We kept our promise
What happened when a group of young Scouts became friends with a bunch of Girl Guides during the last war? Julie Woodgate meets them 60 years on. Portrait by Andrew Hayes-Watkins
In the early forties, four Boy Scouts met four Girl Guides and decided they liked each other’s company. So much so that a few months ago, those eight friends got together again to see the New Year in – as they have done for the past few decades. Not solely because of friendship, but because they all paired up and married after love blossomed around the campfire. Each couple has now celebrated a golden wedding anniversary with, of course, the others as guests. Altogether, they have 12 children (three each) and 23 grandchildren.
In the early Forties the gang were teenagers in wartime Kent. Aged 15, Daisy Hards, née Kirch, and Joan Keenes, as she then was, were asked to take over the 1st East Wickham Guide Company, based in Welling, because of a lack of Guiders of the right age (most young women were either in the forces or involved in long hours of war work). Pat Hards, née Murray, lived next door to Daisy and she joined too. They were members of the Sea Rangers, a branch of the Guides that also included Land Rangers and Air Rangers.
“We had high ideals for our Guide Company,” says Daisy, “and often shed private tears when we fell short of our targets. Everything was in short supply and in order to get the girls their uniforms we bought triangular bandages with our clothing coupons and dyed them the correct shade of blue to make their ties. You can imagine our dismay when the girls turned up without their ties because their mums had taken them to use as head scarves! We had very little equipment and in order to teach skills for badges and tests, we were told to ‘improvise’ – I still hate that word!”
When twins Richard and John Hards graduated from Cubs to Scouts they joined their elder brother at the 4th Welling Scout Group and met fellow “new boys” Peter Reynolds and John Dadd. As Scouts, they installed Anderson Shelters, cared for people’s gardens, were Air Raid Precautions (ARP) messengers and recycled anything that might help the war effort.
“We were the original recyclers,” says John. “We collected wastepaper, bundled it, weighed it – earning one penny per hundredweight – and pulled it on a cart to the collection point.”
Although before the war it had been frowned upon for Scouts and Guides to fraternise, these were changing times and the 4th Welling Scouts and the Sea Rangers happily got together for group activities such as hikes and cycle rides and, later on, dances. “It was at an early dancing class that we met Beryl, and she and Peter became friends,” says John Hards. “You must realise that at this time there was no thought that our friendships would be enduring. The war years were hard for our parents and being in the Scouts and the Guides was our main social activity.”
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