2nd Inverness Group History

Pre WW II 1912 - 1939

The 2nd Inverness (Kingsmills) Scout Group was originally established in 1912 as the St Andrew's Troop of Boy Scouts, in association with St Andrew's Cathedral, Inverness, and open only to Episcopalians. It was the second Scout Troop to be set up in the town, soon after a major rally of Scouts from the North of Scotland, held in September 1911 in the Northern Meeting Park, Inverness, and attended by Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement. Unfortunately, the Troop, like many others, seems to have failed, through lack of leadership, at the start of the First World War, when many adult males were called up for military service.

The Troop was re-established in 1920, and, in a local reorganisation the following year, it retained the number 2, becoming the 2nd Inverness-shire (St Andrew's Cathedral) Troop. The Wolf Cub Pack (the forerunner of the Cub Scout Pack) was established in 1924, but survived for only a couple of years. It was restarted in 1929. In the period before the Second World War, several King's Scout badges were gained in the Troop, reflecting the success of the Troop at that time. The headquarters of both the Pack and and Troop was the Cathedral Hall in Kenneth Street

Post WWII 1945 - 1969

After the Second World War the Wolf Cub Pack survived with significant numbers of boys, but the Troop had several periods of difficulty. In 1969 it was decided to join with what was then the 14th Inverness (St John's) Group, based at St John's Church in Southside Road. They were struggling for leaders, particularly for their Troop, but had just taken over the use of the old Civil Defence headquarters building in Walker Park, Kingsmills Road. The link with the Cathedral was broken soon after this when the Sponsorship Agreement with the Episcopal Church was cancelled. For a few years the combined group was known as the 2nd/14th Inverness Group, but eventually the '14th' part of the name was dropped, and at a later date the name 'Kingsmills' was added to reflect the area of the town from which the Group normally drew much of its membership.
 

Kingsmills era 1969 - present
In 1971, the hall extension to the building in Walker Park was completed, being designed by the architect father of one of the Patrol Leaders of the time. The garage building, a former auxiliary fire station, was taken over later, although derelict. It was re-roofed and had new doors fitted using labour provided by a scheme for unemployed young people. This part of the building is currently used by the Inverness Area Scouts as a store. In the 1980's the HQ toilets and kitchen were upgraded and disabled facilities installed. Since 2004 considerable effort has been put in to upgrading the building, and improving its appearance, both externally and internally. Current plans include the replacement of the flat roof on the hall section of the building by a sloping roof, which should require minimal maintenance.