The Gibsons Legion hall was alive on Sunday evening, full of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers along with their parents and leaders, for a banquet celebrating Scout and Guide week.
Feb. 22 marked the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell, who started the world's leading youth organization in 1907 in Brownsea, England. His wife, Olave, was appointed World Chief Guide in 1930.The scouting movement has grown worldwide into 216 countries with 28 million members. There are 84,000 youth and 25,000 volunteers involved with scouting in Canada.
"This banquet was particularly special," said 1st Sunshine Coast, Gibsons group commissioner Pamela Limb. "For the first time since I have been involved in scouting, we awarded the Queens Venturer Award to two of our youth. We alsopresented the Chief Scout Award to five Scoutsand acknowledged four of our leaders who completed their basic Woodbadge training and had received their Gilwell woggle this scouting year."
The Queen's Venturer Award is the highest scouting award available to Venturer youth aged 14 to 18. The youth have to complete many hours of community service as well asdemonstrate their leadership skills in many ways. Gareth Forrest and Spencer Carson will be travelling to Victoria for a special ceremony at Government House during spring break where they will receive their parchments from Lieutenant Governor of B.C., Iona Campagnolo. Following an overnight stay at the Empress, they will be returning to Vancouver aboard a naval vessel.
Similarly, the Chief Scout Award is the highest award available to Scout youth aged 11 to 14. The youth have to earn many badges in many categories, performservices to the community and the environment and leadership to the younger sections.Taylor Laflamme, Alex McLennan, Paul Jensen, Clayton Harding and Patrick Perry will be receiving their parchments at a special ceremony in Vancouver on April 30.
The Gilwell woggle recipients this year were Ian Smethurst, Kirsti Walford, Shane Dougall and Bobbi Kennedy, all from the Beavers section, and Gareth Forrest in the Scouts section.
The presentations were a highlight of the evening, and everyone also enjoyed a fabulous potluck meal and were entertained by skits and songs performed by all the youth.
For more information about Scouts on the Sunshine Coast, visit www.sunshinecoastscouts.ca. There are active groups in Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Sechelt and Pender Harbour.
