User:Dentonscouts/sandbox

Before the start
Scouting had existed in Denton for many years before it became a District but it would be almost impossible to state where and when it first started. There is some evidence of a group of boys in the Oak Drive/Balmoral Drive area forming a Patrol around 1910 but there was almost certainly other unregistered Patrols before then as registration was not strictly adhered to in those early days.

A brief description of the founding of the Groups in the area shows how scouting developed:

1st Haughton Green (St Mary's) was founded during 1908 under the guidance of Mr. Alfred Buckley. There was a membership of ten boys with meetings held in the wash house in Bardsley Court, 62 Gibraltar Lane. The troop was forced to close down in 1915 due to the effects of WW1. In 1919 the Group was re-formed by Mr. W. Rowbottom with the meetings being held in St Mary's School.

1st Denton (St Lawrence's) was founded in November/December 1915 by Revd. Harry Rueben-Bailey. It was founded from the boys in their first year of Confirmation class at St Lawrence's.

2nd Denton (Christ Church) was founded in November 1917 by the Curate, the Revd. J. Binns who was Scoutmaster until his death in 1919, his assistants were Mr. C.P.West (better known to the Scouts as Pa West) and Mr. Bottomley. The Cub Pack was started soon after with Mr. Hunt as Cubmaster and Mr. H.C. Vyse as Assistant Cubmaster. A young Cub at the time was Raymond Bardsley, who in later years, bevame District Commissioner of Denton District.

3rd Denton (Wilton Street) was founded in 1917 with the Revd. J. Shaw-Brown being the instigator. He played an active role in running the Troop but did not become warranted. Mr. F. Kenworthy became Scoutmaster with Mr. R. ashton his assistant. The Troop closed down in 1946 but reformed in 1954. The Cub Pack started in 1957.

4th Denton (St Anne's) was founded in 1935 by Mr.E.Downs who became the first Scoutmaster. The cub section was closed in 1939 but reopened in 1941. During the war the Troop had no leader for long periods, Mr. E Burton Winter, the Divisional Scoutmaster kept things running.

5th Denton (St Mary's) was founded in September 1947, Mr Raymond Bardsley arranged a meeting of interested boys and 64 boys attended.

6th Denton (St Hilda's) was founded as 2nd Audenshaw (St Hilda's) in 1929 with Mr. J. Redfern as group Scoutmaster, Mr. F. Clark as Scoutmaster and Mr. Spencer as Cubmaster. The group was forced to close in November 1939 due to the effects of WW2.