Researching the story behind Percy Parkes
- 1st Sea Scout Leader at 1st Sandown Scouts.
By Barry Groves
One of the reasons we are making a lot of the Isle of Wight Scouting Heritage available on here is to encourage leaders to regularly update information on your own Group. An example of this was when a leader from 1st Sandown contacted me to say he had found a photograph and a "medal" in their loft space and could I help them find out what it was.There was a photograph with the name Percy Parkes and the medal was actually what is referred to as a "Death Penny", not a medal. From my own knowledge I knew Percy Parkes was the first Sea Scout Leader at 1st Sandown and the "Death Penny" was awarded to the families of servicemen who died in the First World War.
Above: "The medal"
Above: The image of Percy Parkes
I then helped the Group find out more about their first leader. The finished story is attached as a PDF document here. MaC and I can help any Group find out their beginnings. The story of Percy Parkes took quite a long time to finish, but we were very pleased with the outcome.
Research material MaC and I hold includes: -
- Charlie Taylor County Press Cuttings {whole Island} 1939 to 1970
- Scout Magazines 1910 - 1966 {national} not complete copies but ones I have bought
- Dr. Kennedy Reports 1912 to 1995 {whole Island} particularly Rover Scouts
- Group histories : - {comprehensive history}
- 1st Ryde
- 3rd Ryde
- 1st Wroxall
- 1st Shanklin
- 2nd Shanklin
- 4th Newport
- 1st Wootton
- 1st Cowes Sea Scouts
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Ventnor
- Rover Scout Moots 1947 - 1967
- Island/National Stories
- Lord Somers
- Phoebe Raddings
- Vera Barclay
- Sea Cruise - Calgaric/Adriastic/Orduna
- Train Cruises 1935 - 1939
- Victoria Cross holders - Connected to Scouting
- Victoria Cross holders - connected with the IW
- Cornwell Award holders - connected with the IWt
We can also teach anyone how to use the Isle of Wight County Press Archives to obtain stories on your groups.