 |
Welcome to the Group pages... |
|||
| Information | History | Camps | Contact | |
 |
Group History |
|
Scouting was officially inaugurated at the Y.M.C.A in Grange Road, Birkenhead on 24th January 1908. On that evening the 1st and 2nd Birkenhead Scout Troops were formed, the latter still going strong. The original 4th Troop was formed on 28th July 1908.
Early records were very sketchy because of the emergence of literally hundreds of Scout Troops throughout the country. During the first year nearly 124,000 boys became Scouts with no fewer than 78 Troops in Birkenhead—the 1st having no fewer than 190 boys and only 3 warranted leaders!
Because of the First World War, the 4th must have disbanded at some stage and was ‘reborn’ in 1921 approximately 200 yards from the Tranmere site. The Troop was known as the ‘Tranmere Cyclists’ as they experimented with the forming of stretchers made from two bicycles!! The next formal information available concerning the Troop appears in record books for 1934 showing numbers as being 24 Scouts, 14 Cub Scouts and 6 Leaders. Numbers fell with the Second World War but little is known thereafter.
The present 4th was formed in September 1963 from the 16th Birkenhead and 22nd Birkenhead after the merger of the two churches in Tranmere that groups met in. The new Group’s first Group Scout Leader was Peter Fletcher who later became District Commissioner until he left to work in Preston, he is now one of the District’s eight Vice-Presidents.
Peter was succeeded as Group Scout Leader by Conrad Hamer in 1976 who is now Group Treasurer and also one of the eight District Vice-Presidents.
The Group gained a second Cub Pack and Scout Troop in 1969 when it took over the 67th Birkenhead which met at the current Prenton site, through falling numbers.
The next Group Scout Leader was Steve Corkill who took over the post in 1995
Steve was followed by the current GSL, Graeme Hamer who is the eldest son of former GSL Conrad Hamer.
Christmas 2002 was a sad time for the Group as it was around this time that the Group had to downsize to just one site due to a Leadership shortage and so we said goodbye to our Tranmere home and are now concentrating on our Prenton Site.
