Full TimeLine for the 1960s Seasons
1 Sep 1960 1st Meopham Company started Ron Dickinson, a Lieutenant in the 58th
1st Meopham BB London, moved to the area in 1960 and
Ron Dickinson very soon started the 1st Meopham. He
planned on using the DofE scheme to
enhance BB badge work.
8 Dec 1960 First record books issued These were the first DofE record books
Ron Dickinson issued in the Battalion. Issued by Ron
1st Meopham BB Dickinson to 1st Meopham Boys as part
of Company scheme.
1 Apr 1961 First ever Training Weekend This weekend was held in Ron
Ron Dickinson Dickinson's back garden at The
1961 MAR NDOWNS Group BA Stonewall. It covered all aspects of
1961 MAR NDOWNS Group BB map reading and campcraft, much as
still occurs today.
1 Apr 1961 Bronze Training 1-2 Apr 61 Held in Ron Dickenson's garden, with
Place The Stonewall, Trottescliffe him the onlt instructor. Topics
Leader Ron Dickinson included map & compas, camp craft and
cooking, and the weekend included a
night training expedition.
27 May 1961 Actual, Tonbridge 27-28 May 61 These two Bronze groups from the 1st
Place Tonbridge area Meopham BB were the first Bronze
Leader Ron Dickinson expeditions for the Battalion.
27 May 1961 First ever Bronze expeditions The two Bronze groups followed the same
Actual, Tonbridge 27-28 May 61 route but in opposite directions in the
1961 EASTER NDOWNS Group BA Tonbridge area. Equipment was extremely
1961 EASTER NDOWNS Group BB limited, but both groups were
successful.
1 Mar 1962 Silver Training 1-2 Mar 62 This weekend was held in Ron's garden
Place The Stonewall, Trottescliffe for the one Silver group of Meopham
Leader Ron Dickinson Boys.
Mar 1962 First Silver Training Weekend This weekend was held in Ron's back
Ron Dickinson garden for the one Silver group of
Silver Training 1-2 Mar 62 Meopham Boys.
1962 MAR NDOWNS Group SA
21 Apr 1962 Actual Sal. Plain 20-22 Apr 62 This Silver group of 1st Meopham Boys
was the first Silver expedition in the
Leader Ron Dickinson Battalion.
21 Apr 1962 First ever Silver Expedition
Actual Sal. Plain 20-22 Apr 62
1962 EASTER SPLAIN Group SA
16 Mar 1963 First Battalion Training w/e This weekend was held in the barns at
B/S/G Training 16-17 Mar 1963 South Street Farm, Meopham.
Ron Dickinson It proved to be much more popular than
expected, straining both accomodation
and the teaching, but is remembered
fondly by all who attended.
16 Mar 1963 B/S/G Training 16-17 Mar 1963 Held in barns in the farmyard at South
Place South St Farm, Meopham St Farm Meopham (Ridley Turning), with
Leader Ron Dickinson camping in the small adjacent field on
the corner of Heron Hill Lane.
The event was highly over-subscribed,
and conditions were very crowded but
good-natured.
12 Apr 1963 Actual Snowdonia 11-14 Apr 63 The original 1st Meopham Gold group did
Place DolGam camp site, Snowdonia their expedition in Snowdonia. They
Leader Ron Dickinson were assesed by Brian Roberts of the
Birkenhead Battalion. Ron was there
for support and transport home.
12 Apr 1963 First Gold expedition The group made their own way to Wales.
Ron Dickinson Their weather was wet, white and wild,
Brian Roberts but they completed successfully.
Actual Snowdonia 11-14 Apr 63 All members of this group were from 1st
Meopham.
23 May 1963 Actual Sal.Plain 23-25 May 63 This group of direct Silver Battalion
Place Salisbury Plain entrants took their expedition on
Leader Ron Dickinson Salisbury Plain.
A route problem meant their first
attempt had to be aborted, but was
successfully completed soon after.
23 May 1963 First battalion Silver Exped. The first attempt had to be aborted
Ron Dickinson when it was found their route went
Actual Sal.Plain 23-25 May 63 across an artillery range.
1963 WHIT SPLAIN Group SA It was repeated, this time
successfully, a month or so later.
1 Jun 1963 Bronze exped. Kent Summer 63 Bronze expeditions held piecemeal over
Place North Downs area the summer of 1963 in the North Downs
Leader Ron Dickinson area. Assessed by Ron, Doug, Maurice
and Roger.
Jun 1963 First Battalion Bronze Expeds. Many Bronze expeditions were held over
Ron Dickinson Summer 63, but no records exist of any
Doug Bush of them.
Maurice Beeby One group is known to have walked from
Otford to camp at Trottescliffe then
continued to Meopham.
Nov 1963 First Golds presented These were among the first ever Golds
Maurice Beeby to be presented to candidates from Kent.
Richard Mucklestone Maurice and Roger then continued as
Roger Povey Instructors and Assessors in the
Battalion expedition group.
14 Mar 1964 First non-BB candidate George Dunkley and Alan Martin from
George Dunkley Maidstone Grammar School joined the
Alan Martin weekend as their school was not able to
1964 MAR NDOWNS Group SA offer progress up to Gold level.
14 Mar 1964 B/S/G Training 14-15 Mar 1964 Only the program for this weekend
Place South St Farm, Meopham remains. It is believed to have been
Leader Ron Dickinson at South St Farm, but no-one is sure.
No staff or candidate lists remain.
27 Mar 1964 Actual Snowdonia 26-29 Mar 64 Base camp equipment provided by Army
Place DolGam camp site, Snowdonia Youth Team. This included some army
Leader Ron Dickinson emergency rations, and a pair of
(heavy) walkie-talkies.
There were 2 Silver but no Gold groups
this year, even though one group had
been at training weekend.
Jul 1964 Paul Durling gets his Gold Paul took longer than the others in the
Paul Durling first cohort to complete his athletics,
so was later completing his Gold.
27 Mar 1965 B/S/G Training 27-28 Mar 1965 This weekend was supported by the Army
Place Wouldham Army Camp Youth Team. Night taining expeditions
Leader Ron Dickinson were held in the local quarry,
enlivened by smoke cannisters and
thunder flashes.
16 Apr 1965 Actual Snowdonia 15-18 Apr 65
Place DolGam camp site, Snowdonia
Leader Ron Dickinson
May 1965 1st "through ranks" Assessors These were the first Battalion Gold
1965 EASTER SNOWDN Group GA candidates to be invited to become
1965 EASTER SNOWDN Group GB Assessors at future training events.
Actual Snowdonia 15-18 Apr 65
Jul 1965 Richard Mucklestone dies Richard (1st Gold group) died in a
Richard Mucklestone fishing accident in the Thames. He
1963 EASTER SNOWDN Group GA left a son and a widow.
1 Sep 1965 Formation of North Kent Battn. Prior to this, Companies had formed the
North Kent Group. As many new Companies
were being formed in the area, they
became the North Kent Battalion on 1
Sep 65.
25 Sep 1965 Relay run for new Battalion On 25 Sep 65 a relay run between all
the churches in the Battalion
celebrated its formation.
Many of the runners were candidates on
recent training weekends.
23 Oct 1965 First October Training Weekend For the first time, a separate weekend
B/S/G Training 23/24 Oct 1965 was held for map-reading training, to
allow more teaching time.
This was also the first weeknd with
sufficient staff to allow training in
groups.
23 Oct 1965 B/S/G Training 23/24 Oct 1965 This was the first October Training
Place The Stonewall, Trottescliffe weekend to be held. It covered just
Leader Ron Dickinson map-reading and compass-work.
No record was kept of Groups, so these
lists are all based on Mar/Easter
records, and may well be seriously
wrong.
5 Mar 1966 B/S/G Training 4-6 Mar 1966 A basic Group List sheet is filed for
Place The Stonewall, Trottescliffe this weekend, so group membership
Leader Ron Dickinson should be fairly accurate. However,
there is a suspicion that one sheet is
missing, and that there might be one or
two more Bronze groups.
8 Apr 1966 Actual Snowdonia 7-10 Apr 66 Note that the membership of most groups
Place DolGam camp site, Snowdonia is not totally certain, as records are
Leader Ron Dickinson very limited. See the notes on each
group.
No list of Assessors/staff is filed, so
the list here is only a best-guess.
22 Oct 1966 B/S/G Training 21-23 Oct 1966
Place The Stonewall, Trottescliffe
Leader Ron Dickinson
3 Mar 1967 First Weekend at Mount Mead Numbers were by now too high to
B/S/G Training 3-5 Mar 1967 continue in Ron's garden.
The move was made to the Paddock and
barn at Mount Mead, the other side of
Trottescliffe.
4 Mar 1967 Dave Hollands appointed Admin. As numbers were rapidly growing, it
B/S/G Training 3-5 Mar 1967 became necessary for someone to
Ron Dickinson administer the training and the
Dave Hollands finances.
Dave Hollands agreed to take on that
role. Records began to be filed.
4 Mar 1967 B/S/G Training 3-5 Mar 1967
Place Mount Mead Paddock, Trottes.
Leader Ron Dickinson
24 Mar 1967 Actual Snowdonia 23-27 Mar 67
Place DolGam camp site, Snowdonia
Leader Ron Dickinson
21 Oct 1967 B/S/G Training 20-22 Oct 1967
Place Mount Mead Paddock, Trottes.
Leader Ron Dickinson
2 Mar 1968 B/S/G Training 1-3 Mar 1968
Place Mount Mead Paddock, Trottes.
Leader Ron Dickinson
Apr 1968 Clive Beal & Mick Barnes die Clive and Michael (1st West malling)
Michael Barnes died in a motor scooter accident
Clive Beal shortly after Easter 1968.
1st West Malling BB Mick was an Assessor, and Clive had
just completed his Silver expedition.
12 Apr 1968 Actual Snowdonia 11-15 Apr 68
Place DolGam camp site, Snowdonia
Leader Ron Dickinson
2 Nov 1968 B/S/G Training 1-3 Nov 1968 The group lists for this weekend are
Place Mount Mead Paddock, Trottes. set from the annotated Group List in
Leader Maurice Beeby the records. It includes all changes
made on the actual weekend due to
absences etc.
Nov 1968 Maurice Beeby becomes Leader Ron wished to spend more time on his
Maurice Beeby business and asked Maurice Beeby to
Ron Dickinson take over as leader, which he did from
B/S/G Training 1-3 Nov 1968 Oct 68.
Ron assisted Dave Hollands with the
Admin.
1 Mar 1969 B/S/G Training 28Feb-2Mar 1969
Place Mount Mead Paddock, Trottes.
Leader Maurice Beeby
4 Apr 1969 Actual Snowdonia 3-7 Apr 69 Gold candidates charged 5.00
Place DolGam camp site, Snowdonia All others charged 4.00
Leader Maurice Beeby