Activities
The Group
History
Hosted by
7th Huddersfield Clayton West Scouts
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The current Clayton West Scout Group was first
registered on the 2nd September 1976 with 18 Cubs and 10 Scouts. The
Group met at Kayes First and Nursery School at the top of the village. The
founding Leaders were John Swannick, as GSL, with a Robert Leake as ASL,
and Maureen Swannick as an ASL. The Cub Leaders were Barrie and Gillian
Tiffany.
The Group later leased land at Wakefield Road, a
former coal yard for the now closed branch railway which terminated at
Clayton West. The hall was acquired from Almondbury Scouts who had the
good fortune to have raised funds for a new brick-built Scout HQ - perhaps
the best Scout HQ in the District. Their old hall, a Utility building,
very similar to those used by the military during WW2, was dismantled in
sections and transported to Clayton West where it was rebuilt with an
added toilet block by local 
volunteers.
The early
years of the Group were reasonably well documented in a scrapbook kept by
John Swannick but as with most things the upkeep of the scrapbook slipped
once the Group became established. 
John and Maureen Swannick remained with the Group until the mid-1990's when they both retired, as did Barrie Tiffany. There was by now a Beaver Colony and the BSL role was taken on as a temporary stopgap by the then Group secretary, Gillian Renshaw. Gillian's stopgap lasted for some 15 years.
There was some flux in the Leadership of the Cubs and Scouts and the role of GSL was filled temporarily. In 1994-5 Ewan Scott came as SL with his wife Fiona as ASL. The then DC made Ewan Scott the Scouter in Charge, which developed into the GSL Role as there was no difference between the SIC and the GSL.
Maria Glover joined as Secretary, but quickly took on an ACSL role, with Sheila Brown around 1997.
The Group has since grown a pool of activity instructors and resources, and has the beginnings of a new generation of Leaders who have come up through the Scout Group.
The result is clearly seen in the range of activities covered by this website.
Over the years the group has mutated and in the late 1990's the Venture Scout unit was formed, drawing members from a wide area before the PRG which saw Clayton West Chupacabra Explorers born out of the Ventures.
The Explorer's relationship with the Group has been very close, the ESL having a free run of Group facilities in return for their ongoing support of the Group. In 2006 the Explorers completely repainted the interior of the hall - which was looking very drab after 30 years of use.