Can you shed light on this mystery photo of Swindon scouts?

ONCE again we appeal to Swindon Advertiser readers to tell us the story behind a haunting image.

Are you one of the eager Scouts shown in this photograph? If you are, our guess is that you’re currently in your 60s or 70s.

Perhaps one of these youngsters is your brother, dad, uncle or granddad, or you remember attending church services led by the middle-aged or elderly vicar who appears to have been in charge of the boys.

This window on the past was opened by Pinehurst-based artist Vieve Forward, who bought the photograph for 50p at the weekly Abbey Stadium car boot sale in Blundson a couple of Sundays ago.

She said: “I bought it from an elderly couple. It was just loose, and there was nothing written on the back either.”

The only clue to the identity of the boys in the picture is the inscription ‘3rd Swindon B.S. Troop’, inscribed on what was possibly an old fashioned glass plate negative.

Vieve added: “I’m always interested in things to do with Swindon.

“When I saw the photograph I thought it looked as if it came from the late 1940s or early 1950s, judging by the hairstyles.

“The vicar is interesting as well, because he will obviously have played a role in the Scouts.

“It’s possible that some of the people in the photograph are still around and remember having their photograph taken whenever it was.”

Vieve is now thinking of adding the image to the thousands in the Swindon Collection at the Central Library, whose Flickr photostream is a magnet for both local historians and people who simply have an interest in the town.

Vieve is no stranger to tracking down interesting aspects of the town’s heritage.

Last year she appealed on the Adver’s website for information about another car boot sale find, a 30-year-old album by a long-disbanded Blunsdon-based close harmony male singing group called The Blunsdonaires, and former members got in touch.

A search of the Adver’s own archives has so far failed to yield any trace of the 3rd Swindon Boy Scout Troop, but we are sure somebody reading this will be able to help.

If you can, call Barrie Hudson on 0193 501821 or email bhudson@swindonadvertiser.

co.uk.