In December 1932, a group named “All Saints’ 1st New Haw” was registered with the Boy Scouts Association. Originally affiliated with the Church, 1st New Haw aimed to provide scouting to all young boys throughout New Haw and Woodham.
Creation-1970s
Unfortunately, due to a lack of knowledge, we are unable to provide any information on this time period. We do, however, know that 1st New Haw originally opened its headquarters on the South-West side of Heathervale park and continued to grow massively during this time.
1970s
Once the current team had taken over the group, we realised that underneath a pile of books, there was a scrap book that took cuttings from old newspapers showing all of the competitions and events that 1st New Haw participated in. Led by the scout district, many of these events saw 1st New Haw Cubs and Scouts victorious. Examples of these events were a fishing competition (pictured left) and a district scouts sports day.
As 1st New Haw continued to thrive during these times, waiting lists continued to grow. In 1974, 2nd New Haw, another group in our district was set up which meant that more scouting could be provided to the local young people. Both groups are still thriving to this day.
In 1976, 1st New Haw saw the creation of the new badge design for the Runnymede district, the district that houses eleven different groups including 1st New Haw. Everybody in the district wears this badge on their uniforms now.
1980s
In the 1980s, 1st New Haw continued to maintain strong numbers of young people. However, there was a problem, the 1st New Haw headquarters was falling into disrepair, meaning that the boys would have no where to run their weekly section meetings. In March 1983 plans to build a new scout hut were turned down by Runnymede borough council.
There were one family that stood out to us, the Lewis family. Generations of this family were involved in 1st New Haw scouts. The grandfather, Dan Lewis (pictured right), saw the build of the new HQ along with the new Group Scout Leader, John Wright, and as for all of his amazing efforts for the group, the new HQ was named after him. In October 1983, 1st New Haw started to seek funding for their new HQ build, they raised £500 which was a major step to the HQ rebuild. In December 1984, after opposition and objections, 1st New Haw received planning permission to build their new HQ, this is the hut we are all scouting in today! The brand new 1st New Haw Scout hut was officially opened on 1st October 1988.
1990s
1990 started off brilliantly for 1st New Haw. It was labelled in a local paper as “One of the most successful groups in the area” and two lucky scouts managed to secure places at the 17th World Scout Jamboree in South Korea, an event where scouts from all around the world meet. The two scouts were representing the Runnymede district.
In 1991, 1st New Haw received a donation from Sainsbury’s “Good Neighbours Scheme”. This grant was given to 1st New Haw for their continued efforts and successes in county competitions.
1991 also, sadly, saw the retirement of John Wright (pictured left). After 24 years as a leader at 1st New Haw, the Group Scout Leader, John Wright, decided to call it a day. To celebrate, the gift he was given was a pair of glasses with the scout symbol engraved on them.
2010s
After a period of dormancy, in 2018, the Runnymede district recognised the demand for Scouting in our area. This meant that, in May, the group restarted with a new team of district leaders. Once the group was back up and running, the name of 1st New Haw officially changed, removing the “All Saints” part of the name.
2019 was a great year for 1st New Haw. The group had adopted the “open one section at a time” approach and started off with a Beaver section containing 24 Beaver Scouts.
2020s
2020 saw great challenges for everyone due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Face-to-face scouting stopped as everyone was in lockdown from March 2020. 1st New Haw’s leadership managed to continue delivering a program of Scouting through online platforms to our young people until face-to-face Scouting was given the all clear to resume.
2021 saw the beginning of major maintenance works to our hut. In April 2021, the 1st New Haw toilets started to be demolished and new toilets installed, any hazards in the immediate grounds were quickly identified and repaired wherever possible. A massive thank you to all of our dedicated volunteers (The leaders & working party members) who enabled us to repair the grounds. January 2021 saw another COVID-19 lockdown meaning that all face-to-face Scouting activities had to stop once again, our team continued online and delivered the scouting program.
2022 was an uncertain time due to the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, nobody was sure as to whether Scouting would be stopped or allowed to continue face-to-face. Thankfully, face-to-face scouting was able to resume and 1st New Haw returned to the hut, thanks to our amazing team of leaders. In July 2022, 1st New Haw continued to grow and now currently has one Beaver colony and one Cub Pack!
Two of 1st New Haw Cubs receiving their Chief Scout Bronze Award from the former Runnymede District Commissioner.