Scouting wouldn’t be much fun if you operated in isolation. Sometimes it is good to get together with nearby groups for activities and competitions.
Together, several groups make up a District, led by the District Commissioner (DC) with the assistance of a Deputy District Commissioner (DDC) and a team of Assistant District Commissioners (ADC). A number of districts in turn make up a County, with a County Commissioner (CC) and a team of Assistant County Commissioners (ACC).

Our District

South East Berks

Our District is called South East Berks and covers Ascot, Binfield, Bullbrook, Harmanswater, North Bracknell (“Warfield”), Priestwood, and Sunningdale. (The other estates in Bracknell – Birch Hill, Easthampstead, Great Hollands and Wildridings are in the South Berks District).
You can find out more about the rest of the District by visiting the SE Berks District website.

This is our District Badge

Royal Berkshire

Together with other Districts from Slough in the east to Newbury in the west, we form the Scout County of Royal Berkshire. You can find out more about Scouting in the rest of the County by visiting the Berkshire Scouts website.

This is our County Badge

The following groups are part of South East Berks. If you go to District events you can tell them by their scarf colour:

Group	Location	Sections	Scarf Colour
2nd Bracknell	Bullbrook	BCSENA
4th Bracknell	Priestwood	BCS*
6th Bracknell	Priestwood	BCS
1st Ascot (All Saints)	North Ascot	BCS
1st Binfield	Binfield	BCSE*
1st South Ascot	South Ascot	BCSE
1st Sunningdale	Sunningdale	BCS

The following abbreviations have been used in the above table to describe the sections:

If you are interested in Scouting in other parts of South East Berks then the best way to find out more about it is to contact our District Commissioner – Ann Minchin. If you complete our general enquiry form we can pass on your details.

The History of South East Berks District

The first Annual Report and Accounts of the South East Berks Boy Scouts Association is dated October 1921. Of the 10 groups listed at that time only 1st Binfield and 1st Sunningdale are still active in South East Berks. In 1979 the old South East Berks was considered too large to administer and so it was divided with the Bracknell Southern Estates, Crowthorne and Sandhurst moving into the new South Berks District. The inaugural meeting of the new South East Berks was held on 13 May 1980.

One major feature of any Scout District is its badge. A competition was held and the winning entry picked from the 28 submissions. The design by Skip Newton (a former DC of the old district) included the Bracknell Development Corporation oak tree and the racing plate (horse shoe) representing the Ascot end of the District. Thus we have good fortune encompassing our fine woodland countryside.

Earleywood

In splitting the District the resources held by the old District were also split. South Berks took on organisation of the Gang Show which still runs successfully as a joint venture with plenty of support from both Districts. South East Berks had the Scout Shop and Earleywood Campsite in South Ascot. After many years of being a District site its development and operation was taken over by Berkshire County Scout Council when they wanted to create the County Training Centre and the District had insufficient funds to develop the site. The new training centre was officially opened by the then Chief Scout – Garth Morrison – in 1994. On the same day the chapel was named the “Ken Buckland Chapel”. After the death of George (Skip) Newton, an area next to the training centre was developed and is now known as Skip Newton’s Lawn. In addition to being a DC of the old South East Berks District and designing our District badge, Skip worked extremely hard on the development of Earleywood as a campsite. Although Earleywood ended up on the list of sites that HQ want to sell off, there was a happy ending as it is now, once again managed by the South and South East Berkshire Districts. It also has a new website.

DCs

Since the new District was created we have had just four District Commissioners. All of them are familiar names in Scouting in this area and continue to take an active role.

• Peter Scurry (1980 to 1992)
• Tony Fulford (1992 to 2000)
• Carolyne Brambley (2000 to 2009)
• Ann Minchin (from 2009)

Although there is no official “badge of office” when Peter handed over to Tony in 1992 he handed over the racing plate that had been used in the design of the District badge. This was in turn handed to Carolyne and has become a simple but significant tradition.

Thanks to the District Commissioners past and present for providing the history of the District. Taken from the 21 Birthday edition of “The Grapevine”.