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| READ ON |
Oh the 13th June, 1914 Boy Scout groups from all over the county gathered for a rally in Clarence Park, St Albans and various groups put on displays. In addition they were addressed by Sir Ernest Shackleton about his experiences in Antartica. The news article appeared in the Hemel Hempstead Gazette on 20th June 1914 and mentioned the following scout troops:
1st Boxmoor
2nd Boxmoor (St Johns)
3rd Boxmoor
Caddington
Kensworth
1st Kings Langley
1st Markyate
1st Tring
4th St Albans
The article concludes "There are now 91 troops in the county and the organisation has made remarkable progress since 1909. Then it had 934 members, and last year's returns showed the figures 2263."
With hindsight the article, and all the other news in the paper that week, are interesting in that there is nothing to suggest that a few weeks later the country would be at war - and undoubtedly many of the older scouts would become casualties. In addition the younger scout would become involved in activities supporting the was effort.
The list of scout troops named in the article reflects the circulation area of the newspaper - and undoubtedly other papers, in other parts of the county, would have carried similar articles, again with a local slant. Let me know if you have details of such articles - or even better a picture or two of the event.
I have added to the "READ ON ..." page a picture of a scout in 1914 uniform from the Exhibition currently running at the Museum of St Albans
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