BOY SCOUTS AT HAWERA

Taranaki Daily News, 29 March 1933, Page 10

BOY SCOUTS AT HAWERA

SUCCESSFUL YEAR REPORTED. MANAGING OFFICERS ELECTED. A small but representative gathering was present last 1 night at the annual meeting of the Hawera Citizens’ Boy Scouts’ Association. The Scoutmaster, Mr. T. Lay, reported that during the past year an average of ten boys had attended the weekly parades. The election of officers resulted: President, Mr. H. G. Dickie, M.P.; vice-pre-sidents, Messrs. W. F. Gibson and M. R. Jones; chairman, Mr. W. G. Strange; secretary and treasurer, Mr. W. T. Johnson; committee, Mesdames J. Duffill and W. A. Spragg, Messrs. V. Gerrand, Fossey, L. H. Carrel and E. J. Yearbury and Scoutmaster Head.

A gratifying year’s work was reported in the twelfth annual report. Numerically the troop was not nearly as large as it should be for a town the size of Hawera. As Commissioner Homer had said, “we have just as many boys of Scout age as any other town of the same size in New Zealand.” With a splendid plant, an ideal hall, a bank balance and an energetic committee there was no reason why the town should not have one of the finest troops in the Dominion.

The aim of the citizens’ committee had been always to establish a confidence between the parents and the movement. If the boys convinced their parents that their evenings on parade had been worth while, if the work of the Scoutmaster were reflected through the Scouts in their homes, then the interest and cooperation of the parents would be assured. The main object of the training was to teach the boys useful arts, to grip tjtieir imagination, to give them something of lasting benefit. Scouting was one of the greatest influences for good among boys and the committee wanted men of vision, from all classes, to come forward to take up the work.

The outstanding event of the year had been the winning of the Ollerenshaw Cup by the Weka patrol, whose performance had been of excellent standard. It was a fitting reward for the painstaking amount of work put in by Scoutmaster Lay. The committee recorded thanks to Colonel C. N. Vickridge for placing at the disposal of the troop an ideal camping site handy to the town. Several week-end camps were held during the year at the Zig-zag, Waihi, and at Ohawe, where Mr. J. Duffill let the boys use his cottage. Nine boys attended a Labour Day camp; the competition there was won by Scout B. Hopkins. An excellent concert programme was recently given by the cubs, including songs, recitations and instrumental items. The chairman, Mr. W. G. Strange, had expressed the thanks of the cubs for the interest taken in them by Mr. Stephen Gibson. Mr. H. Pettet, who recently resigned from the cubmastership of No. 2 pack, had earned his ten-year star.

The thanks of the committfee were extended to Mr. C. L. Sharpe for firstaid lectures, to G. Syme Ltd. for the donation of a Scout pole, to Mesdames Rigger and Sorenson for entertaining the Scouts, to Messrs. Veitch and Clark and to Scoutmaster Head for help on many Occasions.