Tales from Felton
From ex scout Neil Lauder
At the age of 4 I moved to Felton from Longhougton on 23rd Dec. 1935. My father was a police officer and in those days the authorities didn't like the police to get too friendly with the natives, hence shuffling everybody around 2 days before Xmas would upset any "Xmas gifts for favours" arrangements that may have been in operation. Under normal circumstances we would have been moved on after 2-3 years but WW11 was looming so the new theory was that it would be a good idea if the local bobby knew everything and everybody in his area, so we stayed.
I think there was a cub pack in Felton but it ceased before I was old enough so I had to wait until Ii was 11 to join the scouts. There was some dispute as to why we were 2nd Felton. Apparently there had been a 1st which had lapsed but when it was resurrected it became 2nd. Laurie Shutt (LS) was skipper and jack Turley was scouter. LS was also district commissioner. There were usually 6 or 7 of us. We met at LS's house or sometimes in the "long room" at the stags head. The personnel I can remember were troop leader Tom Hollywell, Davison Ave, who became a schoolteacher, Tom Anderson, prospect Tce, Rodney Hepple, lived in one of the semis on the A1 beside Tritlington school, Hector Clark, (Hugh the butcher's brother), these three all became policemen, Hector Fowler, Bockenfield Tileworks, Chris Shutt, son of LS. I was in the fox patrol and eventually became PL. I think at one stage there was another patrol but I can't remember what name.
I joined in the middle of WW11 which I suppose was the time when BP's ideas of loyalty to king and country came into fruition. We were involved in all sorts of activities to help "the war effort". We regularly collected waste paper, scrap metal, glass bottles and jars. there were frequent village fetes to raise money for such things as "wings for victory week", "welcome home fund", build a spitfire week", etc. We would collect bric-a-brac around the houses for the hoopla stall or whatever, and would then help to run the stalls on the day in question. We also picked nettles, coltsfoot, and other herbs that were required for medicine production. The biggest thing however was collecting rose hips, very painful until you got the knack. The money we got went into scout funds. If we collected a certain amount, we qualified for a trip to the "gang show" in
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During the war, one of our old scouts was a POW in
There was an army training camp in the field next to Felton Hall. Three soldiers from there offered their services to our troop until they moved on. Two of them were quite helpful and became part of village life and we were sorry to see them go. The third one was very keen and got involved with other local troops. However, he suddenly disappeared, and on asking LS where he had gone, I was given a very guarded answer which at the time I didn't understand. --- "We won't talk about him any more, and we don't want people like that involved with scouts." I never found out any more.
As I told you on the phone, one day we went out on a Scout Hike with the Troop Leader in charge which was quite usual. This particular day we went along the path by the river below the Duke's Banks. The army in the camp across the river at Felton Hall used this as a weapon range, firing guns and throwing grenades etc over the river. We found an unexploded grenade. In those days, the general public were well informed about recognising things like this and knew what to do. "Do not touch and report it to the authorities immediately." As good Boy Scouts, this is exactly what we did. We shouted across the river to an officer who thanked us and told us to be on our way and he would attend to it. When we returned later that day, it was still there and there were no soldiers to be seen. It was at this point that our scout training about "helping other people at all times" clicked in. This footpath when not being used for weapon training was used by the locals out for a pleasant walk, so we didn't want some innocent person to get injured so the decision was made to detonate it. Doing what we did next, inadvertently added another "use of the scout staff" to the list. At that time, every scout carried a staff. This was a wooden pole about 6 feet long which was used for all sorts of things. For several of our badges we had to know a number of uses, eg. tent pole, making a stretcher, beating off mad dogs. Our addition was "detonating unexploded bombs". We first of all threw stones, but that had no effect. We then all lay down around it and poked it with our staffs. Fortunately, this didn't work either. If it had, future boys may well have joined the 3rd Felton Scouts! We all stood up and discussed our next move. Suddenly, Herbie Tasker who I think was an evacuee from Tyneside picked it up. We all shouted "throw it away", which he did in true grenadier style. We all dropped to the ground. There was a large explosion, and we were showered with twigs and stones. We stood up, looked at each other, everybody was OK so we instinctively ran. Eventually we stopped and composed ourselves. We all agreed on our "scout's honour" that we would never divulge this to anyone. However, Herbie himself must have felt guilty because he told his mother. A few days later I was at home when my father (the village bobby) walked in. "What's all this about a bomb?" "What bomb is that dad?" "You know very well what bomb!" We were all severely reprimanded and we were never allowed to go out on any scouting activity without a Scouter.
Less dangerous but yet another notable occasion was one night as part of a "wide game" we had to find out the oldest person in Felton. This resulted in all the elderly people having numerous young lads knocking on their doors asking how old they were. Needless to say, this didn't go down very well, and LS received some severe criticism.
Another activity which I now shudder about, was part of our "survival" training when with our trusty staffs, we had to chase and beat a rabbit to death, then gut, skin, cook, and eat it. I don't think you would get away with that today.
At some stage, Bob-a-Job week was introduced and I can remember chopping firewood and polishing a front doorstep. Any money we earned was given to the scout funds.
There was a dance every Saturday night at the village hall, run by various associations. LS was always reluctant to allow us to do this as he felt that scouts should work for any money but eventually under pressure from boys and parents he gave in, so we ran some of the dances which was a great help to the funds.
I attended three 1week camps at Rothbury, Hepple, and Ford. It rained heavily for most of the week at Ford. We also did a weekend at Rothbury with their troop and stayed in their scout hut. We travelled on lorries of the Felton Motor Co. which belonged to LS.
At the end of the war, we took part in the victory parades marching through the village on VE day and VJ day.
As the soldiers were demobbed, one of the old scouts, Jack Pickering returned and became a scouter.
It was about this time that Louis Hogg generously provided the Scout site at the Dean and I can claim to be one of the pioneering team that laid the foundation stone for the wooden hut which was the first structure to be built.
Soon after this, my father was transferred to Alnwick, and so ended 10 happy years, 3 with the scouts at Felton. I joined the 1st Alnwick troop where I remained until January 1950 when I did my National Service, but that is another story! Sadly there were no photographs allowed during the war so you will never know what we looked like.
Looking back on my scouting career I have to say it really was character forming and I have enjoyed composing this account as it has made me relive some happy memories.
Best of luck,