Memoirs

Below are the memoirs of a Group Scout Leader from the late 1960's as he remembers the creation of 1st Norton-on-Tees Scout Group

1st Norton, troop was 14 years old when I Joined the pack in 1921. My knowledge of its history between 1907 and 1921 is limited, but I have in my possession two record books dating back to 1910 which gives names of members etc. details of their activities. Some of those members I have since had the pleasure of meeting and I am proud of the fact that my eldest brother was one of them. I am proud also that all three of my brothers were scouts, two of my sisters were guides, my two sons gained their Queen Scout Badges in the group, one is at present a Scout Leader. My wife has been Akela of the cub pack for several years now, my mother was a member of the group committee for many years and I myself have been privileged to be a member since I was seven years old and I hope my grandson will follow on his eighth birthday in a few weeks time.

The troops first scoutmaster was called Mr. Edward Reed, son of a wholesale grocer whose warehouse was in west row Stockton. "Teddy" as he was affectionately known, lived at no.15 Station Road for many years and later at no.45 The Green where he died. His continued interest was such that he paid the troop a Visit in July three days before his death. He was a well known character of the Village, a keen Naturalist and gathered together a very fine collection of Butterflies and Moths which, along with his Caterpillars he used to delight in showing to anyone.

Scouting in the early days took place out of doors - stalking - tracking -camping etc. and playing "Attackers and Defenders" games over wide areas of countryside, much of which has since been built on. Norton Slag Tips that is the area near to the concrete works was a favourite spot for all sorts of activities. One game which originated in those days was the November the 5th Disguise Game which became an annual event, with the exception of the war years, until we decided to discontinue it because of too much interference from the growing number of "Gangs" on Norton Green. For this game the Schoolroom Block on the green became "The Houses of Parliament", the Scout Leaders became Guy Fawkes men, and the scouts became Peelers, The Peelers took up positions at various entrances to the green watchful and ready for any suspicious characters with designs upon the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes men, in disguise bent on blowing up the Parliament had to rely upon their disguise to carry them past the Peelers. I leave it to your imagination to picture these disguises and just how many harmless citizens were challenged by mistake will never be known. Mrs. Reed served coffee and biscuits through the kitchen window to the Peelers after the game and the assortment of Guy Fakes men were served supper indoors. It was the rule that they stay in disguise during the meal. There can't be many places where a Parson, Black Faced Chimney Sweep, Heavily Bearded " Farmhand" a Frock Coated Gentleman sit down to supper with a man with a Bandaged head, broken arm, crutch and wearing dark spectacles - incidentally all these characters stuttered, lisped or spoke in a high pitched voice and pretended they were deaf in case their voices gave them away to the peelers.

The troop first met in Mr. Reed's garden shed or kitchen and anywhere else they could. As most activities were out of doors a meeting place was anywhere to start off from and the place to return to. As numbers grew the need, for a building in which to meet became necessary and a glue factory which once stood at the top of Tanners Bank near the school was used. This building eventually collapsed but as the scouts had left it possibly wasn't their fault. I don't know whether the troop met anywhere else before my time but I joined in a hut which was standing just off the road opposite Rosehill no. 25 Darlington Lane about where 38 & 40 on Green Court Estate is now. This hut was so fragile that we boys were asked from time to time to bring along brown paper and sheets of cardboard - the brown paper we stuck on the outside and painted over with tar - the cardboard was used to line the inside. As we seldom had a useable sweeping brush we developed as experts the art of sweeping out by wafting the floor with any sacking we could find. This hut was replaced by a new one built by the lads themselves and paid for by their own efforts. Some timber salvaged from hut no. 1 provided a store room and a Scouter/Rover den on the end of Hut 2.

Green Court Estate was in those days a sand quarry and a source of great enjoyment. Later it became a council dump for household refuse which we looked on as Treasure Island. Many hours were spent 'Beachcombing' an activity which was kept strictly secret from our mothers. The refuse was the covered with soil and the area taken over by a Market Gardener who sublet plots as allotments until our hut was completely squeezed into an area about 30 yards square. The Market Gardener taking advantage of the fact that most of the older members were in the forces served notice to quit. The group having no other outlet sold the hut to him and Left.

Out yes but not down. The Troop carried on by using a room above a garage at house in Durham Road as headquarters. This meant a 1.5 mile walk for most of the lads under wartime conditions and blackout in winter to attend meetings. Towards the end of the war they obtained the use of a very small outhouse in the grounds of the Red House School on the Green.

Not long afterwards when things started to get easier, we looked round for a better place. Except for a small band of staunch parents no one seemed interested except Mr. Skelton who owned Norton Mill on Billingham Bottoms. The use of the Garth was obtained for a nominal rent of 1/- (1 shilling) per year which he paid back into funds as a donation. On the Garth field, that is the field to the west of our headquarters we erected a hut that had seen better days before it was dismantled and given to us. When rebuilt we found one side was longer than the other no matter how we fitted the sections together. It wasn't until we completed erection that we found that the hut originally had an inside partition which we had put in the side. No matter out of shape or not the boys painted and decorated and settled once more in their own HQ. It was great numbers grew and Ist Norton was proud again. This hut Lasted about 9 months. The three youths who set it on fire were chased but never caught, and we were left with £7 only in funds and a heap of ashes. As we collected around the charred remains on the Sunday morning asking ourselves "what can we do" a wolf cub piped up and said "CAN'T WE BUILD ANOTHER?".

We all heard the Wolf Cub say 'Can't we build another'? well why not? we can if we try can't we. Right we will. Little did we know the task we took on. First our own piece of land must be obtained - not a rented plot but a bit of Norton as our own. Baden Powell said that a good scout takes the 'Im' from Impossible and makes it possible. Back we went around Norton - again no luck. Back we went to Mr. Skelton only to learn that he had just completed the selling of all the land he owned.

However he suggested we approach the buyer of his land and see whether we could obtain the mill site and the garden for our purpose. "The Mill", before the war, consisted of a water mill in reasonable state of repair, the house which was occupied by Mr & Mrs. Skelton, stables and cow byres and a nice garden complete with fruit trees, lawn etc. Now it was a different picture altogether. The mill was a heap of rubble with two very unsafe walls still standing, house byres and stables completely down and the garden an overgrown wilderness of thistles, nettles and weeds of all types. During an air raid a land mine dropped near the mill path about 50 yards to the Northwest of our HQ which shook the mill by force of the explosion. Mr and Mrs. Skelton vacated the house because the whole property was unsafe. The place then received the attention of looters who bit by bit removed timber, scrap metal etc. and anything else they could lay their hands on. After this a contractor took on the job of razing the buildings to the ground and salvaging materials as payment. This work was done by using dynamite but when all the worthwhile scrap had been removed the work ceased and the two remaining walls left standing. These walls were about three feet thick and fifty feet high. It attracted young people like a magnet - a ruined mill, bits of walls to hide behind, odd ducts and tunnels - what youngster could resist going there? One by one, over time bricks were removed from the bottom of one wall until the outline looked like the Sphinx - tons of brickwork supported by a narrow neck, at its base, the other wall towering stark and bleak against the sky. This was how it was when we took it over. We agreed to buy at a cost of £100 and were allowed one year in which to pay. with £7 in funds and £100 to find we had our piece of land of approximately one acre. The solicitor who handled the legal transaction - impressed with our determination asked no fee as his contribution to the effort - which cheered us immensely. Actually the land cost us £70 and the ruined buildings cost £30 which was paid for just over one year later. The plans for the original buildings which consisted of the den and the main hall, 50 feet by 20 feet where drawn by an architect, who like the solicitor refused payment. On the day the plans where to be submitted to the council it was found that the site for the building was not marked on the accompanying map and rather than face a months delay a spot was marked in by "guess". We had planned to dig foundations on a level piece of land but when the council granted permission to build, it was found that the spot marked guess was indeed a heap of rubble, not a nice flat place at all and not were we really wanted it, however we had to accept this.

The two walls were demolished by brute strength using beams from out of the rubble to push against until they rocked sufficiently to fall, Thank god they fell the right way and no one was killed,

Because little cash was available to spend on materials during the first year we started to clear the site for foundations and use the bricks with which to build. Our tools were - one steel barrow - two shovels and numerous chipping hammers. The labour was two adult males and two youths who worked continuously throughout the two years it took to build. A committee who worked to raise the cash - odd ones of them also worked on the building at times, scouts, cubs and scouters and even lady Cubmasters too buckled in, The only qualified worker was a bricklayer called Godfrey Simpson who was a Rover Scout in the group. Evenings Saturdays and Sundays the work went on - more tools were obtained but only just sufficient for the purpose. Cement, timber and things of that sort were in very short supply during the period after the war and a permit was necessary before they could be bought. Even with a permit supplies were short and the committee had to produce the cash. Sometimes the work on the building ceased in order to help with fund raising. Clearing and chipping bricks was continuous and anyone who could be grabbed was pressed into service. A very dull and uninteresting job. Not very rewarding when each brick had to be dug out first and then chipped clean, particularly when those which broke did so when they were almost clean, At least 20,000 were handled one way or another, Sand which we required was given free by the quarry owners and only transport charges had to be met. Water was a problem as no fresh water was on tap, The old mill race had long since been reduced to a trickle as the water course leading to the mill was overgrown with bushes and weeds, At one time this dried up altogether and water had to be brought from Billingham Beck. each time a mix of cement was needed an old tin travelling trunk, which was all we had, was placed on the barrow and trundled down to the stream and filled with water. As the trunk was holed in places and the holes plugged with bits of wood it became a race back in order to arrive with even half the amount of water. Sometimes by accident and at times due to skylarking the whole lot was tipped over. An enormous amount of effort was put into the project but, except for the chipping of bricks which most of us got heartily sick of, the spirit was high as slowly but surely the building took shape.

During all this the work of running the group continued, when weather permitted the sections met in the field and out of doors. The District Headquarters at Stockton were used for a period but this was not a happy arrangement as it meant a bus journey and being confined to a hall. For another period a room in the tanyard on Norton Green was our meeting place. This was indeed an experience. The part we used had not been used for some time and the first room we had to go through to get to the one at the back had a floor in such a bad state that a sketch plan was drawn showing the route to take in order not to fall through. What equipment we had managed to collect was distributed to one or two houses for storage. We had a bell tent under our bed for some months. In such a manner success was eventually ours, the problem had been tackled, difficulties met and we certainly knocked the Im out of impossible.

The deeds for our land are deposited at Scout HQ London, for safe keeping and insurance cover for the building and equipment is reviewed annually. There are not many groups who can say to their newest member you are now a landowner and property owner with equal share and rights as the rest of the group.

From the day the Mill HQ opened Scouting activities were carried out unhampered and the group became strong and keen. Numbers grew to well over the hundred mark, attendance was regular and we became well known not only in this district but in the country also. Competitions - special county activities etc. were indulged in all over the place. Not many events were held without representation from 1st Norton. The Mill HQ simply had to be extended to accommodate all the boys. Although by now we had accumulated far more equipment than ever before, more room and more equipment was definitely needed. The group committee who deserve the highest praise for their efforts then and now, could not be expected to do more. Extensions then became a "Do it yourself" job. Boys who had already chipped bricks etc.: now a little older helped again and were pressed into service. More second hand bricks were "cadged", second hand timber and roof sheets too came along in order to keep costs to a minimum. Bit by bit further rooms were added. Four rooms 15'0" square were built on the west side - the front taken 10'0" to the north and on the east side a generator house and a room for "odds and ends:' were added. This work represented quite an effort over a considerable time and the finished work though admittedly rough filled the need up to a point. Later even the roof was raised above the scouters den to make a room for the Rovers.

During this period the building became a target for vandals and it often came quite close as to whether they could be kept out or whether we were fighting a losing battle. Windows had to be reduced in size and shuttered with anything we could lay our hands on and it is only recently that the fitting of steel shutters over new window frames has been completed. barbed wire is now strung around the roof and at the moment of writing we have not had any break ins for some months. While the work of extending was going on it became apparent that the main roof would need replacing. The roof was initially of very thin sheets, which were given to us at no cost, which we had to use because funds wouldn't allow for the purchase of better ones. The only answer was to replace with second hand PVC covered sheets which were bought at 6d per sheet.

This explains the appearance of the roof as it still is today. 2nd Norton Group had been very busy too. They were strong and thriving and like us had their own HQ (where the flats are now) Their method of obtaining a building was to concentrate their efforts on raising cash and theirs was professionally built. Their building was of far better appearance than ours. Unfortunately they were unable to obtain their own piece of land and when the flats were contemplated they received notice to quit. For a while they continued to meet in our HQ and we were pleased to have the opportunity of showing that we belonged to a brotherhood.

Many ups and downs for both groups were experienced during these years too. Obtaining scouters had always been a problem. Scouters leave to work elsewhere, family ties - illness and many other reasons cause gaps in the leader strength with obvious result of a falling off in attendance and decline in efficiency and interest. At the time when 2nd Norton lost their HQ both groups were weak in leader strength and the 2 groups decided to amalgamate. At 2nd Norton's request the amalgamated groups would carry on as 1st Norton and it was decided to change the colour of the neckerchief to green with pale blue border. (1st Norton was green with red border, 2nd Norton half dark blue and half light blue).

It would be untrue to say this went off smoothly, it didn't, and regrettably good people were lost to scouting because of it, Of course there are reasons and of course fault could not be found but this would be of no help. All of us are human and have different ideas etc.

It is my firm belief that had there been no amalgamation both groups would have declined to a very low standard and perhaps ceased to exist. As it is the joint group has retained some cubs, scouts and scout leaders from both 1st and 2nd Norton as well as attracting more leaders and more boys.

N. HUCKLE.