DEATH OF MISS KIDNER
DEVOTED SERVICE TO SCOUT MOVEMENT
SOMERSET'S REGRETTED LOSS
Somerset Scouts and Cubs have lost a devoted friend and worker in the movement by the death on Friday of last week at Bournemouth of Miss Amy Elizabeth Kidner, of Dodhill, Kingston, Taunton.
We understand that Miss Kidner had recently gone to Bournemouth on family business and that her death occurred in a nursing home after a brief illness. A member of a widely-known West Somerset family, Miss Kidner was the elder surviving daughter of the late John and Emily Kidner, of Dodhill...
An appreciation of Miss Kidner's long and valued work for the Scout movement is contributed as follows:
The death of Miss Kidner has brought sorrow to many generations of cubs and to a long line of scouters. Her first link with scouting was in connection with the Kingston troop, of which she took charge in the first World War, when their scouter went to France, never, alas, to return. The older local members of the movement will remember how she used to visit the patrols guarding the bridges; then, as always, a bright, cheery person, solicitous of the boys' welfare and encouraging them with her kindly words. Her interest in the Kingston troop never waned, and it was largely through her efforts and generosity that the troop acquired their headquarters.
To the later generation she was known chiefly for her interest in the cub section of the movement, for which she had been Assistant District Commissioner since 1929. Her services to scouting were recognised by the Chief Scout in 1939, when he bestowed upon her the scout Medal of Merit. In 1937 she qualified for her Wood Badge - the two little wooden beads which indicated that she had shown herself intent on fitting herself for her scout work by every possible means. With the cubs she was particularly in her element: combining the wisdom of Akela with a whole-hearted enjoyment of fun, she influenced for good a very large number of young people, and earned the affection and esteem of their cubmasters - leading rather than directing and withal always womanly.
In committee she was most helpful: her long experience and wide vision made her counsel invaluable. Justice was always tempered with mercy, and her calm and temperate suggestions often poured oil on troubled waters. She had a great sense of humour- almost an elf in humour at times- and a tremendous stock of stories: she could always point a situation by a reference to old times, but though a staunch supporter of tradition, was no die-hard.
And now she has passed on. Her tired body worn out in the service of others, has yielded up its spirit; but her memory will live long in the hearts of her fellow scouts and scouters.
To
live in the hearts we leave behind
Is
not to die
The Taunton Courier
Below AEK in scout hat in centre of photograph
