Going horse racing and betting on the gg's is surely not what Baden-Powell had in mind when he set up Scouting, but Stotfold Scouts tried a different approach to "The Turf" at their meeting this week.

The race track was set up, which nearly ran the whole length of the Scout Hut. There were six horses attached by string to six winding drums arranged past the winning line.

The Scouts were all given 10 tokens. They then went to the "bookies" and placed a bet on one of the six horses. Once betting was complete and the bookies closed, then the race began.

A volunteer is asked to roll a dice. Whichever number was thrown, then the winding drum for that horse was wound one revolution. The dice was then re-thrown and another winding drum rotated. This continued until a horse crossed the winning line. After much shouting and encourging, the winners went to the bookies and collected their winnings.

Several races were run during the evening and on one occasion a horses had to be withdrawn just after the start due to injury (probably woodworm) which had the bookies rubbijg their hand together.