The History of the 9th Stafford Sea Scouts
The Group was founded and first registered at UK Scout Headquarters in November 1954. It had just one Section, the Sea Scout Troop. Our first Scout Leader / Group Scout leader , Roger Parfitt, made quite a hobby of founding Sea Scout Groups as he moved around England from job to job. The first was the 1st Sutton Coldfield, still going strong, which he started towards the end of the Second World War, followed by 9th Stafford, and then by Greenford (Middlesex) Sea Scouts around 1958. As the years went by the Group expanded and contracted, as Groups will,
and at various times has included strong and healthy Beaver Scout, Cub
Scout, Sea Scout, Senior Sea Scout and Venture Sea Scout Sections. At
present we have Sea Scouts, Cub Scouts and Beaver Scouts.
Stafford Sea Scouts at first had no home of their own and met in a variety
of places including Rising Brook School, Highfields Junior School, the
old British Legion hut at Milford, and St. Paul's Church Hall in Gardon
Street. After a great deal of fund raising and with generous help from
Staffordshire County Council, we managed to get a lease on a plot of land
which now forms part of the Asda supermarket site, and built a small HQ where we stayed until 1998 when, in return for the un-expired part of our lease we were provided with a splendid new building in Riverway. We moved in in January 1998. Back in 1954 the group had neither boats nor water on which to float
them.
The first craft we owned was a three-seater PBK canoe, made of timber laths covered with canvas and built by the Sea Scouts in the family garage of one of the Scouts - Dad had to leave his car outside for many weeks whilst boat-building was in progress. Great fun was had on local canals and this canoe, with several others, took part in an epic 10-day Senior Sea Scout canoe cruise around inland and sea lochs on the West Coast of Scotland in 1964. The canoes were sent ahead to Fort William by train while 2 leaders and 10 Senior Scouts made their way to Scotland in three decidedly rickety motor cars. The motorway didn't exist and the journey took some time. From Fort William we canoed to the head of Loch Eill and then portaged (i.e. pushed and pulled the canoes on home made pram wheel trolleys) over to Loch Shiel, then portage to reach Loch Sunart and so via Loch Linnhe, and the Corran Narrows back to Fort William. The total distance we well over 100 miles and for a lot of the time the group was many miles from the nearest living soul. Our first real boat was one of the 12 foot (3.6m) Home Counties 'Sea
Scout' version of the 'Coypu' dinghy. They are super little dinghies that
can be sailed, rowed single handed or with up to four oars, sculled over
the stern or powered with a small outboard engine.
Nearly thirty years
later we still have 'Snoopy', with three more of the same type to keep
her company. For several years we were able to keep and use her at Staffordshire
Schools Sailing Centre at Chasewater. Then, about 25 years ago we struck up a relationship with Greensforge
Sailing Club at Calf Heath Pool.. and our lack of water was history. Sadly
this ended a few years ago because of serious local vandalism which affected
both the Club and us. We then received an equally warm welcome from nearby
South Staffordshire Sailing Club on whose water we now carry out our Sea Scout Training. Add to all this our weekly training meetings in all Sections, regular
Camps, outings and expeditions, lifesaving, swimming and canoe training
at local baths, cruises under sail from England to France, Holland and
Belgium and the Channel Islands, sailing on the Clyde and West Coast of
Scotland, a memorable camp in Germany as gusts of the British Army, Summer
Camps all over Britain from Wales to Norfolk and from Devon to Argyll
and the last 50 years have been pretty hectic!.