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Introduction 1970’s
The history of the scout hut begins with putting into context the environment at the time. No battery operated tools, no mobile phones, no internet. The 2nd Clutton Scout group consisted of a Scout troop, and 2 cub packs, Clutton and Temple Cloud, Group Scout Leader Alan Bateman, Scout Leader John Hazell, Clutton pack Akela Hazel Horn, Gill Hazell, Baloo Peter Webster, Temple Cloud pack Akela Edna Stead, Bill Stead. The whole group was supported by a Committee comprising parents and leaders. Group funds were raised through donation and the never tiring efforts of the committee by holding Jumble sales, Barn Dances, safari suppers, wine tasting (Barry Rider), Webbs Christmas cards and gift sales etc.
I became involved as a parent by taking my eldest son to cubs when it was discovered I was a Queens Scout and gradually over a few months I was initially persuaded to help with cubs and then as time went on as assistant scout leader. It was mooted that it would be a good idea if the group had their own Headquarters as cubs and scouts met at the village halls and the camping equipment etc was stored at the Methodist Church stone sheds. The Railway land was eyed as a potential site for a HQ but many legal hurdles had to be overcome with the Authorities including the Railways (Land owners), The Parish Council, Wansdyke District Council and the Scout Association. All parties seemed to be in favour with the principle but to make the railways land a village recreation area secure for the future required many legal obstacles to overcome. With the glimmer of an idea in their minds John Hazell, John Travis, Alan Bateman and the scout committee members embarked on a project to finance and build a scout headquarters for the 2nd Clutton Scout group.
The Hut
John Hazell had somehow had an offer by John Weaver of a sectional building on an army camp near Yeovil that was being cleared prior to redevelopment and approached me and many others to help with dismantling it and re-erection on the railway land in Clutton. At this time planning etc had not been agreed but the chance of the building was too good to miss. The Idea was we would make working parties to dismantle the hut, Dave Lewis and Rob Stenner would bring it back on their lorries, temporarily store the sections at Langley’s farm Clutton Hill then re-erect on the a site. All seemed possible and easy at the time so, a working party of about a dozen or so fathers, Scouters and interested parties enthusiastically made our way to Yeovil camp and a site of dozens of very large Huts. John Hazell had previously reconnoitred the site and earmarked two possible examples one to use the other to be used for spares due to possible damage during dismantling and haulage and storage. Most of the working parties members had no idea (nor did I) of the huge task to be undertaken, but Johns enthusiasm drove us on. Most members had little or no construction skills, but with a little tuition they achieved the desired result and all played their part into dismantling the sections and manhandling the component parts of the huts on and off the Lorries. The dismantling took a few weekends and was hard and dirty work for all. First the roof sheets were removed , the guttering then the ceiling panels followed, whilst this was ongoing weather boarding was carefully removed to expose the bolts holding the side panels in place the panels were then to be split in two and removed. It should be noted that the split panels were very heavy and required 6 persons to move them around. The large framework and Roof trusses were dismantled, internal walls stripped of panelling and set aside, then the floor sections lifted and finally the timbers making the base framework carefully removed. The parts were transported in over 4 loads on each lorry back to Clutton and stored at Langley’s farmyard and covered with lorry Sheets.
Looking back this chapter was possibly the easiest part, time passed legal wrangles were ironed out and after many months passed the parish council gave permission for the leisure area to be used.
The site for the hut was cleared and levelled by local contractor Ken Biggs ready for the foundations which consisted of concrete block piers placed at the intersections of the timber base framework. All site hardcore and concrete blocks were supplied by Hobbs Quarries via John Travis. The base timbers were transported to site on Haulier Nick Knott’s lorry and Langley’s tractor and trailer from the farm store and were assembled ready for the flooring panels to be fitted. During the storage time Bill Stead and John Hazel undertook cleaning and greasing all the iron nuts bolts and washers etc ready for use (nothing was wasted). John Hazell and I organised working parties for lifting the timber stanchions and roof truss beams into position with the use of Barry Rider’s sectional scaffold. Mike Jennings took on the task of de-nailing timber and spent many hours removing hundreds of nails. The wall sections were lifted into place and secured with bolts and we decided that the whole building should be treated with a preservative this was supplied locally by Cuprinol and Bill Stead took charge of spraying every inch of the building inside wall panels and outside with his garden spray. The most difficult panels to raise and fit were the triangular end gable sections. The roof purlins were de-nailed and fixed in place followed by cleaned and treated ceiling panels, roofing sheets were lifted and nailed then ridge pieces positioned and fixed in place making the building watertight.
It is worth noting that there was no health and safety policy for this construction, as was usual in those days. Everything was done on a shoestring my role was the carpentry and overseeing the dismantling and erecting the hut and then turning it into a building fit for Scouting. I have little idea of the financing except that local companies, organisations and contacts were happy to support us, I made a long list of requirements or simple wishes, gave it to John Hazell and soon after the items were in the hut ready for use.
The long process of turning a large rectangular building into a Scout Hut began by constructing internal wall partitions which enabled 2 small meeting rooms with storage over, a kitchen, an entrance area and 2 toilets, again with storage over; this was mine and John’s vision. An Emergency exit was cut and fitted in a side wall including panic bolts, an electrician wired the building and from a demolition site in Bristol there appeared 4 large wall fan heaters. The internal fitting was carried out in the dark winter months using electric lighting provided by running a cable from a cub parent’s house in Green Ridge to the site. By using timber and panelling scavenged during our trips to Yeovil walls were erected, panelling fixed, doors fitted and cover strips were fixed masking panel joints. The kitchen units, which I cut and fitted, were provided by someone having a new kitchen in the village, the cooker came from a hall in Rode near Frome, the plumbing was undertaken by Bill Stead and Steve Probert who also plumbed the toilets. A large hole was excavated at the front of the building and a large tank curtsey of a local farmer installed for drainage.
The ceiling and walls to the hall were cleaned ready for Bob Comer of ‘Berger Paint’ who, as luck would have it, was looking somewhere to experiment and test a new device ‘Berger’ were developing for the DIY market, applying paint to walls and ceilings using automatic rollers. ‘Berger’ as a thank you to the group also supplied paint for the rest of the project free. Other painting was undertaken by parents and for a short while the YTS (Youth Training Scheme) undertook some painting and site clearing. It was unfortunately discovered that windows were being smashed so all the window glass was hacked out and replaced with Perspex donated through Alan Bateman by ‘John Hall Glass, this was a job I had not foreseen !! Finally after a year or more of evenings, weekends and any spare time available working, a date was set for the grand opening of the Scout hut by the County Commissioner and we were still working on the steps to the entrance within minutes of the opening ceremony placing and levering the large slabs into place.
The Somerset Guardian gave the project quite a lot of publicity with articles including Photographs.
Key Participants - John Hazell, George Boyd, Bill Stead, John Travis, Gareth Jones, Dave Lewis Rob Stenner, Nick Knott, Peter Webster, The Langleys, Barry Rider, Alan Bateman, Steve Probert, Mike Jennings, The Scout Committee members.
The long suffering wives and partners.
And thanks to all those who took part in the project and have not received a mentioned.