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Within a year of Baden-Powell's first camp on Brownsea Island the first Scout meetings were taking place in Romford. We have an archive of documents relating to the history of Scouting in our district which for many years was maintained by our district archivist John "Bunny" Warren. We have managed to scan a small selection of documents and convert them to more modern electronic formats. These are published on-line at the links below to make them accessible to all. All material is copyright Romford District Scouts unless otherwise stated. |
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Scout Pie seems to have been a Year Book for the Romford District Scout Association. Four editions were published annually from 1934-1935 to 1937-38 after which there was a break presumably during the 2nd world war. We have two further editions in our Archive, for 1950 and 1951. The editions from the 1930s take the form of a paperback pamphlet in a card cover. They are approximately 21cm wide and and 13 cm. tall. The first edition is priced 6d and runs to 40 pages. Scout Pie contains a district, directory, annual reports from sections and a financial report. What makes it most interesting is that the editions from the 1930's also contain a report from each Scout Group! |
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To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Scouting it was decided that an attempt should be made to document the 75 year history of Scouting in our district. This document contains a brief overview and is followed by a brief history of most groups. The group histories were submitted by the Group Scout Leaders and it is noticeable that when it comes to getting reports from GSLs, the editors of Scout Pie had rather more success in the 1930's than the authors of this document had in the 80's.
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The 1982 document sowed the seed of an idea that a more in depth documented history of Romford Scouting would be a good thing. Our District Archivist John "Bunny" Warren took up the challenge and by 1997 produced a bound A4 volume running to 46 pages.
This has been scanned and re-mastered as an electronic document (Bunny's original was on an electronic typewriter) and updated in places. More modern technology has also enabled us to add pictures of some of the documents to which Bunny's original text refers. This has become a living document and further updates are possible and expected.
As more pictures are added the downloads have become bigger so the latest version has been split into three downloads.
| Revised 2021 Edition. |
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08/02/2021 Added pictures of the Coronation Display in Raphael’s Park and gave an answer to one of Bunny’s un-answered questions about this event. 30/03/2021 Added details about the Opening of 3rd Squirrels Heath’s Scott Lodge to the 1950’s Section. Added dates for 11th Romford’s Merger with the 1st. | |
| Revised 2020 Edition with added illustrations. |
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09/12/2018 Added picture of the District’s 1957 Jamboree Contingent as well as a picture of the Author with Scouts at the Main Road Bench in 1957. Also some trophy updates. Added Year of the Scout and Cub Anniversary badges to the 1980s 27/12/2018 Added details from District news in the early 1990s and pictures of record books. 06/04/2020 Added pictures of Camps at the Benskins Lane Site used by the District. Added note about Alan Yates of the 12th Romford winning the Kingswood Cup three times in the 1940s. Added picture taken on camp with French Scouts just 1 month before start of Second World War. Added pictures of 1937 Jamboree. Added picture of 1st Gidea Park taken in Belgium. 19/05/2020 Published Part 3 with details of new DCs and updated cencus figures plus a few new illustrations. 16/06/2020 Added notes from 1937 County Quarterly. 08/09/2020 Corrected captions relating to Navestock Vicarage campsite. Added details of two extensions to District HQ in the 1960s and 70s. Re-published all three parts. | |
Revised 2018 Edition with corrections and added pictures. |
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| 01/06/2018 Added pictures to the Jamboree 1957 section. Some pictures to a 2007 section and updated trophies section. | |
Revised 2014 Edition with corrections and added pictures. |
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08/09/2014 3rd Havering were the 6th troop who in 1967 attended the Greater London North-east Diamond Jubilee Camp at Schmitburg, Germany but hadn’t responded to Bunny’s original request for information. This section was updated accordingly. 27/12/2014 All new content is now added in blue grey panels. Notes added about the Dyer Cup and Romford winning the county swimming gala in the late 1940s. Picture of Bill Adams added to the DC page. | |
| Revised 2013 Edition | |
A single file download of the 1997 original |
Scanned and digitised with graphs of membership numbers. |
The District Tree |
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A diagram showing when each Scout Group in our district and key dates in their history. |
