Penzance/Madron Scout Group

A Brief History Of PZ/Madron Scout Group. 

The Madron Scout Group was formed in 1911 by Captain Venning (Later to become Major Venning) and our first Headquarters was in a barn belonging to Mr Richards of “The Reens”, Heamoor.  They soon moved to a room in Landithy Hall, Madron. Mrs Robin Bolitho made this available to them and they met there one night a week. 

In 1912 Scouts from 1st Madron attended the first World Jamboree at Windsor Park, King George VI was also in attendance.  Captain Venning was called away for service during World War 1 and his wife and the Patrol Leaders held the fort back in Penzance.  On return, Capt. Venning set up a new HQ for the Troop in his own house at Boscovean, Heamoor.

 

1919 saw the Troop on the move again, this time its new home was in a loft over an old coalhouse at Poltair Terrace, Heamoor.  Col. Harvey of Penzance opened this new HQ.  Quite a long stay there, comparatively, in December 1923 1st Madron was to move to the old infants school.  The rent for this place was £22=10=0 per year payable to Cornwall County Council.

 

At last, the group were to have their very own, purpose built headquarters in Heamoor.  In 1929 Scouts and Parents were to raise enough funds to be able to build their own hall.  Col. E H W Bolitho donated an area of land and stated that if a hall were to be built out of concrete he would donate a further £15 to start it off.  So with that members and friends of the Group started digging the foundations and started making the blocks to build the Scout Hall.  With a lot of fundraising, hard work and dedication they had built their very own hall.  It stood behind Rosparvah Gardens, where the Heamoor Rifle Range is now situated.

 

Miss Thomas and Miss Burstow formed a Cub Pack in 1930.  1932 saw Capt. Venning take on the job of Group Scout Master and receive a “Medal Of Merit” for services to Scouting.

Then came World War 2 and with it came the destruction of the Scout Hall.  A stray bomb hit it square on in July 1941.  There were only a few things salvageable from the debris; among them were the Troop Colours and the first Volume of the Madron Troop Log Book, which we still have to this day. 

 

1st Madron Scout Group were a resilient bunch and after several more years of fundraising the building of another new hall was underway.  This time it was to be built on land donated by the then, Major Venning.  By 1948 it was built and in December of that year it was opened, once again, by Col. E H W Bolitho.

 

Meanwhile, down in Penzance, A young man called John Henry Ruhrmund, Harry to all that knew him, with another young man, Doug Stone were running 1st Penzance Troop.  They met at the seaman’s mission behind St Anthony’s Gardens near the Jubilee Pool.

Then in 1958 Major Venning died.  1960 saw a local lad, a now renowned face, Desmond Hosken receive his Queens Scout Award.  CC Air Vice-Marshal R. L. Ragg CB, CBE, AFC, presented this. 

 

In 1962 1st Penzance Troop got a new Leader, this was MR Joe Vivian.  He was later to become County Commissioner for Cornwall Scout Council.  In 1968 Doug Stone took over from Joe and continued to run a sucessful Group.  When the Seaman's Mission closed, it left the Group with difficulty in finding another venue in which to meet each week. They went from pillar to post and back again.  Then in August 1969 1st Penzance amalgamated with 1st Madron, this was instigated largely by Harry Ruhrmund who was District Commissioner at the time.  I don’t know whether this was solely due to the problem of having a meeting place or if there were other reasons but the fact is they joined and we haven’t looked back since. In 1976 Harry Ruhrmund was awarded the “Silver Wolf” which is the unrestricted gift of the Chief Scout for service of a most exceptional nature.  This is the highest award that can be given.  Two years later Harry played a leading role in creating an international link with Denmark.  After leading the World Jamboree (Cornish) contingent to “Nordjamb” in 1975 he made friends with a man called Karl Christian Thiessen and between them they dreamed up the idea of a joint camp every 3 years, alternating between Cornwall and Denmark.  Although both men have now gone to a higher service, their memories live on in the “Cornish Danish Exchange” .

 

More awards for 1979.  This time it was Doug Stone’s turn, he was presented with the “Silver Acorn” awarded for especially distinguished service and then some years later he added a bar to the award for further distinguished service.  One of Penzance Madron’s finest moments came on 23rd March, 1981 when their former Scout Leader, for some 20 years, was asked to travel to BP House to be presented with a very special award from the then Chief Scout Sir William Gladstone.  Harry was now, Harry Ruhrmund M.B.E.

Doug Stone had found a new helper and from acting as his assistant for several years Rob Murdoch took the reins in 1983.  He continued as Scout Leader for about 5 years and from there he became Assistant Scout Leader and finally District Treasurer. 

 

1986 was the Groups 75th Anniversary and we celebrated with a party.  We had a cake made and professionally decorated for the occasion by Mary Maddern and also a wooden plaque was carved to mark the date, this now hangs in pride of place.

 

Keith Strick took over from Rob and continued to take PZ/Madron forward until 1994 when two new faces came along.  These were Natasha Maddern and Jeremy Rowe.  Natasha had served with the District Venture Scout Unit until she reached the grand age of 20.  Jeremy was Assistant Venture Scout Leader and when Keith and Rob made it known that they wanted to finish, Tasha and Jer took over.  Tasha was Scout Leader for the first 2 years but Jer soon found he had more time on his hands to put into the job so the decision to swap roles was made.

 

We had the benefit of Lottery funding, this has enabled us to repair our roof, by new camping equipment and upgrade our old electric fires to a gas central heating system.  Thanks must go to Tony Richards for a lot of paper work and some extremely long phone calls.

 

The year 2001 saw our 90th Anniversary of Scouting in the Madron Parish and to celebrate this we decided to have a competition to design a badge that we could wear for the year.  The winning entry was picked by Jacky Aitken, (Former Mayor of Penzance) and the idea came from a Cub Scout, James Howlett, he then moved up to the Troop to continue his development mentally, physically and spiritually.  

 

Also in April 2001 Tony Richards stepped down from the role of GSL and Jeremy Rowe took it on - as well as all his other roles!


2002 saw lots of changes to our movement, a new Uniform and the implementation of a brand new Programme for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, also the introduction of 2 new Sections, Explorer Scouts and the Scout Network. The only problem with this introduction was; where do we find the Leaders to manage them? Well Jeremy and Natasha took on the role of District Explorer Scout Leaders and PZ/Madron were lucky enough to be able to recruit 5 new young Scout Leaders. They are Sean Jenkin, Daniel Brace, Maria Pryor, Rachel Godfrey and Rachel Murley. With help, these new, young, fresh Leaders will continue in their predecessor’s footsteps for a long time to come.

 

We have now entered a brand new century of Scouting and with no doubt, more change ahead.  2005 has seen the 30th year of the “CDE” camp, (Cornish Danish Exchange) where we once again saw friends old and new. This great international exchange was, in part, the creation of Harry Ruhrmund MBE and although he has now “Gone Home” I’m sure he’ll rest in the knowledge that an experience he helped to create is still going strong and continuing to provide many young people of the Penwith District with the international aspect of Scouting.

 

2005 saw Jeremy Rowe receive the “Medal of Merit” and he also took on the role of District Commissioner.

 

2007 was the Centenary of Scouting and it was, without doubt, a very special year. There were many things planned and the celebrations culminated in the biggest Scout event ever to be held, the 21st World Scout Jamboree. Jeremy was selected as Cornwall Contingent Leader and had the privilege of taking 36 young people with him for an experience of a lifetime at Hylands Park, Essex. Over the years, 3 of the Leaders of the PZ/Madron Troop have led the Cornish  Contingent to a World Jamboree; 14th WSJ - Harry Ruhrmund to Nordjam in 1975, 15th WSJ - Doug Stone to Alberta, Canada in 1983 and 21st WSJ - Jeremy Rowe to Hylands Park, London for the Centenary of Scouting in 2007.

NOTE - there was no 1979 WSJ as it was due to be held in Nishapur, Iran but had to be cancelled due to the Iranian Revolution.

 

The next highlight in PZ/Madron’s fascinating history was the landmark of 100 years of Scouting in Madron Parish. There was another competition given out to design an anniversary badge and the winner of this was Jonathon Oldcorn, a lad that had come up right through the Group from a Beaver, went through Explorer Scouts, gaining his Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and his Chief Scout Platinum Award and then moving onto a Leaders role within PZ/Madron Bolitho Pack Cubs. 

 

Late 2011 / early 2012 saw a bit of an upgrade to the hall with a new fitted cupboard being built and a new kitchen installed, thanks to Daniel James of DJ Carpentry for donating all his time and skills free of charge.  Daniel used to be a Leader with us as well. We are hoping to overhaul the toilets in the winter of 2012.

 

November 2012 saw PZ/Madron gain 3 new Queens Scouts. They have come up through the Group and the Explorer Unit and were all Explorer Leaders with Red Bandits. They are Fay Mayo, Jennifer Warren and Kris Lethbridge. The awards were presented by Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. It was a very special occasion with lots of previous Queens Scouts and other VIP’s from all over Cornwall in attendance.


Things keep moving forward and in early 2015 the Group saw the introduction of a second Beaver Scout Colony.  It was decided to name them both; the Rockies and the Mounties.  The same year saw 2 more Queens Scouts for the Group, Julia Hosken and Stephen Brown.  Julia (Daughter of Des Hosken) was a Beaver and a Cub at PZ/M, then moved to Newlyn for her Scout years before coming back for Explorers.  Stephen did similar, he was a Scout to start at Newlyn but moved to us at about age 12 and then continued through to gain his Chief Scout Gold in the Troop and then his Platinum and Diamond and ultimately his QSA while in Explorer Scouts. Stephen gained his Gold DofE Award at the same time and in 2016, the 60th Year of the DofE Award, there were a limited number of 1000 people that were invited to attend Buckingham Palace to be presented with their awards - Stephen was lucky enough to be one of them!!


2015 also saw Jeremy Rowe be awarded the "Siler Acorn" for further exceptionally distinguished service and at the 2015 AGM, he stood down from his other role as District Commissioner.  This was briefly taken over by a man named Neil Sharp, a top bloke with lots of enthusiasm and a bucket load of fresh ideas.  Sometimes too many changes too quickly rock the boat and he decided, due to this and lack of support, that he wasn't able to continue in the role.  So 12 months after Jer stepped down as DC, he stepped up again, but hopefully not for another 10 year term!!


We have been lucky to have an influx of Leaders and Adult helpers over the last few years.  Unfortunately we have also lost a few long standing Group members.  Chris Tonkin, our Chairman has now stepped down and also Tony Richards, who was most recently our President has now retired - although we still drag him out to act as Parade Marshall for Remembrance Service also Lorraine Copland has now finished as our Treasurer.  Between them they have give some 100 or so years of service to the Group and to Scouting.  We can't thank them enough.  We have been lucky enough to fill the role of Treasurer and the role of Chairman.


2018 has seen more recruitment and the introduction of a 3rd Cub Pack - Geevor Pack.  This is running well although just after it started, we had adult Leader issues but we're managing, as we always do!

 

2019 As with all things, we get ups and downs and we have had to temporarily close both Davy Cub Pack and Rockies Beaver Colony.  This was mainly due to the lack of adult Leadership, we hope, when we have enough support, to get both of these back up and running.


2019-2021 Covid Pandemic.  Scouting has had to stop and start throughout the pandemic.  It has proved to be very difficult to run Section meetings but we have tried our best and made it through to the other side.  we did lose a few adults on the way and quite a few young people as well.  The young people have returned in heir droves but we are still a little light on adult Leaders.


2021 Has seen the introduction of Squirrel Scouts to our Group.  We were selected as 1 of the 100 Squirrel Drays to be able to start.  Amanda Olds has taken this on as well as now being Beaver Leader.  The way it seems to be working (and the Leader are happy with) is most, if not all the Beaver Leaders arrive early and run the Squirrel session and then stay on to run the Beavers.  It's working at present but it's only time before we have to start up a second Beaver Colony again.


This is the way PZ/Madron Leader line-up looks today: -

Squirrels: -

SS Lead Volunteer – Amanda Olds. SS Team Member – Nicola Keast.   SSTM - Barry Steel.  

SSTM - Jenny Dash. 

Beavers: -

BS Lead Volunteer  – Amanda Olds. BSTM – Nicola Keast.    BSTM - Crystal Paul.  BSTM - Jenny Dash. 

BSTM - Barry Steel.

Cubs: -

CS Lead Volunteer (Bolitho Pack) David Greig.   

CSTM - Crystal Paul.  CSTM - Robin Shaw.

Scouts: -

Scout Lead Volunteer - Dan Baumbach.  STM - Sharon Tonkin.   STM – Sean Jenkin.

District Explorers: -  (Use the Hall to meet)

ES Lead Volunteer- Tom Maunder.   ESTM - Jer Rowe.   ESTM - Vicki Else. ESTM - Dan Baumbach.


Group Lead Volunteer – Jeremy Rowe.  

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody that has helped in any way over the last 110 odd years and also to hope and pray that the help we receive continues well into the next century.