7th Malden
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An award-winning troop
7th Malden was founded in March 1946 by Kathy Bristow, who started a cub pack which met in St James' Church Hall in Burlington Road.
A year later, records state that a Mr Lee, a CID detective, started a scout troop consisting of two patrols - Eagles and Kestrels - whose favourite games were hoppity barge, flag raiding in the dark and playing park rounders in Beverley Park.
In 1948, the first 7th Malden scout camp was held at Matlock in Derbyshire.
Due to the increasing popularity of scouting after the war, a second cub pack was formed in 1951 and a senior scout section created the following year.
In 1958, the group's first newsletter - Clipboard - was produced and came out every three months.
One particularly notable event highlighted in Clipboard took place later that year when the scout group received the honour of acting as a guard of honour to the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey at the St James Church Jubilee celebrations.
7th Malden continued to meet at St James' Church Hall until 1964 when the hall was sold and the group moved to Green Lane Hall, Green Lane, where they still meet today.
At that time, 7th Malden scouts and cubs were particularly active and records from the 1960s and early 1970s show the cubs were extremely successful in inter-group football competitions, making it to the quarter finals in the district cup four times in five years.
| “It was a terrible struggle at the beginning to find leaders and we were always on the verge of shutting down." | | David King |
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Indeed, in three seasons, the cub team only lost three matches.
In 1989, the group finally obtained a 10-year lease to run and maintain Green Lane Hall themselves, from the Diocese of Southwark, and when this expired in 1999, it was successful in extending it for another 20 years.
On March 1, 1997, the group was the first in the Kingston and Malden district, and only the third in Greater London South West, to achieve the required standard to be awarded the prestigious County Commissioners Standard by John Donaldson.
One year later, 7th Malden also received the scouts' Energy Efficient Award, attending a presentation ceremony at Baden Powell House in central London.
Happy memories
Alan Lane, 73, has been involved with 7th Malden for more than 20 years.
He began as a helper with the cub scout pack in 1984 and became assistant cub scout leader a year later.
Only 12 months after that, Alan was made a scout leader.
He said: "I organise the annual family camp for the group. It's a camp for all the group sections - scouts, cubs and beavers - and we usually hold it at Polyapes.
"This year though we went to Bentley Copse. Throughout the camp weekend, we divide everyone up into four teams and hold various competitions, like volleyball and football matches.
"We also do things like rifle shooting, archery, trek cart racing - the list goes on!"
David King, 69, joined 7th Malden as a cub scout soon after it first started.
He said: "I was going to St James Church in 1946 when the cub pack was first starting up under Kathy Bristow, so I joined.
"I then stayed with the group all the way through until I joined the army in 1959, and in fact, I even came back after that to be assistant scout leader and then scout master.
"It was a terrible struggle at the beginning to find leaders and we were always on the verge of shutting down.
"In the end, the older scouts who were about 15 or 16 ran the group.
"I suppose there were less rules and regulations back then.
"We used to do basic training and badge work, including first aid and tracking, and of course we went on camp at Polyapes and in Chessington.
"Every month, we used to take part in a church parade and we were in direct competition with the Church Lads Brigade, but we overtook them in the end.
"I also remember going to Austria with the group on a climbing trip and sending back a photo that ended up in the Daily Telegraph."
Next: 1st Old Malden
Don't forget to keep sending in your scouting memories to hblades@london.newsquest.co.uk or by post to Hollye Blades, Unecol House, 819 London Road, North Cheam, SM3 9BN.
5:12pm Monday 2nd July 2007
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