Mallow Scouts mark five decades in the community
Mallow Scouting marked a landmark 50th anniversary recently night with a special celebration attended by scouts, their families, leaders and friends.
“This is a wonderful milestone for our group and a lot of work went in to organizing the event,” said Scout leader Lisa Cotter.
“Many hours were spent contacting past leaders, scanning old paper cuttings and photos, interviewing people and piecing together a complete picture of our history which was almost lost with the passing of time. Huge credit must go to the small but dedicated group of people who took on the project, their hard work certainly paid off,” she added.
Proceedings commenced with the group, led by a Garda escort, marching to St Mary’s Church, where Mass was celebrated by Fr Tom Naughton and Fr, Dave Kenneally, the latter being Scouting Ireland chaplain.
A youth member from each section brought gifts to the altar while Fr Dave explained the significance of each gift to the large congregation.
The prayers of the faithful were read by youth members and past members and fellow scouts were remembered during the consecration.
Following the mass, chief scout presentations were made to third year cubs who recently completed a 20k hike over an eight-hour day, intercultural camp for two nights and achieved a number of badges.
Two 10-year service badges were presented to Gavin Murray and Caroline Neville while Kevin Holland and Gavin Westley received five-year service awards.
The evening was rounded off at the Hibernian Hotel where scouting memorabilia and photos from Scouting Mallow spanning the past 50 years were on display, and a presentation was made to Derry Mannix who set up the Mallow group five decades ago.