Grantham District Scouts

Grantham District Scouts was officially recognised by The Scout Association in 1911 with the 'Local Association' being formed on April 11th. Scouting though had already made its impact in Grantham some two years previously.

The District is currently made up of 12 groups, five of which are based in the town, six are located in the villages around Grantham, and the District Explorer Unit which has two cells.

The groups are as follows:

Please follow the above links for more information on each group.

History of Scouting in Grantham

Though the history of Scouting in Grantham is scant the following information has been gleaned from articles written by various people and from articles in the Grantham Journal.

With Scouting speading through the country in 1907, the Rev'd A M Cook (a master at The kings School) noted that several of the boys were reading 'Scouting for Boys'. In September 1909 some of the boys asked him if he would be willing to be their Scout Master if they formed a group.

At this time there were two other groups in the town, being described as under the leadership of boys, one group based around the North Parade area and another, smaller group consisting of 'older boys'.

The three groups joined together under the guidance of Rev'd Cook and were based at The Kings School. The other early leaders in the group were Stuart Grinlin, ?? Coultas, ?? Rear, ?? Widdowson and George Wilson. (Grinlin and Coultas were killed in the First World War).

Within a few weeks of being formed the group numbered nearly forty members.

Records of those days are scant, but from articles in the local press during 1910 it can be seen that the Scouts attended Church Parades with the Church Lads Brigade. These were no small affairs, one account tells how the combined parade of Scouts and Church Lads marched from Grantham to Denton (some four miles), joining with a 'Brigade' from Denton and Harlaxton. Following the parade the boys were given tea by Sir Charles Welby before parading back to Grantham.

During the same year, on Monday July 9th, a Torchlight Tattoo by a combined contingent of Scouts, Boys Brigade and Church Lads was held on the Cricket Ground to raise funds to help 'needy boys' to got to camp. It is reported that with some 300 spectators present they raised between £8 and £9!

The first Grantham Scouts camp was held in Derbyshire, the boys travelling up by train while the heavy kit went seperately by lorry. For ten days they Scouts marched around the County of Derbyshire, the kit lorry preceeding them daily. The distance covered steadily increased from ten miles a day to 16 miles a day by the end of the camp. It is b=to be noted that the Scouts took it in turn to stand guard over the camp at night!

As mentioned previously the local Scout groups were officially recongised with the formation of the 'Grantham Local Association' on April 11th 1911. It is noted from the early records that the Grantham LA consisted of Grantham, Boothby, Belton, Ropsley, Welby, Little Ponton, Gonerby, Somerby and possibly Great Ponton. It is interesting to note that none of the villages named now have Scout groups.

Grantham District Scouts

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