A few weeks ago John Morton moved
home from Horsham to Gloucestershire and I asked him to keep in touch and let
us know about where he has gone.
John supported Scouting in Horsham
and West Sussex County for many years
and here is the story of the move to his new home.
I am settled in Cam, once a
suburb of Dursley but now larger than its old market town. We are about
13 miles south of Gloucester and 20 north of Bristol. It may be that Cam
got its name because eccentrics circulate here but it is more likely that it
originated from the River Cam, which flows into the Severn just a few miles
north-west of us. To the west is a village on the A38 called Cambridge,
pronounced the same as the rather better known East Anglian conurbation.
The countryside here is delightful
– heavily wooded limestone hills, much older than those in West Sussex.
Many date from the Jurassic and Triassic periods (150 to 250 million years ago)
with some originating in the Devonian period (400 million years ago). The
River Severn has deposited mudstone, particularly along its eastern side, since
Triassic times, leaving an ancient floodplain several miles wide. At
Sharpness, at the southern end of a canal to Gloucester which allows traffic to
avoid the shifting sandbanks of the river, there is a picnic site with views to
the south as far as the two Severn bridges some 10 miles away, and across the
river to the Forest of Dean. We are just three miles from the Wildfowl
and Wetlands Trust’s Reserve at Slimbridge and there is much else to see and
explore, including Berkeley Castle, steeped in history including the murder of
King Edward II in 1327. Another curiosity nearby is a chestnut tree
purported to be 1400 years old.
It is often said that moving
house is one of the most stressful periods of one’s life. I would
certainly agree with that – it took seven months to find a buyer for my house
in Horsham and the cost of moving is equivalent to a year’s salary at the
country’s average income. However, house prices here are considerably
lower than in the south-east and I have been able to buy a larger and
better-appointed house, providing plenty of room for my son and his family to
move in with me to look after me in my dotage, with some change to go into the
piggy-bank. I am just beginning to appreciate the quality of my house, as
many of the corners have been, up to now, obscured by boxes!
As far as Scouting is concerned,
my son, who is GSL of the 1st Dursley, one of the oldest Groups in the country
dating from 1908, had already split on me to the DC of Cotswold Vale and she
has a job lined up for me as Chairman of the District’s Appointments Advisory
Committee. Last week I attended a presentation of Module 37 – Advising
on Adult Appointments, which I found most useful. I shall certainly
be heavily dependent on the District Secretary for some time but look forward
to a new and interesting experience.
Cotswold Vale is a small District
with just six Groups. The District badge depicts the Tyndale Monument, a couple
of miles south-west of Dursley, erected in commemoration of William Tyndale,
probably born in Slimbridge and the first man to translate the Bible into
English.
As in the two Horsham Districts, there is strong demand for
places in all of the Colonies and Packs. To the north, Stroud and Tetbury
District has more Groups than the city of Gloucester , but nearby North
Cotswold District has only five Groups spread over an area as big as a county.
I shall miss my Scouting
connections in Horsham and hope to hear news of them from time to time.
John Morton
