The activities of Scouts and Cubs have featured prominently in the pages of the Oxford Mail over the years.

Reporters and photographers were always pleased to hear of interesting events and attend them with their notebooks and cameras.

Picture 1 features one annual engagement – the launch of Bob-a-Job Week at Oxford Town Hall in 1973.

READ MORE: Landlady will leave pub following financial concerns

Deputy Lord Mayor Tom Meadows and his wife look on as David Mogridge, left, of the 41st Oxford St James group, and Martin Webb, of the 36th Iffley, cleaned some of the city silver as their ‘job’.

In Picture 2, taken at Youlbury Scout camp at Boars Hill in 1971, successful efforts were being made to contact groups in other parts of the world by radio as part of the Scouts’ International Jamboree.

Oxford Mail:

Tony Garrett-Reed, of the Oxford University Radio Club, receives a message as assistant district commissioner John Gayton and Scouts Stephen Knight, left, and Mark Gayton, of the 29th Oxford group, look on.

They made contact with 80 groups in the British Isles, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Australia.

The four Scouts in Picture 3 had volunteered for a two-week trip to Malcesine in northern Italy in 1973 to take part in joint exercises and a conservation project with Italian Scouts.

They were, left to right, Bryan Parkinson, of Derwent Avenue, Headington, Kevin Spiers, of Priory Road, Littlemore, Robert Werlinger, of Cowley, and Nigel Samuels, of Wheatley. Parents and friends gave the boys a big send-off at Oxford railway station.

READ MORE: Crash shuts key route for several hours 

Nearly 100 Cub Scouts from the Cowley district held a handicraft and painting exhibition at the 36th Oxford headquarters in Church Way, Iffley, in 1974.

Admiring one of the exhibits, a homemade castle, in Picture 4 are, left to right, Bruce Crouch, 10, John Crouch and Gary Warmington, both nine.

There was plenty of fun at the Headington Scout fete at Bayswater School in 1972 – in Picture 5, we see Elza Bartlett, 11, of Barton Village Road, right, trying her skill at the ‘Test your Nerve’ stall.

Picture 6 was taken at the opening of the 4th Oxford Scouts’ headquarters in Arnolds Way, Botley, in 1974.

The £5,000 building was opened by Tony Coslett, the Scouts’ national secretary for liaison, seen left with group Scout leader John Weston and eight-year-old Brian Linton.

Gang Show founder Ralph Reader was due to perform the ceremony but had been taken ill. He sent a recorded message wishing the group well.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get: 

  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website 
  • Advert-light access 
  • Reader rewards 
  • Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.