Our Scout Leader at the time had a friend who was a leader in a troop in Surrey. We spent a weekend with them, they came to us and once we met mid-way. The time they came to us we stayed at Hebden Hey hostel in February; it was cold, as you would expect for the time of year.
On the Saturday evening it was difficult getting everyone to sleep and we finally left them to it and went to the lounge in the basement (in Tom Bell hostel this is now the showers). When we finally headed for bed it was somewhat after 1 am. One of our young leaders decided that a fire drill would be a good idea and somehow managed to persuade us to do it.
Around we went banging on the doors and shouting “Fire! Fire! Everybody out!” Scouts aren’t normally known for moving quickly, but this time they did.
Roll call took place in the car park, in the dark, with the snow falling. Only then did we notice that some were just wearing undies and boots, no wonder they were quick! Many did take “Be Prepared” to heart and picked up a coat on the way out. A quick check on numbers then back to their warm beds.
I felt sorry for those Surrey Scouts; they might never have seen snow before and here they were standing in it in the dark on a cold Yorkshire night!
Malcolm Street
(former Scout Leader 24th St Paul’s, currently Cub Leader)