Attendance
Four patrols were present in camp. The names of two of these patrols have been identified as the Rattlesnake and the Mouse, but the names of the other two have not yet been identified. There was also an unofficial 2-man Midge patrol consisting of Martin and Ronnie Blake who were aged about 10 or 11 at the time. The name was chosen to indicate that they were small and annoying.
Rattlesnake Patrol
PL Jim Blair, Second Sandy Millar, Philip Dry (Wet), Alister Robb, and Ronald Russell (Gorm)
Mouse Patrol
PL Trevor J. Jones (Trev), Second Alistair Cram (Al), Tommy Dow, Ian Lee, Alan Conway, and David??
Patrol 3
P.L. Hamish Rankin (Tweet), Michael Hodge, Billy Philips (Will Phil), Laird McFarlane, and John??
Patrol 4
P.L. Ken Johnston, Sec. Robert Harvey, Albert Runcie (Oz), SK??, Ronald Lind, and Allan Taylor
Midge Patrol
Martin Blake and Ronnie Blake
Others:
Michael Nisbet and T.L John Nisbet arrived for the last 5 days of camp. It is not known which patrols they joined.
Scouters
S.M. J.R. Blake, A.S.M. Bob Miller, ASM Douglas Brown (weekend only), ASM Sandy Whiteford (weekend only)
Notes: There were three unidentified Scouts in the above list - David, John and SK. The David might have been David Friedman. The John might have been John Moore or John Gatherer. However, SK is a complete mystery.
Overview
The Scouts sailed from Gourock to Tarbert on the MV Loch Fyne, then hired a lorry to transport both Scouts and equipment to the campsite, which was located about 3 miles south of Tarbert. Bob Millar and the PLs had bicycles and cycled to the campsite and arrived about an hour before the main party. The rest of the day was spent developing the patrol sites and other camp chores such as diggng the latrines and putting up the main flagpole and notice board. A 'garage' was also created for the bikes - presumably a tarpaulin shelter.
During the camp, there were a number of pioneering activities including the building of the main flagpole which might have been a skylon flagpole. However, the main project that year was probably the building of a raft complete with outrigger, which was 'sailed' on West Loch Tarbert. On one occasion, it carried a crew of 8 Scouts. An aerial runway was also constructed across the stream running through the campsite. Instead of a seat, each Scout found a piece of wood to hang onto as they slid down the rope. Hamish Rankin drew the short straw here as his stick broke and he ended up in the strream. A rope swing was also set up as another method of getting across the stream and this proved highly popular throughout the camp. There was also a footbridge as identified on the OS map, but this seemed to be no safer as at least two people fell through it - possibly due to weak foot struts. One of the victims was Scoutmaster Ian Blake. Each patrol also had to create various gadgets for their patrol site which including building a table and seating arrangements for the patrol kitchens.
Other activities in camp included games such as baseball, ringstick, football, races, blindfold rope trails, tracking, and plate racing down the stream. The last activity was eventually banned as several plates got lost in the process - indicating that there must have been some deep pools about. training and testing also took place towards various badges. During the camp two Scouts completed their 2nd Class Badge (Michael Nisbet and Ronald Russell), and one Scout completed his 1st Class Badge (Philip Dry). A number of Spare Time Activities (STAs) were set for the patrol to complete, such as estimating the height of the flagpole, making a musical instrument out of natural materials and making a picture out of natural materials. In the evenings, there were regular campfires, and at one of these the newly released 'Bubble Car Song' was sung by the yet to be identified 'David'. Cocoa, dumpling amd other treats were consumed. At one of the campfires, Ken Johnstone played his banjo to great acclaim.
There were at least two evening hikes. One of these was described as a hill climb and might have been an ascent of Cnoc a’ Bhaile-shios (1383’), which was SE of the campsite. The other hike was across the hills to a 'chapel' that is marked on the map as a historic site. This hike was repeated at future camps where a kind of ritual was carried out on arrival to ward off any evil spirits. However, it is not known whether that took place on this occasion. The party then split up with 2 patrols returning to camp by the main road, and the other two going cross country, presumably to see which route was the quicker.
On the Friday, everyone went into Tarbert for the day by bike, car and local bus. Some of the cyclists (if not all) offered a 'backie' to another Scout. However, the police stopped two of the cylcists (Jim Blair and Tommy Dow) for providing backies and warned them that they would inform their Scoutmaster should they repeat the offence. Half an hour later, Ian Blake rode into Tarbert, providing his son Martin with a backie. However, it is not known whether the police spotted this or not. The highlight of the day in Tarbert seemed to be the rowing boats which appeared to have small motors at the stern. Several Scouts hired boats and renacted a sea battle. The Cafe Ca'dora also did a roaring trade in chips and ice cream. In the evening, some of the Scouts visited the Regent cinema to watch a film while the others returned to camp. A couple of days later, the Troop attended evening service at Tarbert Church. Afterwards, Scouts were allowed some time in Tarbert but had to be back in camp by 9pm.
An unusual activity involved Ian Johnson and Robert Harvey spending an overnight trip on a fishing trawler. It is not known whether similar trips took place at earlier Tarbert summer camps, but they were certainly repeated at later Tarbert camps.
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