A short history of 2nd Didsbury Scout group (still under construnction)

It is thought that 2nd Didsbury (88th Manchester) scout group was formed in 1911 and early record are a bit thin on the ground, this date was agreed on after extensie scrutiny of the scout county record. We have some photos but little else of the early days. It is thought the group met in a rented hall in Elm Grove near where the dairy offices and cinimar used to be (oposite the school).

The group was formaly closed down during the second world war and reformed after. This is the reason for the 2nd 88th (2/88th) as it was the second formation of the group. It is thought that the group lost a number of men to the war but no records are known of.

Shortly after the war the group built it's own wooded HQ on rented railway land on Beaver Rd oposite School Lane where the existing HQ is todays. It is thought the group whist drive originated around this time.

Around 1960 St Aden's scout group amalgamated with 88th and the kneckerchief was changed from the traditional original green to maroon. An additional wooden building was added to the side of the existing one.

Around the same time 218th St Nicholuse amalgamated with 127th who had their HQ where the Coop is on Fog Lane near the station. At this time 218th moved to 127th and expanded the buildings at the site. This unfortunatly was short lived as the railway who owned the land sold it to the coop and the group had no HQ and could not go back to St Nicholuse as they had removed their building there.

As a result of this in 1966 218th amalgamated with 88th and the kneckerchif was changed from maroon to gold. Another reasons for the amalgamation was that 88th was short of leaders and 218th had plenty. At this point the group had 1 cub pack, and a scout troop. Shortly after amalamation the group had two cub packs, two scout troop and a ventrure scout unit.

In 1978 the group was given notice to leave the site by the owners British rail and the hunt was on for a new location. After a lot of hard work by the exec and local councilers the land where we are now was least from the council. There was then the problem of raising enough money to build a new HQ this was done with a tremendouse amount of affort by the group exec and the new HQ was completed before we had to vacate the old one.

Shortly after the move the 2 troops combined. The Friday troop now meeting with the Tuesday troop. There were still 2 cub packs meeting on Tuesday before scouts and Thursdays. The Venture scouts met on Wednesdays. Around 1984 the group started a Beaver collony on Monday nights.

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updated 7-3-08