As well as the Group Card and Leaders list held by the Scout Association mentioned on the previous page, the Division or District kept a series of cards which listed all the leaders. These cards normally held two to three years worth of information on them and ran from the 1920’s (the first five are undated, but can be linked in with the registration documents) until around 1970.
As can be seen from these cards, there had been many more Leaders with the Group than were listed on the Registration and Census forms. As this could get a bit boring, I’m not going to list the rest of the Leaders – you can look for yourselves!
One Leader from the cards does warrant a mention. From 1949 to approximately 1950, the Scout Master was Brother Anselm, a Franciscan first order brother.
The above is an extract from the Stoke-on-Trent & District warrants Committee book from Tuesday 12th July 1949. It states –
Frank Everard Glenn (Brother Anselm) S.M. 1st. City (Porthill).
A Lay Brother of the Franciscans. Has attended a Wood Badge Course at Gilwell. Keen intelligent. Done excellent work since taking over the 1st. City. Needs to train some assistants against the day when he will be moved. Has two former Scouts of the Troop for this purpose.
Decision Recommended.
Now it’s not every Troop that can say its Scoutmaster was a Franciscan Brother!
In the Group’s archive we have nearly all the Census forms from 1971 until the present date. Rather than publish all of these, I’ve picked a few select ones for viewing below.
On the 1971 census it is recorded that we had one Cub who had been awarded his Gold Arrow. There was not to be another for another 10 years! This Cub, Stephen Padin, would play an important part in our history in 1983. Another interesting point is that this form was completed three days before one of the next Gold Arrow holders and current Group Scout Leader (and webmaster) was born!
The 1982 census is the last one only showing a Cub Pack. It is also interesting to notice that capitation fees (the money the Group pays to the Scout Association each year per member of the Group) are £3.50 per head. In 23 years, these have gone up nearly 800%!
The Scout Troop appears!
The Troop grows.
1988 marks the appearance of the Venture Unit. Although there were Ventures in 1985, they didn’t last too long.
In 1991, the Group is completed by the start of the Beaver Colony.