Wholehope represented many things to many people, but it was always an adventure, a place that formed our memories. For example, in 1953 I was a member of the 1st Tynemouth Senior Scouts Scott Patrol, a patrol with the unusual distinction that all eight members achieved Queens Scout awards at the same time and we were presented with the awards together in London. The following year, we decided to have a weekend reunion before we went our separate ways to go to University, National Service, jobs, etc, and Wholehope YHA was the chosen venue. In true scout fashion the weekend was recorded in the Patrol log book which I still have - this describes Wholehope as "an isolated little hostel in the heart of the Cheviots". No one can argue with that description. July 17th/18th was the chosen weekend, but only six of us made the trip and I almost missed it myself as I had only been out of hospital for three weeks after fracturing a vertebra (I hold the dubious distinction of being the only Scout ever to fall off the old Billy Mill in North Shields!). Two of the lads walked over from Alnham on the Saturday, two cycled there (not many cyclists went to Wholehope) and two of us got the bus to Alwinton. We had been to Wholehope before so we were aware of the rather primitive cooking arrangements and we took Primuses and arranged our menu to suit. The suggested programme for the weekend by our PL specified "Dress Optional" (we were not in uniform) and he appeared for the evening meal sporting a bow tie - rather an unusual sight at Wholehope! There was a temporary warden there that weekend, a University student who was very relaxed about rules which is just as well as we were rather late back from the Rose and Thistle and the sing-song in the hostel didn't finish until 1 a.m. and then only because of tiredness.
On Sunday morning, we did our good turn for the day by cleaning the place up, and we were ready to leave when a horse appeared. It was obviously a local and quite friendly so one of the lads gave us a brief demonstration of bareback riding. Brief, because the horse gave a demonstration of unseating a rider. We then made our way down to the Rose and Thistle and drank a toast to the Scott Patrol before making our way home, two on bikes and the other six made the long walk to Thropton for the bus. The log records "This weekend was undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable times the Patrol have spent".
As a postscript, in 2005 the six of us all met up again from various parts of the country for the first time in 50 years and reminisced about old times, including of course our happy weekend at Wholehope.
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