WE continue our story of scouting in Burnley in the 1960s, which has been compiled by Stephen Child, of the Burnley and District Historical Society.

St George's Day parade: This event was one not too popular with the scouts themselves, but it was good publicity for the scout movement.

There were two parades, the local one and the national one, which as held at St George's chapel, Windsor, and was often viewed by the Queen. One scout was selected from the Burnley district to attend each year. In 1963 it was David Pickles of the Burnley 16th group.

The local event meant a parade around the area and then the scouts marched to the local church for a service. In 1963 it was held at Holy Trinity Church, at St Matthew;s Church, 1964, at St Andrew's Church 1965 and at Sion Baptist Church 1967.

The parade was often led by a band and the march through the streets was watched my many people. There was often a march past, taken by a scout dignitary or the mayor.

Sporting events: There were two sporting events held every year for all the scout groups: the swimming gala and the sports day.

The swimming gala was usually held in October or November. In 1963 it was held at North Street baths and the 16th Burnley scout group won, On this occasion the trophies and certificates were presented by Alex Elder, who played full back for Burnley and Northern Ireland.

In 1963 the scout sports were held at Lower Towneley and the Brierfield scout troops were triumphant on this occasion. The 4th Brierfield troop won the junior section.

Events included the 100 yards, 220 yards, 880 yards, high jump, long jump, relay, shot putt and one mile.

All-night exercise: This character-building event took place in October in 1966, when 25 senior scouts went on an all-night exercise. At 10pm on Friday night, the teams were taken to a lonely sport on Extwistle, Widdop or Heptonstall moors, the teams being spread out over a six-mile stretch of the countryside, with instructions to make their way in the darkness, to a checkpoint on Stiperden Moor, three miles away. Sets of detonators were issued to each team, with the aim of ambushing other teams by stalking and tracking and then to report within a set time to a further checkpoint at Thievely Pike.

By 3am all teams had checked in, but were then faced with another trek over the hills using a map and compass, before descending to Dunnockshaw to be served hot soup, at 5.30am.

The joint winners were the Nelson District senior scout troop and a group of apprentices from Lucas.

l Pictures courtesy of Burnley Library.