In September 2026 1st Hinchley Wood & 1st Weston Green scout groups merged to combine our strengths and deliver high quality scouting in the Esher area. Drawing from the vast experience of the leaders of both groups we continue to build upon the legacy of the two groups and provide unforgettable memories for our young people. Our neckers combine the two colours, gold from Hinchley Wood and Scarlet from Weston Green.
1st Hinchley Wood History
The 1st Hinchley Wood Scout Group was formed under the auspices of St Christopher’s Church, Hinchley Wood in 1953 but has always been an open group and soon afterwards took over (from the church) the Esher Urban District Council lease on what then became known as “The Hut” in Lynwood Road, Thames Ditton.
This much loved ex-army hut (reputed to have started off life during the First World War on Salisbury Plain!) was the Group’s home until 1972 when it was demolished and the present Joint Headquarters (with Hinchley Wood Guides) was constructed on the same site. “Lynwood” was officially opened in 1974 and has been our home ever since, hosting it’s own 25th birthday party in 1999.
In 2008 we opened the Chris Platt Activity Centre, now providing an indoor climbing wall, shooting gallery and storage for our minibus, kayaks and canoe equipment.
The Group started off with a Wolf Cub pack but soon boasted a Boy Scout Troop and certainly had a summer camp in 1954 (in Devon). At various times there were Senior Scouts and occasional Rover Scouts but it was not until 1974 when the “Nava” Venture Scout Unit was founded that Scouting for the older member became regularly available. The Beaver Colony was opened in 1978, the first Beaver colony in Esher District.
Nowadays the Group has active and lively programmes for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.
In 2002 Scouting was given a ‘New Look’ which resulted in the formation of the Explorer Scout Unit in place of the Venture Scout Unit. We specialize in certain more adventurous activities, particularly orienteering, canoeing, climbing & hillwalking. Our Troop camp programmes, whilst including these activities, are based on traditional Scouting skills, camping as patrols and cooking on wood fires.
The Group organises a Group Camp most years and Cub Scouts & Scouts attend District Camps and their own section Camps including a week’s Troop Summer Camp, which forms the highlight of the Troop calendar.
1st Weston Green History
Founded in the middle of the second world war, the group’s early years were disrupted by air raids, bomb damage to premises, by the evacuation of children from the area and by the drafting of scout leaders into the war. But this didn’t stop the group from expanding from the original pack of nine Cubs.
Two years after the pack started, in 1944, a scout troop was added, with eight Cubs moving up to join the group. Senior scouting sections were later added, and by the late 1950s, the group was providing scouting activities for a full range of ages.
We are lucky to still have the leather-bound logbooks that record the group’s early history in beautiful copper-plate handwriting. Highlights include the Cubs’ first camp, held at Polyapes, near Oxshott, in 1954. Records of that camp include a receipt from J Simmonds and Sons for 16 hot cross buns and an alarming account of how the campfire was started with the aid of can of “magic firewater”. Other excursions during the 1950s included a weekend trip to the Lake District, and in 1959, the scouts enjoyed a two-week trip to Norway.
Some of these early events have become traditions that are carried on to this day. Polyapes is one of several regular venues for group and section camps, although the cubs are no longer startled with magic firewater. The description of an improvised form of indoor cricket played at a meeting in 1960 also sounds quite similar to the activities you might find at the start of a Cubs meeting today.
