'Blackwoods' Scout Site.

[DJ360 6,730]

Way back around maybe 1959 or so, I went along with a friend from our street to join the 'Cubs' at the 'Blackwoods' site on Hucknall Rd.  Pretty much opposite the Prison.

I remember a sort of oversized 'Lych Gate' at the entrance.  Wooden thing with a tiled top. Very much in keeping with a lot of the architecture around the area from maybe the 20s 30s?  Is it still there?

I recall that the 'Scout Hut' had displays of knots in glass cases on the wall.  There was also some sort of storage hut at the bottom of the site.  I don't remember much else except that I didn't like it.  It wasn't at all welcoming and I was left to my own devices.  I didn't go again and soon afterwards I joined the 96th Nottm. Cub Pack and later Scouts, which started in St Matthews Church Bestwood, but soon separated from the church and continued in Henry Whipple School.

 

I think I went to some sort of 'Fete' at Blackwoods a few years later and that was it.

 

So, although I didn't like my introduction to the Cubs/Scouts at Blackwoods, I was fascinated by the plot.  It seemed to me to be a little Oasis of the old sandstone heathland which surely existed in the area before everything was built up.  Looking on Google maps I was pleasantly surprised to see the site is still largely the same, though it does look rather more wooded than I recall.  Even the hut, or something in the same place, is still there.  Quite how the site has escaped the attentions of developers for so long beats me.. but it's nice to see.

Does anyone else have any memories of Blackwoods?

 

Google Maps image below.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Hucknall+Rd,+Nottingham+NG5/@52.9843801,-1.1605487,284m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4879c1b152521f5d:0x8abeb98f46804e32!8m2!3d52.9910326!4d-1.1699861

 

Col

[DJ360 6,730]

P.S.  Found the Entrance:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.9851295,-1.1589959,3a,64.5y,240.28h,94.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1GboOc2YX7SB2eAZhxiKHA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656