, no gas and no water on the site.

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