Lady Baden-Powell’s Visit

Grey River Argus, 23 April 1948, Page 8

Lady Baden-Powell’s Visit

.Lady Baden-Powell inspected the Guide and Brownie Troops in Westport during her visit on Wednesday evening, after a civic reception had been accorded her at the Town Hall. She and Miss Herrick were the, guests of the members ol the Girl Guides’ Association at supper in the Elite Tearooms. The Town Hall was~ well filled for the civic reception, which took nlace at 7.30. His Worship the Mayor, Mr J. M. Robertson, welcoming both Lady Baden-Powell and Miss Herrick, expressed the pleasure felt by himself, and shared he was sure by citizens generally, in being able to meet the leaders who had done so much for the splendid cause represented by the Guide and Scout movements. He made reference to the high nrinciples which scouting and guiding sought to inculcate in young minds, and stressed the value of such training in future citizenship. In her response, Lady BadenPowell said how pleased she was that Westport had been included in their itinerary for this tour, because she had been able to enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery yet encountered in her travels in this lovely country. Her references to the Guide movement itself covered an amazingly wide range. Lady Baden-Powell. told how, already, be* tween 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 boys emd girls were in the Scout and Guide corps throughout the world. They were members of a joint organisation which knew no barriers of race, colour or creed. The organisation of which she was the head, shl? said, had in its own right a membership of 500,000 girls. The war of course, had struck a hammerblow at scouting and guiding everywhere, but the work of rehabilitation was going on marvellously, especially, in those countries which had known the worst impact of the war. London, she said, already had its guide force back to a strength of 70,000. She had been delighted, she i said, to learn that day that Westport had had its own representative scout, Philip Wood, at the World Jamboree in France last year.