SCOUTS and Guides staged a joint rally at Woodstock to mark the Queen’s Coronation.

These pictures, from the Oxford-shire Guides’ archives, were taken on Saturday, July 18, 1953, at Blenheim Park, where thousands of young people had gathered.

Special trains ran on the Oxford-Woodstock branch line to convey many of them to the site.

The rally was attended by Lady Baden-Powell, the World Chief Guide, who was met by a guard of honour of 12 Queen’s Scouts and 12 Queen’s Guides.

At the start, Guides stood among the trees in a wooded part of the park, then suddenly raced down the slope to the platform, where the VIPs were waiting.

Lady Baden-Powell’s eagerly-awaited speech was based on the theme of the ‘Second Elizabeth’.

She said the new Queen, who had been crowned at Westminster Abbey a month earlier, had already set out what she hoped to achieve, and she challenged Guides to follow her example, “going forward with renewed determination”.

“Don’t forget that she belongs especially to us, having done Guiding herself.”

She said that Scouting and Guiding was “one of the best games” ever invented for girls and boys.

It meant they became members of one big team and were able to play their part in being useful.

Lady Baden-Powell said she had lost count of the number of people who had said to her: “I have learned a lot from being a Guide and a great deal of it has been of considerable help in my life.”

At the end of her speech, according to the Oxford Mail at the time, “the loudest and most sincere ‘Bravo’ that Blenheim has ever heard was accorded her”.

Visitors later saw Scouts and Guides taking part in numerous activities, including signalling, camping, maypole dancing, races, first aid and rope climbing.

A display of canoeing, however, had to be abandoned, because the water level in the lake in the palace grounds was too low.

A loudspeaker commentary of the various events was given by famous radio presenter Freddie Grisewood.

During the afternoon, the county shield for handicrafts was presented to Woodstock Guides while the individual handicrafts award went to Joan Porton, of the 1st Witney company.

The Mail reported that a 50-a-side football match – yes, 50 – brought its quota of amusement and at the end, there was the inevitable campfire with community singing.