Sue says goodbye to Scouting group in Colchester after 35 years

Sue, who is 73 and lives in Artillery Road, Colchester, started her involvement in the 5th Colchester Beaver Scout Colony as far back as 1986 after her neighbour – who had decided to set up the Beaver group – persuaded her to come along and help out.

After five years of assisting with the running of the Beavers group, Mrs Wickens then decided to become a leader in 1991, and has remained with the 5th Colchester Beavers ever since.

Now she is calling it a day but she has loved every minutes.

To mark the end of the era, the Beaver colony put on a leaving party as she presented three Beavers with their Chief Scout’s Bronze awards.

Over the years, Mrs Wickens has been an ever-present for hundreds of young Beavers in Colchester, with the colony meeting each Tuesday evening at Wimpole Road Church Hall.

“I’m not quite sure what I’ll do on Tuesday evenings now,” she said. “If I can’t find something to do then I might just sit and put my feet up.”

Mrs Wickens worked as a dinner lady at Monkwick Junior School before she retired, and all three of her children - Beth, James and Rob - went through the Scout Movement

Indeed, Mrs Wickens would have been all too happy to carry on volunteering but with her husband, Eric’s, health in decline, she had no choice but to scale back her commitments.

“My husband is poorly now, and I’m finding it difficult to cope,” she said.

“I can’t leave him for long. It was a choice I just had to make with him being frail. And I’m 73 – so I want to give someone else the chance to do it.”

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A lot has changed over 35 years but the Scout Association now, as then, is run by hundreds of volunteers the world over so youngsters can enjoy the great outdoors and meet other scouts from around the world.

And Mrs Wickens has countless happy memories of the activity days and weekends she spent with the colony at Thorrington Scout Camp.

“So many young people over the years have been an inspiration,” she said.

“When we went out on district days they would meet children from other areas – that really helps children to gain confidence.

“A lot of children haven’t been away from their parents before, so we did have some tears of course.”

Above all else, Mrs Wickens paid tribute to the boundless enthusiasm of the young Beavers who were willing to put themselves out of their comfort zone to take on new challenges.

“They always wanted to learn and do new things and do all their badges. I would come home every night and write down what we did, every night. I still have some notebooks going back to the early 90s.”

But with Mrs Wickens leaving, it’s now up to others to put themselves forward and take on the Beaver colony.

As yet, no-one has stepped in to replace Mrs Wickens.

“It is hoped the Beaver colony will keep running and start up again in the autumn,” she said.

“But the Colchester Scouts folded about ten years ago due to lack of volunteers.

“People might be prepared to commit once a fortnight, but people need time to commit to the leader training days and even then, that needs updating every couple of years. That sadly puts a lot of people off.”

The search for a new leader goes on. The Essex scouting district commissioner is organising a leaflet drop around Monkwick to try to get parents involved in keeping alive the “Fun and Friends” motto which has stayed with the Beavers ever since their inception in 1986.