James the Scout

Last year I met James Reed who was dressed as a 1940’s scout.

That inspired me to get Reggie Mitchell to join the Scouts because he ‘wanted to be useful’.

I took this picture of James Reed at the 1940’s experience 2023 and took a picture of him in the uniform that Scouts wore during World War II. In my research I discovered that the Scouts were very valuable, for apart from collecting salvage, which Reggie did in the book, they were members of the Fire Service, the ARP and Home Guard. Those facts were new to me and definitely worthy of being included in the book.

The first thing I noticed when I met James was the state of his uniform. The large hat, short trousers and shirt which was made of a very course linen or cotton. It struck me that it would be very difficult to iron. It was very different from today’s mixed cotton and synthetic mix. Today’s scouts on parade always look so smart, their kit is well ironed and they are always look their best. I took a mental note to mention that the war time shirt would be hard to iron. ‘That’s a detail to include in the book.’ I said to myself. As clothes were rationed there would probably be a second-hand uniform box, as getting new ones would be difficult.

My research included speaking to Barry Groves, Malcolm McCree and Jackie Ware, all current or past Scout leaders. Barry showed me an old handbook which included rules of being a scout. There was one rule that struck me and that was ‘A scout whistles and is cheerful in all difficulties.’ On reading that I thought what if the boy who wanted to join couldn’t whistle? As I had not mentioned Reggie whistling anywhere in the two previous books, I thought that that would be an interesting line to take.

James was thrilled that I had used him as inspiration for Reggie, and photos were taken on him in front of the Roller stand of the book cover which shows Reggie wearing his uniform walking with Lindy away from East Cowes.

James, I hope you enjoy the book!