Trevor Richmond

We wanted to shine a light on a true legend of Scouts in Solihull, Trevor. Many of you have probably met Trevor at some point in your time in Solihull and for those who haven’t, you have probably benefited from his vast knowledge of Scouts.

During his long career, he has never been one to stand back when things need to be done. He’s fulfilled a variety of roles for 1st Shirley, Solihull District of Warwickshire, West District of Solihull, Blythe District and Solihull Scouts. This includes his most recent role as Blythe District Chair – for the last 14 years. Trevor now has a new role as the first-ever Blythe District President.

We are also pleased to announce that Jackie Butterworth has taken on the role of Blythe chair and can be contacted at: blythe_chair@solihullscouts.org.uk

Trevor has recently enjoyed a big 90th birthday party, which was hosted by 1st Shirley Scout Group. During the Party, Bob gave a lovely speech talking about his fond memories of Trevor.

Read Bob’s kind words below:

“I’ve known him for about 55 years when I moved up from Cubs into Scouts, and Q, as we knew him as, was one of my leaders. He shared the initial with a character from James Bond and in fact, they were both Quartermasters, but Trevor had slightly less interesting equipment.

One of his claims to fame was the design of the Patrol Boxes that we still use today. Not only did he design them, but he also supervised the Scouts in putting them together, some very more successful than others. The design was submitted to the Scout magazine who published them, not sure how many other groups copied the idea, but they certainly worked for us.

I have many memories of Trevor when I was a Scout, especially at camps. He would patiently stamp each piece of patrol equipment with a specific letter, so we knew we all had the right kit. All of this was kept in the already mentioned patrol boxes and it was our responsibility to check it and keep it clean, woe betide anyone who arrived at camp and found they had something missing,

Catering was one of his principal activities and he produced meticulous plans of exactly what was required for each meal and then dole out the exact quantities to each patrol. 2 items that spring to mind are surprise peas which were a dehydrated vegetable that almost tasted of peas but took up less space than tinned peas and the legendary half brillo pad. You were never given a whole pad although I can’t remember if you had to return the used one to get another.

The call to get provisions was always via his Kudu, a horn that had been adapted to contain a bugle mouthpiece with a very recognisable sound. Clogs were worn on numerous occasions and if you asked nicely you could borrow his Hindu Crinoline to play with. This is a small wheel with a spiders web of cord attached and at the end of each cord was a cotton reel, the idea was to turn it around faster and faster so that the whole thing was spinning, you then moved it until it was over your head and the hoped you kept it up otherwise it slowed down and clouted you round your head, great fun if sometimes a little painful.
I remember getting soaked on more that one occasion as Trevor enjoyed, and was a dab hand, at water fights.

We spent several years at camps as leaders where I started to take over the catering side of things using the same ideas as Trevor, in fact when Wendy asks me to work out quantities for Brownie camps, I still use the same principals. There are lots of things I could talk about involving Trevor at camp most of which are about the fun we used to have but one thing I should mention is “wood chips”. I’m not sure who started it but we went through a phase were one of the leader’s would end up with some wood chips in his sleeping bag and that led to a week of various sabotages to sleeping bags ranging from wood chips to inside out bags, folded inner bags and other extraneous items finding their way into sleeping bags. Might not sound much like fun but it certainly provided light relief after a hard day at camp.

One of my roles in the Group was all to do with the group Pantomimes and quite early on I persuaded Trevor to make a cameo appearance. Try shouting “Come on Abdul” if you need Trevor as that’s what he responded to when he was a sand dancer with Vicky, my daughter, and Dawn Chambers/Tullet. Other things I go him to do included a Fairy Queen. Nobody loves a fairy when she’s forty, a Belly Dancer, a Landlord, a jockey together with a dancing horse and a Hawaiian dancer who because of his makeup converted to Keith Flint of the Prodigy to perform Twisted Firestarter at the after-show party. He did also sing “Help” by the Beatles in one of our shows but perhaps the least said about that the better. Whenever I mention Trevor and the Pantomime to Wendy, she has one abiding memory, lipstick. Whenever she had to put lipstick on Trevor it turned into a real fun fest as Trevor has very ticklish lips and it was difficult to stop him laughing when it was being applied.

Never one to stand back when things need to be done, he’s fulfilled a variety of roles for 1st Shirley, Solihull District of Warwickshire, West District of Solihull, Blythe District of Solihull and Solihull County. There are too many to mention but include Water Activities Advisor and District Chairman.

Just before the 100th birthday camp, I picked Trevor up from home to take him to an Exec meeting. In his front garden was a pile of bits which he said was from his garage that he’d been tidying up. He told me that amongst the various items he’d found was some sheets of metal that he’d acquired to replace the window shutters for the Pridmore Riley hut in the park, that’s the hut we left 50 years ago, think he was right to get rid of them because I don’t think we need them anymore.

As I mentioned at the start, I’ve known Q/Trevor for about 55 years and I’m sure that he’s helped mould me into the person I am today. A great inspiration and someone I’m proud to be associated with and consider a Brother in Scouting and friend.”