History of 1st Castle Hedingham

It is thought that the 1st Castle Hedingham Scouts date back to at least 1910, which makes our group one of the oldest following the origin of Scouting in 1907 and it's incorporation by Royal Charter in 1912. We have records that show registration with the Boy Scouts Association in 1921 with 11 boys and 1 leader - Musette Majendie. Below you can see a scan of the original registration form, courtesy of The Scouts (UK) Heritage Collection. The troop met at her home, Hedingham Castle, the family seat of the Earls of Oxford. and owned by the Madenjie family for 250 years. The castle features on our badge to this day. Records from 1928 show the group had increased in size to 26 Scouts and 10 Cubs.

In 1929, working with the Scouts, the Castle also housed what Miss Majendie called a ‘Reconditioning Employment Camp’, training unemployed scouts as chauffeurs, gardeners, grooms, cooks and butlers. This became the Rover Scouts which ran from 1931-1939 and was for those of similar age to today's Explorers, and our local Explorer group still bears the name Majendie. Further camps followed in future years, at Hedingham, Quendon, Cirencester and Christchurch, training about 300 young men a year. Members of the Rover Scouts were recruited to lead the camps. The camps themselves were run on scouting principles, with financial support from the Ministry of Labour and a number of charities, with the aim of turning the unemployed – who subsequently included a range of young jobless men as well as scouts – into active citizens as well as workers.

Miss Majendie was awarded the Scout Association Medal of Merit in 1930 and became a Dame of the British Empire and was awarded the Scout Association Silver Acorn Medal in 1935. She remained the troop leader until 1938 when she became a District Commissioner before later becoming Hon. Commissioner for Essex and was awarded the Silver Wolf Medal in 1959. Miss Majendie remained active within Scouting until she died in 1981, with the group continuing to meet in the undercroft at Hedingham Castle. Each patrol had their own corner and the group had the run of the 900-year-old castle which must have been fantastic. In 1938 it appears that the group considered changing their name from 1st Castle Hedingham to 1st Hedingham Castle, perhaps to reflect the location of their weekly meetings, and an application was made for the name change which was approved on 26th November 1938. However, this seems to be around the same time as Miss Majendie handed over leadership of the group to Guy Hepher who retained the name of '1st Castle Hedingham' for the group of 9 Scouts and 2 leaders.

In 1948, perhaps after temporary closures during the war years, the group re-registered with 6 Cubs and 18 Scouts. You can listen to a sound archive from the Essex Record Office, of an interview with (James) Bram Buckly-Saxon about his life in Castle Hedingham from the 1950s, including his memories of Scouts and Miss Majendie here: SoundCloud link. In 1976 Venture Scouts (now known as Explorers) began for the oldest Scouts to move onto.

In 1984, along with the Guides, we were pleased to move to our own location in Sheepcot road, leasing part of a farmer's field adjacent to the Bowling Club. The chairman at the time, Steve Wooding, arranged for the purchase of a cart-lodge which was moved to the site. Over time it has been adapted and added to, but the building is now named in his honour as Wooding Lodge.

At the turn of the millennium a local history book was produced, which contains photos of the Beaver Colony, the Cub Pack and the Scout Group of the time, showing healthy numbers of 22 Beavers, 22 Cubs and 29 Scouts, and 11 leaders across the sections - you can see these photos below.

In 2007 the Scout group earned a World Record, certified by Guinness World Records, in a record attempt at the BBC Television Centre in London for Blue Peter. They achieved the largest pancake toss at 108! See the certificate below.

In 2013 and again in 2017 the Scout Troop were pleased to be invited by a Scout Troop in Holland to join them for a camp. Some photos are below.

Please note that the historic records below are reproduced with permission from The Scouts (UK) Heritage Collection.

Can you help with missing information?

If you are able to add to our history through personal recollection, records or photographs, please do contact us. We're always grateful to be able to add to the above and ensure that the history of our group is long remembered.