Recce for Jophie's Neuk visit
We hope that the visit on the morning of Saturday 6th September 2008 to the 9th's old campsite at Jophie's Neuk, near Gullane, will be a great success and jog more than a few memories. However, it's been a while since any of us have actually seen the site (which the 9th stopped using in the late 1950's), and so we thought that a reconnoitre before the event would be a good idea.
Thus it was that four of us, David Bennet (leading this part of the celebrations), John Murison (that's me — assisting David), John's wife Alison and Richard Cavaye (the current GSL) visited Gullane on Saturday 3rd May. David had arranged to meet the Secretary of Gullane Golf Club to discuss the best current route between Gullane and Jophie's Neuk — the traditional route that used to be taken daily by the trek cart for ferrying supplies to the camp is no longer usable — and we met him in the old clubhouse before walking to the campsite itself. Although a medal competition is due to take place on 3rd September, we quickly established the best route for the 9th party to follow so as to cause minimum disruption. (We don't want to lose any of our number to wayward golf balls, or to have to issue medical bulletins at the Centenary dinner that evening!)
Then we set off on the approved route, and noted possible departures from the correct path. We reckon it will take the party in September about an hour to reach Jophie's Neuk from the west side of Gullane. In terms of 'easy', 'medium' or 'hard' walking, we would class it as a 'medium' walk. Since the land is part of a bird sanctuary no dogs are allowed — sorry.
Richard had never visited the site (the camps there were a long way before his time), my first Summer Camp, in the late 1950s, was the last time that the 9th camped there (and in any case I have an unreliable memory), but to David the layout of the campsite was as vivid as when he was there in the 1940s and 1950s as a Scout and Leader.
How did the Scouts reach the site? Well, in the early days they marched all the way from Edinburgh, complete with trek cart, about which more presently. After the War the Troop borrowed a coal lorry, loaded all the tentage and other camp equipment onto it, and then the advance party — assistant leaders and a few of the oldest scouts — went on top of that and drove out to Gullane. (They were aware of health and safety in those days, they just didn't go on about it quite so much.) The rest of the troop came out by coach the following morning.
David showed us where the marquee was pitched — on a slight slope, so that the ground never got too soggy — and recalled that it occasionally blew down, leading to the sight the following morning of Sandie Somerville seated cross-legged in tailor's posture with a sailmaker's needle, sewing up the rents in the canvas, so that Messrs Leith would not complain too much about the state of their marquee on its return.
David pointed out the place where the cooking fire was sited, with bricks and 'firedogs' brought from Edinburgh. This had to be quite substantial — after all it was to be sufficient to feed 50 people, so space for three or four dixies in a row was required. Patrol cooking only came in much later. (David always felt that centralised cooking, with a daily cooking patrol for the whole camp, was more efficient.)
Keeping the fire going was the job of the cooking patrol. They also had to keep the fire under 'Puffing Billy' going, although it was the job of the duty patrol to keep Puffing Billy, whose exact location David also remembered, filled with water. Puffing Billy was a large cylindrical water container mounted on a tripod, with space underneath for a coal fire to keep it heated. It also had a chimney — hence the name. The coal came on the lorry in sacks, and any unused sack was buried at the end of the camp for use the following year — if anyone could remember where it had been buried! Wood gathered from the shore was used for the big campfire on the last evening, but the main cooking fire used coal, sometimes supplemented with wood.
You will gather that the patrols on duty had important tasks to perform for the smooth running of the camp. Bear in mind, however, that in those days Scouts were older than they are now. The youngest boys were in the first year of Senior School, and the Seconds and Patrol Leaders were in 5th & 6th year. (The Scout Association produced an "Advanced Party Report" in the early 1960s which recommended that the age range of each section in a Scout Group should be adjusted. But before that major change a Scout patrol was run, more or less autonomously, by the Patrol Leader.) Another difference to note is that School didn't restart until mid-September in those days, and the Scout Camp was held in the first half of September — quite late in the year.
Anyway, back to Puffing Billy. Where did the fresh water come from? There was a small spring, with just a trickle of water coming out of a pipe emerging from the rocks. Under this pipe a zinc bath was placed to form a reservoir, and in the bath an enamel jug (which had to stay in the water to keep it clean) was used to fill water pails. The duty patrol would take their pails down to the spring, fill them with the jug, then clamber back up to the campsite. Remarkable that such a small trickle of water was able to meet the needs of a camp of about 50 boys and leaders. Anyway, the hot water from Puffing Billy was reserved for cooking, washing the kitchen utensils and for Sandie's shave each morning. The duty patrol looked askance on anyone else nicking hot water, since they had to replenish it. We were delighted to find the spring, which is still trickling out of its pipe, as it has no doubt done these past 100 years and more. (The pipe is now plastic, however.)
Other notable points in the campsite whose position David remembered: the main flagpole — flag break and flag lowering took place every morning and evening, with the whole troop standing in a circle round it, and the 'Swazi Warrior' was performed there just before returning to Edinburgh; the positions of the patrol tents; the puddocks pitch, now partially overgrown with buckthorn; and 'Lats Hill' — a paraffin lamp was kept lit there all night to help those seeking relief to find their way.
One of the duty patrol's jobs was to take the trek cart into Gullane, purchase essential supplies — bread, paraffin, milk, other provisions — and then haul it back. (More about trek carts.) Two of the older boys were on the pulling bar and the other members of the patrol held ropes which could be used to drag the cart up hill, and stop it from running out of control downhill. David recounted a time when the latter operation failed, and he was the last one still holding on to the runaway cart when it hit a bank, flew into the air and was up-ended. The top stayed on the milk churn, but the paraffin didn't do the bread any good at all.
What was the paraffin for? It was the fuel for hurricane and Tilley lamps, and for the large Primus stoves used to keep the food hot prior to serving. Food was eaten in the marquee. The patrols sat on groundsheets running along the sides, with the serving tables at one end. The cooking patrol would carry in the dixies of food, and the duty Scouter would call out patrol names in turn. When it came to tea, milk and sugar were added to the urn. But before the sugar went in there was a call for those strange people who didn't take it — "Queeries for Tea!"
We sat on flat boulders by the water's edge and ate our sandwiches, enjoying the views over the Forth to Edinburgh and to Fife. I remembered that during my first Scout camp, there at Jophie's Neuk, I saw the Aurora Borealis for the only time in my life. David recalled the pioneering activities of the post-war years: that is, constructions made with wood and rope — aerial runways, death slides, bridges, towers, platforms, etc. (David was a great exponent of this branch of Scouting.) They would build a breeches buoy which stretched out from the beach into the sea. He also pointed out Pulpit's Rock, and where the boys were allowed to go swimming; there were very strict rules about not swimming when the tide was going out, nor going after mis-hit tennis or rugby balls.
Shortly after lunch we made our way back to Gullane, and so back to Edinburgh. The walk itself is very enjoyable, and for us the weather was perfect. It had been an excellent few hours of reminiscence, I hope the forerunner of a similarly successful outing in September.
If you would like to visit Jophie's Neuk on 6th September, please complete the Booking Form.
JMM