•  Haslemere Educational Museum
    Culture, Learning & Inspiration Since 1888

    Lets Share Stories Project


    Out & About

    Children growing up in the 1940s and 1950s had far fewer toys than children do these days and spent most of their time outdoors. With little traffic on the roads they played out on the streets of their neighbourhood. For children growing up in Haslemere, a relatively rural location, children played in woods, farmland and the local recreation grounds. Children at this time were also expected to have a hobby and joining societies such as the Girl Guides or the Scouts were part and parcel of growing up.

    Track 16 Scout Camp Fires



    Credit line: Peter Moorey talks about going to the Liphook carnival and his Scout camp fires.

    Transcription:

    Interviewer: (referring to carnival attendance)When you went the three times you always took part in the actual procession?

    Interviewee: Yes I did. I’m trying to think of the other three times. The other one we had a bus, a second hand bus, that we made up with all the TV adverts. But it had to be towed by a tractor. It eventually ended up at Hammer in a wood where the trout farm is to this day in Sandy Lane. A Mr Hutchinson, who was the group’s Scout Master, and he let us have this particular ground to put it on but he wasn’t very happy, so we had to move it. But we did hold camp fires there. One in particular was 1957 when the Scout Jamboree was held up at Sutton Coldfields to commemorate the birth, 100 years birth, of Baden-Powell. The Canadian contingents were billeted in Haslemere. I had a Candian Scout living with me in Underwood Road, and we had a camp fire out at Hammer. Mr Hutchinson cooked half a pig by using a piece of corrugated iron for reflecting the heat from the fire. It took him six hours but my goodness did it taste good.