Celebrating 60 years afloat
Janis and I would like to thank the Group for
kindly inviting us to the above celebration but unfortunately we will be
unable to attend.
We first became involved with the Group in the
nineteen seventies when it was under the stewardship of the Fedigans,
Hands, Mayhews and the Hackings.
Pat Fedigan wrote to the local paper looking
for Leaders to come forward to help with the Group and I went along to
the headquarters on Eastham Rake one Sunday morning to find Pat and
Vernon working in the porch area which had been recently added to the
main building.
I subsequently joined as a Leader in the Monday
evening Scouts with Roy Munro and David Colenso. At the time there were
two scout troops, two cub packs and a venture unit quite a large outfit.
During my time with the Group my own two boys
Neil & Mike joined and benefited greatly, indeed Neil got a scholarship
to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth and it was with great pride we
watched his passing out parade in front of Prince Charles who spoke to
him during the parade.
During the years with the Group I have happy
memories of events we took part in like the Cheshire Hikes, Regattas at
Raby Mere where we maintained the 11th always cheated!!. The
annual trips to Ireland were ground breaking particularly with the
Northern Ireland troubles in full flow at the time. Nevertheless a great
brotherhood built up with the Ireland Sea Scout Leaders a real practical
demonstration of what Scouting was all about; Roy Munro and David
Colenso put a great deal into these events which would not have been
possible without them.
I remember after the Falklands war the Scouts
and Ventures in the Group did a sponsored cycle ride to Portsmouth
culminating in the presentation of a shield made by a local man in
memory of one of the ships loss in the conflict, to the Royal Navy
Museum I wonder if it is still on display.
I became Scouter-in Charge of the Group as well
as still assisting with the Monday night scouts and this meant almost
something going on every night of the week and at weekend. It was very
time consuming and tiring and in the end I had to choose my career ahead
of the Group.
Like most things in life you get out of them
what you put in and this was no different with the 6th
Bebington. It was very hard work but the rewards made it all worthwhile
and even to this day I am very proud when I see boys who were cubs and
scouts in my day with families today bringing up there own children.
Scouting sadly is not particularly fashionable
today but I can say with absolute conviction it helped make boys become
well rounded individuals who had respect for both themselves and others,
it made them self confident without being arrogant and understand the
meaning of comradeship.
These are all attributes sadly lacking in our
rather selfish and self centred society of today which seem to know the
price of everything and the value of nothing.
I congratulate and thank those of you whether
lay helpers or Leaders who are trying to keep Scouting alive in Eastham
today I wish you well and thank you.
Our kindest regards and best wished for the
future and good luck on the 1st July, if only one could be in
more than one place at a time.
Janis and Richard Davies
Posted: Tuesday
9th August, 2005 at 16:12.
