Scouts and Old High St Stephen’s             Ron Lyon

The Founder’s Day service last month was a reminder that the Scouting tradition of the Old High lives on in the parish, in the shape of the 21st Lochardil Troop.

It was also testament to the enduring appeal of a movement which now claims a global membership of 28 million that the Old High and the Cathedral are the only city venues big enough to accommodate the number of Scouters and family and friends who attend the annual ceremonies.

The Old High troop was started by the then minister, the Rev Roderick Murchison in 1941. The Women’s Guild presented the fledgling troop with a flag which graced their meetings, originally in the Old High church hall.

However, it was wartime and the hall was required for military use and the troop meetings were moved to the Central School until the early 1950s when a new recruit was a young Duncan Chisholm, who now runs the kilt makers and tailors business on Castle Street and is Group Scout leader of the 21st.

“After that the Scouts and Cubs moved to a little hut in Strothers Lane owned by the railways. But the population was shifting to the outskirts of the town and members dwindled. MacRae and Dick helped us with storage premises but I negotiated with the council for the use of Lochardil school hall and the name was changed to the 21st Lochardil. We finally raised enough funds to build our own hall in Green Drive.”

Duncan recalled some boys of the 21st who made a name for themselves in later life. “Jimmy and Louis Nairn were members as was Donald Cameron who went on to become Chief Constable of Grampian.”

Robert Preece, who is writing a history of Scouting in Inverness, said the change to reflect the Lochardil connection was made in 1978. The 21st Group now shares a troop with Holm Mills, known as Stratherrick, and provides the full range of Scout membership. However, the number of Scouts is not the problem, “the fact is we’re struggling for leaders.”

There are now 100 youngsters attending the Lochardil Group, so many it has been found necessary to start a second troop. Now meetings, run by 14 leaders, are held on Mondays and Wednesdays and there are waiting lists for most of the age groups catered for within the Group. Duncan agrees with Robert: “There is no shortage of Scouts, the shortage is of leaders.”

Clearly the Scout movement is built to last. So are its assets.

According to Duncan, the 21st still has a couple of tents, made by the Gourock Rope Company, which they bought ... in 1949.