Potted History of Scouting in Lochaber
Following the visit of Lord Baden Powell to the Highlands on the 23rd September 1911 at the North Meeting Park, Inverness, which inspired a number of interested parties, Lochaber Scouting was introduced.
On Tuesday October 3rd the Executive Committee was formed and the subjects of the meeting places and finances were discussed.
By October 16th a meeting was held and enough boys were enrolled to make up 3 troops. These were numbered 1st, 2nd & 3rd Fort William and each was attached to the churches of Duncansburgh, St Marys and St Andrews.
Other parts of Lochaber were not being left out and Corpach and Banvie started troops in November of 1911. Kinlochleven followed in the December along with Ballachulish. In the Spring of 1912 Morar troop started under the leadership of Mrs Vera Shaw - Stewart who taught the boys to swim, camp and gather sphagnum moss for bandages in the war in France. In February 1914 it was agreed to start a troop at Onich.
During the war many troops fell into abeyance because so many of the adult men were away at the war. Eleven Scouts won the Victoria Cross, one of these was Jack Cornwall whose courage is remembered by the Cornwall Badge, Scouting’s highest award for bravery.
In 1927 a county meeting was held and all the troops in the country were given numbers relating to Inverness-shire. 1933 Invergarry troop was formed and in 1939 the troop at Corpach was restarted and called Kilmallie. In 1955 a troop started in Caol, the same year the first scout from Lochaber, attended a world jamboree in Niigata, Canada. In 1959 a group was started in Spean Bridge and Roy Bridge were started, but later combined and made into Kilmonivaig.
In 1978 Lochaber Scout District was enlarged to cover the whole of the Northern part of Argyll, which formed a district of over 160 members. By 1981 the membership rose to over 200. In January 1982 it was decided that the 2 halves of Inverness-shire were acting increasingly independently and the old County was divided into Inverness-shire and Lochaber. In 1982, which was the 75th Anniversary of Scouting it was decided to revert to the old style of numbering.
1st Lochaber Fort William
2nd Lochaber Kilmallie
3rd Lochaber Kinlochleven
4th Lochaber Ballachulish
5th Lochaber Morar & Mallaig
6th Lochaber Kilmonivaig
7th Lochaber Invergarry
8th Lochaber St John’s Caol,
9th Lochaber Morven
10th Lochaber Strontian
11th Lochaber Ardgour
Scouting in Lochaber celebrated its 100 year anniversary in October 2011 and had only 2 groups, 2nd Lochaber Kilmallie and 5th Lochaber Mallaig & Morar.
The aim at this time was to restart many of those groups which had closed down for a variety of reasons during these years. We are currently trying to piece together the history of those years from 1982 till the current District Commissioner who took over in 2008. Initially as Acting DC as she was Regional Commissioner for Highlands & Islands, but for the last nearly 5 years as full DC for Lochaber.
Following a very successful “Road Show” around Highlands & Islands and especially Lochaber we currently have the following groups;
2nd Lochaber Kilmallie
4th Lochaber Ballachulish
5th Lochaber Mallaig & Morar
6th Lochaber Spean Bridge
10th Lochaber Strontian
11th Lochaber Isle of Muck
12th Lochaber Isle of Rum
During 2019 Lochaber reconected with one of its founding members during Peacelight and left a light at the grave side of Major Gooch. who is buried in Fort William.