Trophies

The original Emlyn Trophy was commissioned by Ethel Emlyn (the wife of Charles Willmore Emlyn) in 1924, first awarded in 1925 and officially named as the 'Emlyn Trophy' in 1926. It was one of the last pieces of work undertaken by SMJ Rowlands, who died later that year. For reasons unknown, it was retired in 1932 and placed in storage at the county training centre in Hattingley, near Medstead (though what happened to it subsequently is unknown). The replacement trophy (still in use today) was made in 1932 by Mr CFC Steward (possibly Charles Frederick C Steward?) and mounted in its own cabinet in 1946 by Romney Green of Christchurch and Mr Gibbins of the Municipal College, Bournemouth. The cabinet had (and still has) fold-out doors lined with walnut panels, and the list of previous winners was transferred to these panels from the small shields where they had originally been recorded (which were presumably either fixed to the original trophy mount or to some temporary mount of the second trophy). This sufficed until 1964, when space ran out and a further hinged panel was affixed to the right hand door, which served until 1996 when a counterpart hinged panel was affixed to the left.

The Emlyn was won by the same Patrol from Waterlooville three years in succession in 1976, 1977 and 1978. That Patrol was led by Nicholas Gibbons and in 1980 he made and donated a trophy to be presented annually to the runners-up.

At some point a ‘Special Project’ (usually requiring pioneering skills) was introduced alongside the judging of camping skills, with the project for the following year being proposed during the PL’s forum held on the Saturday night of the camp (for a while there was also an opportunity for suggestions to be made during the county PL’s council meeting held annually in May). The Special Project trophy, made by Brian Sollett, was introduced in 1991 and from then on the points earned for the project no longer counted in the main competition. The special project therefore became an optional part of the weekend, allowing the Patrols more flexibility so they could devote more attention to the main competition if necessary. Diminishing participation in the Special Project competition was addressed in 2008 by its conversion to a ‘Special Challenge’, changing the emphasis from pioneering to one of mass simultaneous participation, and by making it compulsory once again (but still not counting towards the Emlyn trophy competition). This was taken a stage further in 2009 when the ‘challenge’ actually became 4 separate challenges, with the combined scores being summed to decide the winner of the Special Challenge trophy.

The Camp Cook Trophy was introduced in 2009, and is awarded to the Patrol with the highest combined score across Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. It was renamed in 2017 to the Penfold Camp Cook Trophy in memory of Nigel Dean (whose 'Emlyn name' was Penfold) who died that year. Nigel had been a member of the Emlyn organising committee and was responsible for the Scoring Team between 1993 and 2012.

The Best Newcomer Trophy was introduced in 2009 in an effort to revive enthusiasm for the competition among Districts that had not taken part for some time. It is awarded to the highest scoring District taking part for the first time in more than 3 years, or if there are no qualifying Districts, for the highest scoring Troop taking part for the first time in more than 3 years.