CHEW CHOO

PAR | 1958 - 1994

Polkerris Scouts harvest bamboo for the pandas | Photo courtesy of Val Tippett

How a Cornish estate, a scout group and the railway fed London Zoo's hungry pandas.

Chi Chi was the fifth Giant Panda that London Zoo had, arriving via a roundabout route in September 1958.

Caught in the wild in May 1955, Chi Chi, a female, was first taken to Beijing Zoo, then to Moscow Zoo, spending some time in Berlin before being sold to a zoo in Illinois, US. Her move to the US was blocked by the American Government so London Zoo stepped in.

Chi Chi needed 30lb (13.6kg) of bamboo every week so the zoo put out an appeal for bamboo supplies.

The Rashleigh family, owners of the Menabilly Estate, between Polkerris and Fowey, responded to this, sending up a sample of bamboo grown on the estate. The Menabilly bamboo found favour with Chi Chi so the zoo arranged to buy a regular supply.

The local Scout troop, 1st Polkerris and Tywardreath (now the Polkerris Scout Group), were enlisted to help with the task of providing Chi Chi’s bamboo.

The Cornish Guardian of 10 March 1966 told how two teams of two Scouts each visited the estate on alternate weeks and, under the guidance of the estate manager, would cut and bundle up the bamboo which would then be taken to Par railway station and sent up to London by train.

The Menabilly Estate and the Scouts supplied Chi Chi with bamboo until she passed away in July 1972.

Two years later, London Zoo got two new Giant Pandas, a gift from the Chinese Government. These were Chia-Chia and Ching-Ching.

Menabilly estate and the Scouts were asked to resume their supply of bamboo which they did. By then, the bamboo was going by train as a Red Star Parcel, British Rail’s express parcels service.

This film from the era shows the Scouts at work:

The supply of bamboo continued until Ching-Ching died in 1985 and then Chia Chia moved to Mexico in 1988. The Scouts and the Menabilly Estate helped again when London’s last Giant Panda to date, Ming Ming arrived in 1991, returning to China in 1994.

In 1966, in recognition of their long service to Chi Chi, the 1st Polkerris and Tywardreath Scouts were given permission to wear a special badge depicting a panda on their scarves.

Author Daphne Du Maurier lived at Menabilly which she rented from the Rashleighs in 1943. The house was then in a state of disrepair. She restored it and was there until 1969.