In 2004, the club celebrated its 75th anniversary, and to commemorate that, the then-Secretary delved into the archives to write a history of the society.
(As it's rather long, you may want to copy and paste it into a Word document inorder to read it properly!)

The early days of the Scout Association were also the earliest days of the University of Birmingham, at the time of Baden-Powells first experimental camp on Brownsea Island the University was only a few years old, and looked quite different to its later and present appearances. The Movement grew rapidly, based on the idea of forming the citizens of tomorrow, being prepared to serve fellows, to accept and enjoy challenges through adventure and fun in an outdoor environment.

The earliest Scouts and Guides enjoyed the movement so much they wanted to carry it on into higher education and beyond, leading to university-based groups being formed to keep people in contact with the Movements until they went back to active participation. In 1920 a pamphlet appeared discussing the idea of university-based Scouting and Guiding, after a group formed at Oxford in 1918 (followed by Cambridge, London and Manchester) with aims of retaining the interest and involvement of old Scouts as potential leaders and helping inform public opinion of the Movement. Formal leadership training was discounted due to time requirements, concentrating on hikes, camps and woodcraft.

The Birmingham University Rover Scout Crew was founded in January 1929 as the 161st Birmingham Scouts, and a Ranger group, the 20th Birmingham Guides soon followed, with the Scout and Guide club formed as a social link between the two groups. For the first two decades there was relatively little interaction between the Scouts and Guides, occasionally meeting up for socials and camps. The split of university buildings between the Science and Engineering departments at Edgbaston from Arts in Edmund Street in the city centre, 4 miles away, enhanced the separation.

Club activities included walking [considerably more than we do now!]; camps at Easter, after exams and in the summer holidays; folk dancing; campfires; formal training and helping in the running of local groups, trips up Old Joe [the University clock-tower] and an annual dinner, initially held in the autumn term. There were a large number of discussions and debates, often sparked by public speakers such as by the Probation Service, the National Trust and religious leaders.Right from the start, Birmingham played a prominent role in University Scouting and Guiding, along with similarly aged clubs at Oxford, Manchester and Sheffield.

The 1930 Rover Scout Group Constitution was a tad shorter than the present one, with only 10 articles, which are paraphrased below:

1. The Crew is controlled by the University authorities

2. Membership is open to all past and present students, and to staff.

3. Recruits need to fill out a membership form, to be discussed and ratified by the Committee.

4. All recruits need to pass the tests in the Rover handbook, and undertake a vigil before Initiation.

5. Annual subscription is 5 shillings.

6. Uniform consisted of a Khaki shirt and shorts, a black scarf with the University Emblem and the standard Rover badges.

7. At least one camp to be held a year, with as many weekend hikes as possible.

8. The logbook had to be kept up to date, with all members expected to contribute.

9. All members should attend training courses

10. Round Table meetings of all members to be held a year

[The Constitution was amended in 1944 with minor revisions to the above, as well as the insertion of a new clause stating that the Guild of Students was not financially liable for the group.]

In the 1930s the Rover Crew somehow acquired a campsite at Hole House Farm, [owned by Mr and Mrs Hodgetts], Lapworth, near Henley-In-Arden between Stratford and Warwick, and held many weekend camps there for over two decades. Club activities lapsed during the Second World War, for service in which, 35 Past Members were decorated. The 173rd Birmingham University Rangers had a camp at Hathaway Farm, Shottery, July 1932, where they slept in former stables, with knitting, country dancing, walking, swimming, boating and a visit to Stratford-upon-Avon, with apparently much singing of taps. July 1933: Ranger camp near Knowle, similar to the one the previous year, with some minor rivalry between the girls based at Edgbaston and those at Edmund Street!

The club re-formed in the autumn term of 1944, active membership soon rising to around thirty active members, holding increasing numbers of joint Ranger and Rover events. Meetings were in both the Guild and in the Rovers den, an old prefabricated Nissan hut prefab to the west of the Aston Webb building acquired in 1945 [later taken by the Officer Training Corp. in the 1960s]. Birmingham attended many of the early inter-varsity scout and guide events, such as Oxford’s annual Halloween party. In 1945 meetings were on Wednesday afternoons [later Monday] and Friday lunchtimes; a club bank account was opened at the local branch of the old Midland Bank, and although there were 3 signatories, only one was required to cut a cheque! Confirmation of the group’s registration in 1945 describes us as the 161st Birmingham, University, group, Number 23643. The 1946 AGM showed we had 14 members, but that 450 invitations to the Annual Dinner were printed, for all students and staff, on sale for 2/6!

In 1947 Birmingham hosted the first ever Inter-Varsity Rally at Beaudesert in Warwickshire, and within a few years rallies were being held every term. As with the current ones they were based on camping, activities, campfires and folk dancing, although with a stronger educational bent, including lectures and discussions on many subjects including reform of the Associations. This was recorded in the 1st issue of the University Scout and Guide Magazine in May 1947, apparently initiated by Brum and sent to the clubs at: Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Leeds, London, Oxford, Reading, Manchester and Sheffield [but oddly not Southampton, although they were mentioned within it.] The April 1947 Treasurers Report shows that the club received a £10 grant from the Guild, and that the club made a £40 profit on the year! A letter from The Scouter magazine rather rudely stated that our submission of a Rally report was pointless, as that type of event was too common and boring to people who werent there, and that it was an attempt to get cheap publicity. The club wrote back to complain, and the Scouter magazine editor apologised and asked for more information on the club’s activities! The club’s vice-president at this point was the University vice-chancellor, Raymond Purty.

On Friday 13th May 1947 the Chief Scout, Lord Rowallon visited the Club, in the area to open a Rover Moot. In the autumn the group went on a hike to Kinver, and did some signalling practice work, and went to a rally at Sheffield [attended by people from Brum, Loughborough and Leeds]. At the 1947 Annual Meal, there were some very distinguished guests, such as the clubs president, the Bishop of Wakefield, the Deputy Chief Scout, Sir Everett, and both the Scout and Guide County Commissioners! Another dance that year led the Guild news to publish a letter saying that men in shorts should not wear shorts while dancing! [A joke rather spoilt by the fact that the Scouts were wearing trousers for the dancing]

As an example of an early programme, these are the events of the 1948 Spring Term, the earliest extent full term:

January 17th: New Year Party

January 23rd: tea, debate on the Scout and Guide Promises, and country dancing

January 24-26th: Camp

January 30th: Tea and campfire, with talk by the Warden of the Guild, in uniform

February 1st: Hike

February 6th: Guild formal dinner and ball

February 14th: Visit to Cadburys factory

February 16th: Annual service at St.Francis Hall

February 20th: Tea and debate on the Scout and Guide promises

February 28-29th: Youth Hostelling

March 12th: Investiture ceremony

March 14th: Hike

Each meeting concluded with an epilogue and prayer, the objectives of the programme, as set by the Committee, were:

1.To have friendly and informal gatherings; 2.To have a balanced programme for each term and for each meeting, catering for spiritual, mental, physical and social needs; 3.To develop the Scout and Guide spirit, and to encourage fellowship and comradeship;

The Committee consisted of: Rover Scout Club and Guide Club leaders, 2 chairmen, 2 secretaries, 1 treasurer, 1 Past Members secretary, 1 Rover Mate, 1 Guide secretary, 1 publicity secretary and two Freshers reps [13 people!]. Members of the club were requested to assist local groups by giving talks and assessing badge work

In February 1948 the group had a weekend camp at an old scout site at Manor Farm, Northfield; 17 members had signalling practice, a treasure hunt, basketball and a night hike from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Two months later the group went to Lapworth, with the Guides, making camp gadgets, having campfires, tracking and practising first aid. The annual meal was at the Arden Hotel and cost 7/6 d per person, and Professor Philips replaced the Bishop of Wakefield as President. Six members attended the Summer 1948 Oxford Rally at Youlbury, at which there was country dancing, campfires, and talks on Quartermastery and pioneering/tree-felling; with a tour of the Oxford Colleges and sharing of programme ideas. That year, 50 people attended the clubs Freshers Tea, although considerably less attended a walk on the Lickeys, and a Youth Hostel trip to Bromsgrove. At an incident hike/sleepover event in November for local Scouts, some of the Rovers actually started a fire while everyone else was asleep to test evacuation procedures! There was a long-weekend Youth Hostel trip to Buxton just after New Year. The University vice-chancellor and the Guide County Commissioner attended the annual dinner. The log-entry for a camp at Manor Farm in February 1949 was given a unique touch by being written from the perspective of a football! In May 1949 the Chief Scout made another visit to the Club, along with both County Commissioners and the I.H.Q. General Secretary. The first mention of the Wayfarers walking club in the logs was in April 1949, when a joint hike was run. July 1949 saw four members of the group go to the Rally at Clitheroe, Lancashire, where they built rafts, and pioneered an elaborate device to crush tin cans, as well as country dancing. A massive 60 people attended the Freshers Tea, with 28 people going on the Clent Hills Freshers’ hike. Birmingham once more attended the Oxford Halloween party, along with four other clubs. Some of us went to the Bristol Rally, staying in a Youth Hostel s one of eight clubs present for a tour of Bristol, a treasure hunt and talks; followed only a fortnight later by Sheffield’s student rover crew weekend. Over the Christmas holidays, 13 of us and 5 from other clubs went youth hostelling in Hertfordshire

The Summer rally often lasted a whole week, Birmingham hosting two of these extended rallies, in 1953 and 1958, with some weekend ones, such as in 1967 at Packington Park, Warwickshire. This rally, based at Manor Farm 14-16th March, involved tours of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the city centre and talks on Inter-Varsity and even international co-operation. From 1951 to 1975 the club usually went on a week’s sailing holiday in the Norfolk Broads in the first week of the Easter holidays. However, there was a decline in links with local groups, although individual members kept volunteering their services independently, while there was still a strong focus on leadership training. The address lists for this period show that very few people lived in the currently student-dominated area of Selly Oak between Bournbrook and Heeley roads, with members being spread over a considerable area, with no mention of the Vale Halls of Residence until 1964. In the Constitution changes of 1950 the University of Birmingham Scout and Guide Club was formally brought into being

The 1950 census information recorded the club as having 37 Rovers, 26 Guides and 22 Past Members. At the Annual Meal there was a special cake to commemorate the 21st birthday of the group, there were 37 members, 9 Past Members and 19 guests present, including the Birmingham Scout County Commissioner, and the IHQ Commissioners for Cubs and for Schools and Colleges. In March Brum and Cardiff spent a day together doing logging work for the Forestry Commission, which was presumably as a form of service rather than paid employment! Sixty-six people from eleven clubs attended the summer rally run by Cranham [?] and Gloucester, where as well as the usual activities there was talk of the possibility of an Inter-Varsity Committee, which apparently was not resolved. The Autumn Rally was at Birmingham, with tours of the Barber Institute and trips up Joe. 1951 saw a talk by the IHQ Relationships Secretary on modern scouting and the difficulties of retaining older boys, as well as Scouts duty to the State in the face of the threat of Communism. A contemporary Scout Compensation scheme shows that the pay out for death on a Scout activity was £100, with £500 for blindness and £125 for the loss of a limb. This year saw the first of the annual sailing trips on the Norfolk Broads, with 18 people in 3 boats. The Annual Meal was held at the Guild, with the Guide County Commissioner as a guest. That summer there was extensive work done to improve the Lapworth site, and during one camp there was a full mock trial. Ten clubs were represented at the Reading summer rally, strangely held at Foxlease in the New Forest, at which semaphore-signalling towers were constructed. There was a visit by the Chief Guide, Lady Baden-Powell, as well as discussions on whether colleges should be allowed at Inter-Varsity Rallies, and clubs relations with I.H.Q. The Autumn Rally run by Liverpool was in the Wirral, and activities included traditional tracking skills and preserving tracks with plaster of Paris. Over the Christmas holidays there was a Youth Hostelling trip to Leek. The 1952 Annual Meal was at the Guild, and among the guests were the Field Commissioners for Birmingham and Gloucestershire. There were two camps at Lapworth, and a barn dance at the Guild got photo coverage in the Birmingham Post!

October 1952 saw 44 paid-up members, 12 of which attended the pagan feast at the Oxford Halloween Party. In November there was a debate on the pros and cons of merging the Senior Scout and Rover sections, to form a 16-21 age range section to ease pressure on leaders. The group ran an incident hike on the Lickey Hills for 92 local Scouts, apparrently many of them armed with matches and fireworks! Eleven of the club went to the Autumn Rally at Sheffield, and a talk on wine by a guest speaker got us a mention in Guild News. Fifty people attended the Annual Meal, including the Guild President, West District Commissioner, County Commissioner for Air Scouts and a representative from IHQ. During a trip up Joe, some members amused themselves by dropping things on the people below! Lady Baden-Powell paid a visit in March 1953 and gave a talk on her experiences of Scouting and Guiding around the world. Rover Scout Leaders had to be at least 25, with Assistant leaders over 21, with a uniform of maroon badges, stripes and garter tabs. A whopping thirty members went on the Easter Broads trip, in five boats. Birmingham hosted the 6th Summer Rally at Beaudesert for eight days, of which there was barn dancing on six nights! There was a mock coronation, a tour around the City and visits to Cadburys, a mint and a brewery, with onsite games and some service work. For the Guild Carnival, the Club carried a homemade coffin through the streets for fundraising. In 1954 five of the group joined in Nottingham Unis Rally, where there was a treasure hunt and a talk on communism and scouting. At a club trip to Cadburys, some of the club cheekily offered the tour guide some Nestle chocolate! At the Cambridge Rally some of the club apparently slept in a room seen in the classic film Goodbye Mr. Chips! At the Annual Meal was the Guild President and what was described as an assortment of Commissioners, but the lack of Past Members was blamed on National Service. Activities included camps at Lapworth and a visit to the BBC radio-broadcasting studio. Eighteen from Brum went to Sheffields Autumn Rally, which had a total of 120 attendees, where the hosts were celebrating their 25th Anniversary, making them approximately the same age as us. One club hike near Knowle is described in a nine verse-rhyming poem. The address list shows a few students in Chancellors Hall or University House, no other halls and very few students in Selly Oak, very different to the situation a few decades later and now, with most Freshers in Halls on the Vale and most others in Selly Oak.

In 1955 Professor Philips resigned as President and was succeeded by University librarian Mr. Humphries. The Manchester Rally at Lyme Hall saw walks and talks on the theme of leadership. The Annual Meal was at the Crown Inn on Corporation Street, with the Guide County Commissioner for Derbyshire, Birmingham’s Chief Constable and the Guild President. A visit to a local sweet factory resulted in many free samples for everyone. During a Broads trip on which 33 people went in 7 boats there were many collisions and things [including a map and a Captain] were lost overboard due to high winds.

In 1956 there were trips to the Repertory and Alexandra theatres, the Cadbury factory and breweries, including Ansells. During a Youth Hostelling trip to the Peak District in February the club braved freezing conditions to see Dovedale in the snow. During the Broads Trip one Club boat cut another boats dinghy in half accidentally! The Carnival fundraising was based around a Tour de Brum, cycling around the City Centre. Loughborough University College hosted the Autumn Rally at Stratford, with a tour of a theatre, talks on play production, skittles, watching Hamlet and listening to a Field Commissioners talk on Communism versus Scouting and discussion of the need for a Peter Pan Inter-Varsity Past Members organisation, from which SAGGA possibly sprang.

In 1957 there were debates on the thorny issues of independent versus school/church sponsored Scout groups, and whether Scouting was out of date [perhaps a tad premature!]. Despite the club only [!] having 38 members, 250 tickets were sold to a barn dance! There was a one-day Inter-Varsity Conference at the Commonwealth Guide Headquarters, four from Brum joined 150 others for talks by the Chief Guide and Deputy Chief Scout on the past and future of both Associations and their links to education. At the Annual Meal were both local Field Commissioners, the Chief Scouts Commissioner and the Honourary President of the International Committee, as well as the County Ranger Advisor, Guide County Commissioner and the County Secretary, but there were only 18 members and eight past members! There was a mountaineering trip to North Wales and a cycle hike where people went from the Uni all the way to Chasewater, and cycled back along the A38 [we would have to be suicidal to do the same now!]. Spring Rally 1958 was hosted by Nottingham at the Ravenstock Youth Hostel in the Peak District, celebrating the centenary of BP’s birth and the fiftieth anniversary of Scouting, with talks on the future and criticism of the restrictions imposed by P.O.R! Southampton ran the 8-day Summer Rally at Foxlease, during which a daily newsletter covered the activities, which included a trip to Southampton docks and a visit by Lady Baden-Powell. The Chief Scout visited our University when he was awarded an honourary degree, and in a speech noted how our club had always been at the forefront of university Scouting and Guiding. The Carnival entry was based on the idea of Scouting in 2057, with rockets, a large radio mast and use of facepaints to resemble aliens. During a Youth Hostelling trip to Shrewsbury some members of the club accidentally marched in a local Remembrance Day parade. Leeds held a Rally at Ilkley Youth Hostel, with walks over the infamous Moor.

The spring 1959 Rally hosted by London was apparently notoriously cold, but dancing and the campfire warmed people up after tours of London and a treasure hunt around the City Centre. The Annual Meal, again at the Guild, had many illustrious guests, such as the IHQ Relationships Commissioner, both Scout and Guide District and County Commissioners, Assistant County Commissioner for Rovers, the University vice-chancellor and the Guild President! The Summer Rally was at Walesby Forest by Nottingham, with visits by the Chief Guide and the Chief Scout. Birmingham hosted a Rally 14-16th November, based at the Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School in Bourneville. Twenty members went to the Manchester Rally at Hoole Bank Youth Hostel, near Chester, where it seems a club club [as in a weapon] trophy was acquired. Thirty people went on the Broads trip in 5 boats, both the Easter and summer camps were at Lapworth, and took in plays in Stratford. In 1959 Oxford organised the first international WITAN camp for student Scouts and Guides from Austria, Belgium, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. Forty-five people came to the 1960 annual meal at the White Horse Hotel, which the Guide Chief Commissioner and Assistant County Commissioner for Scouts attended. However, in the same year the farmer owning the Lapworth site sold his farm to a building company, resulting in the loss of its use for camping. At this point in time the club appears to have owned two tents and various small pieces of camping equipment. Dr Carter-Moore became President, with Miss Brindley as Vice-President.

A 1965 list shows 27 student Scout and Guide clubs. Throughout 1965 and 1966 there was much discussion on the new introduction of a new programme as recommended in an Advance Party Report. In February 1967 there was much talk of the financial strain of having to buy new badges and uniforms and having to adapt to the new programme, much like the situation thirty five years later. In February 1967 four groups of six stayed at Crowdon Youth Hostel for a Peak District walking weekend as part of Wood Badge Training, the logbooks of two of which are in the archives, complete with maps showing routes similar to those used by the Duke of Edinburgh Society three decades later! There was a similar trip to Elterwater Youth Hostel in the Lake District that October. 1967 saw the formal foundation of the Student Scout and Guide Organisation, SSAGO, and also the last investiture of a Rover into the Crew due to the organisational shake-up before a walking trip over the New Year taking twenty-four members! At this stage the club had a massive 75 members with over thirty Freshers signed up, although most of the Freshers did not stick with us and average attendance was around twenty. Birmingham joint-ran the 1967 A tale of two cities Summer Rally with Coventry, 26th June to 7th July; 12 whole days for £6 at Packington Park, the Earl of Aylesfords estate, who happened to be County Commissioner for Warwickshire! There is an incredibly large amount of documentation for this in the archives, showing the activities for around 130 people, including various trips, activities and watching films, some educational, some Scouting, and some for entertainment [including Charlie Chaplin, Bugs Bunny and Batman!]. The camp newsletter mentions the Kudu bird trophy as having been in ‘use’ by Rally organisers since 1956. The Rally was apparently so stressful that two of the committee had to repeat a year, partially because of time organising the weekend rather than working! Activities on the rally included trips to the theatre, the Midlands Art Centre [MAC], Coventry, the Birmingham Sewage Works, sailing, canoeing, visit to a colliery, a night hike and service work involving path maintenance, painting and digging drainage ditches. There were representatives of 16 clubs present, and the turnover was £702, with £11 profit. 1967 also saw Aston’s SSAGO group asking us for ideas on service events, signifying a decade of close relations with our sister club before it went dormant. Just as an idea of the rapid growth of SSAGO in this period, a 1967 directory lists 52 clubs at both Universities and colleges, many of which were at colleges rather than universities, and many evidently did not last too long. Bangor, Aston, Birmingham, Birmingham college of education, Bradford, Bognor Regis, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cardiff, Chalfont St. David’s, Cheltenham, St. Osyth College in Clacton, Coventry, Lancaster, Derby, Doncaster, Durham, Edinburgh, Essex, Exeter, Exmouth, Egham, Gloucester, Hereford, Hull, Isleworth, Keele, Lampeter, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, London [8 different branches], Lufbra, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Reading, Ripon, Salisbury, Sheffield, Stoke, Southampton, Sussex, Swansea, Winchester, Worcester and York. In Spring 1968, the club visited the BBC TV studios at Gosta Green, had talks by the HQ Air Activities Commissioner and by Miss Martineau, club president and also Guide County Commissioner on her travels in Jordan and Lebanon. In October 1968 15 people braved the snow to ascend Snowdon and Tryfan while at Llanberis Youth Hostel for the weekend, but there were problems with inappropriate kit, and the group only got back to Birmingham at 2 a.m. on the Monday morning. In the 1968 AGM at which there were 25 of the 47 members were present, the University Rover Crew was officially disbanded and replaced with a Service Team, aiding in various local and County activities. The Committee was downbeat about the size of the club shrinking from its previous height of 75 members. The club had £26 in the account and in cash and also had a large and unwieldy committee consisting of a President, four Vice-Presidents, Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Secretary, Past Members Secretary, a SSAGO Representative and a Service-Team Co-ordinator. A foot and mouth outbreak severely disrupted outdoor activities, and the Annual Meal was held outside of the Guild for the first time. The 1969 annual meal was at the Imperial Hotel and cost £2 a head

In 1970 the PMA only had 26 members still in touch, with many joining the thirty-odd current members at the annual meal at the Berrow Court Hotel. In this year, the Guild made a £3000 deficit and was not expected to be in profit for years resulting in fewer subsidies to societies, mirroring the situation three decades later. The Summer Rally was the Leeds Griphonalia Rally, offering a trip down a coal mine [men only!], Tetleys Brewery trip and Bradford Sewage Works among other activities. It seems it was in this year that the SSAGO logo, [the Scout and Guide symbols superimposed] first began to be widely used. In spring 1971 the club went to the Cambridge Rally, had a walking weekend in Dovedale and had a tiddlywinks competition with Aston as well as the Easter Broads trip. Kudu Notes, the SSAGO newsletter, reported declining SSAGO membership and rally attendance, a lack of inter-club co-operation and had an editorial saying the organisation was too social, with too little actual service; it also proposed the idea of small regional rallies easing organisational and transport problems although this was unpopular. From this point the summer rally changed format, from a week to a weekend, due to poor support which had left the 1969 rally with a peak of sixty people, while the Autumn 1969 rally had even been cancelled. The 1972 SSAGO census showed 1097 people, 614 male and 483 female in 36 clubs [including five in London], with Cambridge easily the biggest with 103 male and 58 female!

In 1975 the SSAGO census lists 1043 members, 136 of whom acted as section leaders during term-time. Cambridge was still the biggest club, with other 80 members, with most clubs having 20-40. During this year the club went up Old Joe, went on two walking weekends a year and had 52 members, and there was the first mention of a Womble as a club mascot [named in 1979 as Edgbaston the Womble]. The Annual Meal was at the Imperial Hotel and cost £5 a ticket [at a time when the spring rally cost £3.50. Spring 1976 was the Brum rally at Lickey End School with activities at Blackwell Court and 140 people including sixteen organisers from the club. As of 1980, club equipment was apparently stored in the loft of Griffin Close, consisting of a barbecue, a Vango Force 10, two 3-man tents, a hike tent, 2 groundsheets, 2 sets of billies, a Tilly lamp and a Primus stove, we got a £115 grant from the Guild. Only 18 people out of 39 members came to the annual meal, which was in the Guild for £4.90 each, the guest speaker was a local Scout Leader who had joined the Wolf Cubs in 1918.

The spring 1981 Bristol rally was only attended by 53 people, excluding the organisers; Edgbaston Womble had to be re-stuffed following an incident at this rally The 1981 annual meal was at the Priory Dene Hotel in Edgbaston, the guest was the former editor of Scouting magazine; that Summer was the Brum Rally at Blackwell, ran jointly by Aston and ourselves for around 75 people and visited by both the Scout and Guide County Commissioners. Activities included abseiling, shooting, a barge trip, a city centre tour, sailing and parascending! £651 income but £713 expenditure, resulting in a £64 deficit. The 1982 annual meal was held at the same location as the previous year, with 25 people and a guest the County Scout Secretary. Summer 1984 was the WOW Weekend of the Womble Rally, at which Edgbaston Womble was under special protection to guard against Bristol; nearly a hundred people attended. The Barn dance was held at Wythall Community centre, which was 8 miles way but nice, it cost £13/person. The 1985 annual meal was at the Grand Hotel, and other activities included the Birmingham Fun Run, sailing, Oxford Halloween party weekend, a gang show and playing DofE at cricket! It was also the Brum rally at Pen-y-bont Fawr. During the 1980s and 1990s there were many trips to the Bier Keller in the city centre, a German-themed bar involving drunken singing.

In 1986 the regular meetings were moved to Wednesdays from Thursdays, and around this time the perpetually popular Bournebrook Inn changed its name to the O.V.T. Brum hosted another rally in 1987, and in 1988 shortly after the Annual Meal at the Apollo Hotel the club put four teams in for the Chase Walk and then went on a canal boat trip starting the following day! The club also took a massive twenty seven members to the Cambridge Duck Rally. In 1989 the 60th birthday annual meal was at the Apollo Hotel and cost £15 a ticket and the following year saw the first appearance of Not the Annual Meal

In Spring 1993 Brum ran the Late, Late Christmas Rally at Beaudesert with over 230 people and 30 organisers, activities included trips to Cadburys, a brewery, walking/carol singing and a Lichfield pub crawl; barn dance at the Burntwood recreation centre, 3 people went to hospital. Our next Rally was in Spring 1997, the Panto. In Spring 1998 BUSAG team got 3rd place for the University of Birmingham Trophy completing the Chase Walks 40 miles in just over 15 hours.

Log books for most of the 1990s are sadly missing from the Archives - if anyone knows where they are, please get in touch with the current club

Autumn 1999 saw the continuation of many club activities that had became traditional in the late 1990s, such as the Little Pub Trip, attending the Vale Fireworks and Guild club-nights [then called Club 99 and Frenzy], the progressive meal and going to the Carol Service. The Freshers camp was at Beaudesert. Only two people went to the Loughborough Rally, Tom and Alastair, but they seemed to enjoy themselves anyway, including some fencing [as in swords rather than putting up fence panels]. Numbers doubled for the Bristol Rally, involving squeezing everything into a small Ford Fiesta to get there and back, requiring the surgical removal of the parcel shelf and speakers! Rally attendance rose to six people for the Durham Great North East Rally, themed around that classic topic of drunken conversation, children’s TV programmes! Only four people made it to the Cardiff Rally, which was apparently rather chilly! The Annual Meal was at the Chamberlain Park Hotel, and sadly this year saw the departure of Tom Martin, a bastion of the club for nearly a decade, who moved on to Loughborough, although he continued to pop up now and again. Ten people going to the Bath Rally in November 2001, where we got to sleep indoors, and dress up like characters from Peter Pan, which Alastair did extremely well, and we came 2nd, which cant be bad. February 2002 saw the Club hosting the Spring Gangster rally, after months of preparations and many, many visits to Blackwell Court. Only two ambulances were needed for the 150 people around Brum on activities, for which we swamped Barnt Green Station. This year saw the start-up of the SSAGO club at U.C.E., who we have done activities with a couple of times a term ever since. Seven of us went to the Nottingham Gold Summer Rally, where we won 1st prize for our costumes based on the Going for Gold TV Quiz show. The SSAGO exec. Tried to organise a week long camp, after this collapsed due to lack of support, Alastair organised a narrowboating holiday for us, with guests from UCE and Warwick. Nine of us spent a week on the Guide Association Boat Tuptonia, cruising to Coventry, looking around and coming back, nicely relaxing, with occasion lock-traversing bursts of activity, with most nights spent in pubs! A mighty eleven people went to the November 2002 Leeds & Leicester Le Rally, where we again won 1st prize for our costumes, based on the French Revolution. Five current members joined the PMA on their New Year Trip to Snowdonia; and Tracey and Katie got in the Birmingham Evening Mail in an article on them running the 6th Birmingham Brownies in Harborne. A round dozen made it to the Loughborough Bear Rally, which was rather chilly, and notable for not having the usual barn dance band, Rannygazoo. The Annual Dinner, for 40 people including fourteen current members, was at the Plough and Harrow on Hagley Road. Only three members went to the Oxford Summer Rally, rather a sharp downturn following recent success. BUSAG has become one of the smaller clubs, dwarfed by the likes of Loughborough [35 members] and Manchester. SSAGO itself has continued to expand enormously; passing the 600-member mark and still going strong. Currently the club has 25 members, with around fifteen actually active. Apart from the Freshers hike, camp, Vale Fireworks, Cheese and Wine evening, Progressive Meal and the University Carol Service Autumn 2003 also involved a city centre quiz trail and a murder mystery. Three of the current club went on the Past Members trip to the Lake District. The club is still Wombling on aged 75 years of age, despite the Guilds dire financial state and a few bad activity choices for the club. Recently, the Scout Association has had a major overhaul in the form of the 2001 Programme Review, with the loss of Ventures (16-21), replaced with Explorers (14-18) and the Scout Network (18-25), with mixed reaction, but we are still doing largely the same things as we did decades ago.

Steve Streatfield, Secretary 2003-2004, June 2004.