Waterlooville Scouts take a trip down memory lane for 110th anniversary

The Waterlooville Scouts celebrated their anniversary on Saturday at their scout hut in Jubilee Road, inviting members past and present to the event.

While music played and cakes were consumed, visitors took a tour of the group’s vast collection of memorabilia, dating back to the troop’s creation in 1909.

For one family, the day was of particular significance, as three generations have been Scout members.

Joshua and Ben Taylor, 11 and seven, went along with their dad Wesley, 42.

Inside one of the historical scrapbooks was a photograph of their grandfather, Colin Taylor, now 70.

Joshua said: ‘It's amazing to think that grandad was a Scout, then dad was and now me and Ben are too.

‘I’ve been here for five years and started out in the Beavers.

‘Even though it’s changed a lot from when grandad was here, we still learn a lot of skills – just the other night we were learning how to do CPR.

‘I would never learn all these different things at school.’

Dad Wesley said: ‘The principles of the Scouts are still the same, but there are some huge differences from when I was a lad.

‘The badges that the boys can get now are so varied; they learn digital skills, get medical training and other things that are vastly different to when my dad was here in the 1960s.

‘But at the same time they’re still learning some of the things that he did, so not everything changes.’

Oliver Groves, 12, and Sam Murphy, 13, say they have learned a lot about how Scouts have changed in the past 110 years.

‘It’s great to see the evolution of things like the uniform,’ said Oliver.

‘Together we’ve all made a badge to commemorate the anniversary and we’re really proud of it.’

Waterlooville’s scout leader, David Hayward, was delighted that the anniversary celebrations were such a success.

He said: ‘We’ve had former Scouts from Wales, London and even Australia come and join us today.

‘It’s been a brilliant journey down memory lane for us all.’