Scout Committee Reviews Year's Activities

Chronicle (Levin), 17 June 1948, Page 2

Scout Committee Reviews Year's Activities

The annual meeting of the, First Otaki Boy Scouts was heia on Tuesday night, the chairman, Mr. F. W. G. Rule, presiding. In his opening remarks, Mr. Rule comI mented- on the attendance at the meeting, stating that it was con- ! siderably larger than usuai. Apologies were received from MeSdames C. B. Fox, H. Grant, W. Anderson, 'J. Meagher, A. Allen .and; F. E. Swabey and Messrs. F. Stephens.on, J.:Keily an£ L. Housiaux. " j A letter was -received from the District Scout Commissioner, advising of a jamboroe to be held in Melbourne towards the end of the year. After some discussion, auring which the opinion was expressed that it wuuld not be advisable to send one of the local troop because of the expense invoived, it was decided/ to leave the matter over in the meantime. The annual report on the activities of the associaflon was presented by the actihg-secretary, Mrs. L. Henwood. There had been a good attendance at most of the committee meetings c'.pring the year, she reported. Activities had been many and varied. A very ^uccessful sho.p day had been held, stalls being placed at both'the Railway and the township. The arrangmg- of .the third exhibition had involved a great deal of work and all who pariticipated had worked hard. j The car cases purchased dunng ' the previous year had been converted anto three huts for . the scouts j6n -the properties of Messrs. E. W JSmith and W. Anderson, at Otaki Beach, and Mr. J. 'Meagher, of Kirk Street. ' At the end of the year a very successful bottle drive was held, when a number of bottles were collected. Unfortunately, a great many of them were, unsuit-able for disposal. The sum of approximately £45 was collected and given as the scouts' . contribution to the Memorial Hall. "In furtherance of our effort to obtain a section on which to erect our hall, the Waerenga Road section not being available, a letter was written to the ^Ptaki Borough Council, asking it to fent a section, this being agreed to if we were prepared to co-operate with another body which was applying for one, too. On this being agreed to by committee members, a date for our representatives to meet ihe domain committee was asked for, .but so far no satisfactory been forthcoming. .This is fegfe't-1 table, as a«t our last meeting a letter was teceived from the Diocesan Trust Board stating that very shortly we would be asked to vacate the Maori schoolroom, as they had made arrangements to let it to the Correspondence School authorities. This will mean that v/e will not have anywhere for scout and cuo meetings to be held." The cubmaster, Mrs. Henwood, presented her annual report. The i roll stood ■ at 22, and during 'the year three cubs had been promot- j ed to scouts, six had left and there had been nine new members.. •Thirty-three parades had been held, with an average attendance of just over 15. Church parades had been attended every second Sunday in the month, the number of cubs present on such occasions being greater than previousxy. Badges had been won during tne year as f ollows : Steve James, Guide and Athletlc badges; Gavin Kencirick, Collector's and Toymaker*s badges; Robert Clark, Athlete's and Guide's badges; Ray Bertieson, Homecraft and Gardener's 'oahges. Mrs, Henwood extenaed her thames to those examiners who tock the cubs for these tests. ' A report was also presented oy Scoutmaster "J. Miller, wno on,y recently took over the care of tne Otaki Troop. He stateci that ne had begun a Red Cross ciass, which the scouts were taking a keen interest in, The conduct of Lhe troop was excellent and the attenaance good. ; The membershi'p had , risen from eight to 14. Assistant Scoutmaster D. Meagher gave a brief report in which he mentioned the fact *that tn| Scouts' attendance at church parades was not. very good. • Scoutmaster ■ .Miller was well settfed into his workl • • .

j The treasurer reported that the ! association was in a good position 1 financially, there being the sum of £171 5s 3d in hand. The chairman thanked all those responsible for the preparation und presentation of the reports and balance sheet, remarking that they were particularly interesting. The officers elected for the ensuing year were as follows: — Patron: Mrs. F. E. Swabey; pr.esident; Mr, C. F. Atmore; vice-presidents: Mrs. I T. W. Synnott and Mr. J. Kelly; chairman; Mr. F. W. G, Rule;' vicechairman: Mr. N. .E. Hannah; secretary: Mrs. F. Boggs; treasurer: Mr. H. B. Edhouse; .committee: Mesdames H.-Gower, E- Smith; F. W. G. Rule, A.: Allen, H. Moffatt, J. Meagher, and L, Housiaux, and Messrs. R. Bills, F. Stephsnson, Meagher and H. Cole; auditor: Mr. W. Mortcn. • - During the discussion of general business the chairman commented on the matter of a scout hall, which had been a sore point with the committee for some time. Mr. Rule said that if no satisfaction was received by the committee from the council, steps might be . taken to secure lethd and build 'a hall. ' This

would probably be done-: ln conjunctiop. with another .interested j'bo.dy, the' Otaki Brass Band. i A committee was set fip to deai with the question of invitihg troops ■> from 'other scout centrds toi take part- in a rally to be held on the- ' domain, - . - . -