Thursday, September 30, 2010
Longest serving scout - world record set by Reg Hayes
LONDON, UK -- Reg Hayes, 95, of Normandy Crescent, Cowley, joined the 2nd Oxford Wolf Cub pack in 1923 and moved up to the SS Mary and John 2nd Oxford Scouts in 1930 – where he has been since
, setting the world record for the Longest serving 'boy' scout.
(enlarge photo)
Mr Hayes said: ‘I’m in very good health, apart from my back.’
He remembers meeting Lord Robert Baden-Powell – the Scout founder – in 1923 and said the movement has changed.
‘When I started we would have to rub two sticks together to get a fire going at camp, now they have all the mod cons,’ Mr Hayes added.
Mr Hayes was just six when he first signed up.
Reg, a bachelor from Oxford, said: "As an only child it gave me a chance to mix with other young boys and girls. Then I became a leader and started organising camps."
Mr Hayes, who also worked at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, in Headington, served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War.
While he was in France in 1940 he struck up a friendship with a French-Canadian man, who shared his love of Scouting. It was only after Mr Hayes returned to England that he learned the man was a German spy and had been executed.
“After the war I was diagnosed with what they used to call shell-shock and spent some time in hospital. But the Scouts were still there when I came out and I think that helped me. They have been my whole life really.”
He has never married. Mr Hayes said he put his long service down to being single and having the time to dedicate to the group.
He said: “A lot of people can’t believe I’m 95, so it’s obviously keeping me young. I’m in very good health, apart from my back, but there are some times when I don’t feel quite up to it, so I think it’s time to take a well-earned break.
“It’s been an exciting time. I will miss the friendships most, and meeting people. I’m an honorary Scouter of the group, which I shall always be, so if I wish to look in, I shall do so.”
But even when Reg retires from the Scouts this month, he has vowed to carry on camping – in his back garden.
The retired car engineer intends to cook up his favourite campfire meals and sleep outdoors in the garden at Cowley, Oxon. “There’s nothing better than getting your hands dirty, then going to sleep under the stars,” he said.
“The food that Scouts cook around the campfire tastes better than half the rubbish on TV these days.
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Serving Chief of Police - Chief Thomas E. Hawley
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career as a weather forecaster - Dave Devall
Thursday, September 30, 2010
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