History

A Brief History of the 17th Barrow Scout Group

1937 – WWII

The Group was first registered as 17th Barrow in Furness, St.Michael’s Rampside, No. 18854) on 16th September 1937.  It was a controlled Group and the controlling authority’s signatory was H. Robinson.  Their HQ was the Parish Hall Rampside.  When it was registered there were two leaders and 12 wolf Cubs.  Their application was approved by the then DC of Furness District NW Lancs, E. S. Ellwood, (the Urswick campsite benefactor).  As with many groups it is believed the Group closed during the Second World War.

1947 – 1954

A few years later the Group was registered again as 17th Barrow in Furness Dendron C. Of E. School (25525) on 18th August 1947.  They met at the Dendron School and the signatory was F. Tate.  When they registered there were 14 scouts and 1 scout Master.  The application was approved by the acting DC of Barrow in Furness District NW Lancs, E. Prince This group closed in 1954.

1956 – Present

21st Nov 1956 Scout Group Registration document

21st Nov 1956 Registration

The third and current Group to register as 17th Barrow in Furness was St. Perran’s 32915 on 21st November 1956.  They registered as a sponsored Group (St Perran’s C of E) and they met in the Church Hall on North Row. The sponsoring authority signatory was Harold Cowley Stewart and the prospective Group Scout Master was G. Evans.  The DC at that time was W. Bradshaw and he approved the application.  In 1956 there was 1 Cub Pack.

During the next 10 StPerrans-plaqueyears the Group grew from strength to strength with both a Cub pack and a Scout troop.  It was during this time that the Group acquired through a bequest the land that it now currently occupies.  It was known as Little Park which essentially was a sports field and occupied by a local football club (Little Park had also been used for brief home early in the century to Barrow AFC, then from WWI it was home to Barrow’s Rugby League Team, until in 1931 it became a speedway track).

At the start of the 1960s the group raised funds to build the hall which now stands within the grounds. The whole community supported the venture. A good deal of the work undertaken to build the hall was carried out by the then leadership team in particular by the Scout Master, John Sanderson, and his brother Peter.  The building work was completed in 1965 and in 1966 the Group’s assets were placed into trust with, John Bell, George Troth, John Craig and Arthur Hannah acting as Trustees.

At about this same time permission was ought and approved to build the store room and garage.

In 1971 the Group opened a Venture unit in addition to the cub pack and Scout troop and in 1975 a second Cub pack was established. In the late 1980s a Beaver colony was opened.  The Venture unit closed in 1978 but reopened for a two years or so in the 1980s.

In 2015 with only one of the original Trustees still living the trusteeship was transferred to 4 new Trustees.