Sea lions on their shirts (From Surrey Comet)

Sea lions on their shirts

1:10pm Wednesday 25th April 2007

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The group was formed by the Reverend John Taylor of St Mark's Church on May 1, 1909, as the 1st Surbiton BP Scout Group and was officially registered in November of that year.

Seven years later a Wolf Cub pack was started, followed by Rover Scouts and then Senior Scouts.

However, as had happened with Leander, 1st Surbiton began its scouting life as just a scout troop - it was not until 1946 that a sea scout patrol was formed.

This quickly became a troop in its own right and met, like the scout troop, at the headquarters in Balaclava Road, Surbiton.

In the 1960s, 1st Surbiton was forced to move headquarters to Lower Marsh Lane, acquiring a building from the old army camp in Richmond Park and building it themselves, on the site made available by Surbiton Borough Council.

This later burned down and the group was forced to move again, to the old headquarters of the 3rd Surbiton Scouts, where it still meets today.

As with many groups in the borough, by the mid 1970s numbers were declining and leaders were hard to find, so 1st Surbiton took the difficult decision to close its scout group and strengthen the sea scout troop instead.

When the parish churches of St Mark and St Andrew merged in 1976, it provided the group with its new name Sealion - "Sea" from the fisherman St Andrew and the "lion" of St Mark.

The group secretary was able to register the new name without the loss of the group's original registration number.

The group now has 150 members forming two beaver scout colonies, two cub scout packs (Dolphin and Walrus), a sea scout troop and an Explorer Sea Scout Unit. As a sea scout group, 1st Surbiton spend plenty of time on the water, keeping its boats at Raven's Ait.

Our Own

• In March 1924, Robert Baden-Powell personally sent a letter to 1st Surbiton.

He wrote: "I am always very glad to see Our Own' and through it to keep in touch with my brother scouts of the 1st Surbiton.

"I am especially glad to see from this number that the troop has kept up a good standard of efficiency during the year and particularly that camping has been carried out on an extended scale. Good luck to you in 1924."

Click here for more scout photos.

See next week's Surrey Comet for a feature on 1st Tolworth Scouts

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