Scouting in Wakefield was officially started in December 1909 but we had Troops meeting in Wakefield before this date.
During the First World War Scouts from across Wakefield took part in war work to help Wakefield and the country. Scouts from across Wakefield took part in Air Raid Assistance, Wate Paper Collecting, Supported farming in the surrounding countryside and Scout Coastal Patrols doing sea observations in Northumberland.
During the Second World War Scouts in Wakefield once again supported the war work by taking part in Collecting waste paper, stretcher bearers at Clayton Hospital, Haymaking on local farms and fire watching. A number of Scouts across Wakefield gained their National Service badge.
In 1957 Wakefield Scouts celebrated 50 years of Scouting with a year long celebration of events across Wakefield. This started the year with a Thanksgiving Service at Wakefield Cathedral on the 23rd February 1957. The celebrations continued with the highlight of the year being Scout Week in June 1957 where a religious service was held, open nights were presented about Scouting and the week climaxed with Gala Day on Saturday 22nd June 1957 where the best of Scouting was shown off to the public in Clarence Park.
In 1979 Wakefield Scouts was split into 2 Districts, Wakefield North and Wakefield South and then again in 1981 the two Districts were split into 3, Wakefield North, Wakefield West and Wakefield Chantry.
In 1998 Wakefield West District was amalgamated into the other 2 Districts. In 2000 all the Districts were amalgamated back into a single Wakefield District where we were given the Wakefield half of the Wakefield Council area to support.
In 2007 we celebrated the Centenary of Scouting, with a St Georges Day service in Leeds, County Camp, Tree Stomp, in May and Centenary Camp overnight on the 1st August jointly with Pontefract and Castleford at Nostell Priory. Scouts Since 2007 Scouting in Wakefield has continued to grow with us now having 14 Groups and around 800 young people.
We are working on a project to collect any information, pictures or equipment from the history of Scouting in Wakefield. If you have anything you know or would like to share with us about the history of Scouting in Wakefield please get in touch at history@wakefieldscouts.org.uk
