Scouts

Endeavour
Headquarters – The Endeavour

1ST GODSTONE SCOUT GROUP

ALL CUB, BEAVER AND SCOUT MEETINGS TAKE PLACE IN THE ENDEAVOUR

Scouts – Monday 7.30 p.m. to 9.00 p.m.
Cubs – Tuesday 6.30 to 7.45 p.m.
Beavers- Tuesday 5.15 – 6.15 p.m.
www.1stgodstone.org.uk

Latest from Godstone Scouts

Godstone Scouts Summer Camp goes with a splash
scouts sailThis year we decided to have a water based camp, and so we set off for Longridge Camp site located on the River Thames close to the town of Marlow. The first part of our week was hot and sunny, just right for messing about on the river.  Our first activity was raft making which went down well, given the hot weather and the inevitable ability to fall in the river. The main aim of the camp was to undertake and complete the RYA sailing stage 1 & 2. This proved to be a challenge as the sunny weather brought little wind, always a difficulty for sailing and then as we had showery weather later in the week, this brought strong winds, which also caused problems for some.  In the end four Scouts completed the course and achieved their certificates.

Godstone Scouts Join 28 Million Scouts Worldwide to Celebrate 100 years of Scouting

Since my last report the Scouts have had a very full programme of activities. The District Night Exercise (Colditz) which is great fun for all and went very well with both Godstone teams making all check points and being “captured” only once. That is if we don’t include the police who wondered who this group clad in dark clothing, with blacken faces, darting across roads at four in the morning might be, the explanation, its OK we’ve Scouts, worked well and off we went as I said earlier to complete the event. With the District Centenary Camp approaching, the group brushed up on their, camp skills, with some fire lighting, tent erecting practice and cooking, as well as a reminder of the Countryside Code. The District Centenary Camp over the May Bank Holiday weekend, we a mix of boiling hot weather for putting the tents up, to a very pleasant Saturday for the events and activities, including the Go Kart races, in which Godstone was leading until another Go Kart crashed into us, hence we only came second, the boys feeling immediate issued a challenge for a rerun which they won. Sunday for just rain and more rain, but I needed have been worried as to if they were enjoying themselves, as given mud and a football, nothing could dampen the spirits. Our next big event was to go Skirmishing at Bisley; this is outdoor lasers and what great fun it was.  Although it rained on and off all day, this just seemed to add to the event. Charging around the woods, hiding in the undergrowth and shooting the laser guns at each other, with various sound effects was great fun.Our summer camp took us off to the New Forest, Hampshire to join 4,000 other Scouts and Cubs in celebrating 100 years of Scouting.

scoutsMay 2007
scoutsbisley
scoutscamp
scoutsjamboree

We arrived at the New Park Showground only to find that all the rain over the previous weeks, had turned the site into a swamp, still in the best traditions of scouts the organisers moved things around and although it took 4 hours to get onto site as every item had to be man handled onto site, we soon had our pitch next to Gosport Air Scouts.

The weather was good to us with only one day of rain and then only a shower.  The camp was full of activities of all kinds, the main highlights being our visit to the World Jamboree at Hylands Park in Essex, a once in a life time experience. 40,000 Scouts from all over the world.  Wow!! Amazing!!  The next day was the Sunrise day; 100 years ago on Brownsea Island Baden-Powell started his experimental camp which became the Scouting Movement. At 8.00am along with Scouts all over the World we all made the Scout Promise again, “to do our best”.
The final big event was a day’s Dragon Boating, a lot of fun, at one point we had 11 Dragon Boats racing simultaneously a record for the UK.

Not sure how we top this, but we’ll give it a go, we already have a days flying booked for September at Redhill.The Scouts have also participated in the Great Big Left Handshake, which is part of the Art of Scouting one of the Centenary celebrations.  This involved making cut outs of the Scouts left hands and colouring these in. These were then sent off to the Scout Association, to form part of a collage which will be on show in London in October 2007, and can be viewed online. http://www.scouts.org.uk/art/gblh/images.html The group has already given to all Beavers, Cubs and Scouts a commemorative Centenary Scarf. To find out more about the Centenary Year visit the website at http://www.scouts.org.uk/2007/test.html

Mark Wiles, Scout Leader GODSTONE Scouts

School Visits to Godstone using the Book ‘Discover Godstone’
Visiting schools are very welcome to use the Scout Headquarters as a base which is particularly useful if the weather is inclement. It is essential that bookings are made beforehand especially in the summer months

Please contact info@godstone-net.affinitydns.uk  for full details of booking arrangements

Pirate who died so far from the Sea [written by a Scout]

A most unusual headstone is to be found a few yards from the church doors of St Nicholas, the Parish Church of Godstone.  For carved on it are the notorious skull and crossbones which mark the final resting place of a pirate and smuggler who died of wounds received in an ambush carried out by customs officers in 1687.

John Edward Trenchman ran away to sea at the age of 12.  He had grown up in London’s dockland among the tall sailing ships and sailors from a hundred foreign lands.

Trenchman was one of the British pirates who looted the Spanish colony of Porto Belo in Panama in 1668 where all the men, women and children were tortured and butchered.
At the age of 55 Trenchman decided for health reasons, to retire from the sea.  Henry Morgan was now governor of the Caribbean and had pledged to wipe out all pirates from the South Seas.  Trenchman returned to England and set up as a smuggler on the south-east coast.  Business proved good and within a years he was bringing teams of pack-horses loaded with contraband up to Croydon every month.

Richard Collins, a member of Trenchman’s gang, was arrested after a fight in an ale house.  He was recognised and sent for trial.  However, being a cunning, sly villain, he turned King’s evidence to save his neck from the noose.  He gave detailed information of the secrete routes used by the smugglers, plus the date of their next journey to Croydon.

An ambush was laid at Tilburstow hill, just south of Godstone.  Trenchman and his gang rode into a small clearing in a wood and immediately the soldiers opened fire.  The following fight was short and fierce, with only a fatally wounded Trenchman managing to make his escape through the surrounding dense undergrowth.  Bleeding badly he staggered into the ‘Fox and Hounds’ Inn where he died from loss of blood some hours later.  The villagers of Godstone took pity on the pirate who had died so far from the sea.  They buried him in an unmarked grave at the south end of the churchyard.

On the night of Trenchman’s burial, two grave diggers were hotly pursued through the churchyard by a man in seaman’s clothing who had suddenly leapt up from behind a headstone.

Then uncanny, weird, frightening things began to happen in Godstone churchyard.  Following the attack on the gravediggers the terrified villagers had erected a simple marker stone over the pirate’s grave in the hope of keeping his evil spirit quiet.  Seven days after it had been erected it was found shattered in tiny pieces.  Three times the new stones were erected – and each time, the following morning they were found shattered as if my mighty hammer blows.  Pools of fresh human blood were found in front of the altar and people began to report seeing a shadowy figure dressed in seaman’s clothing lurking among the headstones at dusk.

Finally the priest and churchwardens removed the pirate’s body and reburied him with full Christian service opposite the church doors.  The skull and crossbones were carved on the Headstone.  From then on nothing more was seen or heard of Godstone’s pirate ghost.  At last he was at peace.