LIFELONG Scout Trevor Parry has drawn on eight decades of being prepared to compile a definitive history of the movement in north Oxfordshire.

The 74-year-old used his own knowledge and the Scouts’ extensive London archive to write Scouting For Banbury’s Boys.

The illustrated 96-page book records the history of Scouting in north Oxfordshire, tracing its earliest recorded origins in 1909 to the present day.

The Sycamore Drive resident joined the 2nd Banbury (Methodist) Scouts in 1948 and the book includes a picture of him on his first camp that year, at Broughton Park.

Mr Parry went on to become its Group Scout Leader and lined the route for the Queen’s 1953 Coronation.

By 1969 he was the Banbury district commissioner and 14 years later was appointed to deputy county commissioner and later county treasurer.

He said: “It means everything to me.

“I have devoted my adult life to the movement because its aims and ideals are superb. It may be 100 years old but they are as appropriate today as they ever were.”

Core values of trust and honesty still run through the Scouts today, the retired accountant said, although the format of the movement has changed radically.

He said: “It has changed, we don’t take stones out of horses’ hooves for one! We do more modern things that children and young people would expect, like computer skills.”

Some of the risk-taking enjoyed by Scouts in years gone by had also been lost, he said.

The grandfather of four said: “Many of the older skills which we more or less took for granted would be quite an adventure today.

“As a lad, in the morning I would have to light a fire. Now young people are not used to using matches.”

The existence of a 1932 silent film made by district Scouts was a valuable find, he said, though the film itself could sadly not be located.

Mr Parry also documents the “disastrous” affect the Second World War had on groups as leaders fought overseas or took part in air raid or Home Guard duties.

He said of the book: “I felt that it was overdue because I felt before another generation died it should be put on record.”

* The book is available from Waterstones in Banbury and from Mr Parry at Boundary House, 1 Sycamore Drive, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX16 9HF.