For more than seventy years the 1st Sheldon, 144th Birmingham, Scout Group has enabled youngsters in Sheldon to experience the fun and adventure of Scouting. As part of The Scout Association its aim is to promote the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials, as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities. The Group caters for Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Venture Scouts, covering the age range 6 to 20. There is also an active Scout Fellowship for adults.
The old wooden scout hut was destroyed by fire in 1990, since when the scouts, parents and friends have raised over £30,000 towards the cost of rebuilding to current standards. At long last construction and fitting out is approaching completion on the original site located on Ragley Drive adjacent to St Giles Church and Sheldon Country Park. The total cost of the new headquarters is estimated at about £42,000. Much fund raising remains to be done. In the meantime a loan for the balance has been provided by Birmingham County Scout Association and the Madge Forster Trust.
The new building is now erected and landscaping of the site well advanced. Fitting out, plumbing etc. is being undertaken by volunteers . The Beavers, Cubs and Scouts moved-in last year from their temporary accomodation at a local school.
The location of the new building, between the Parish Church and the old Rectory (now Bray's Farm) is at the heart of old Sheldon. Land just two miles to the north east was settled by Anglo-Saxons, probably between 800 and 1000 AD, and Sheldon itself was settled in the 12th and 13th centuries. By 1330 the nave and chancel of the present church had been built. The tower was built in 1461 at a cost of forty-two pounds, four shillings and eight pence. (£42-23).
Sheldon's first school adjoined the chancel and was established in 1704 by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge of which Rev. Dr. Thomas Bray, Rector of Sheldon 1690-1730, was a founding member. Sheldon is now a busy suburb on the eastern edge of the City of Birmingham.
Historical References: Discovering Sheldon, Skipp V.H.T., Dept. Extra Mural Studies, The University of Birmingham, England.