IT was a big celebration for the 1st Whittlesea Scouts recently, celebrating its 110th birthday with plenty of reflection and great fun.
The event was held together with the Troup’s awards night.
The Grey Wolf award is the main award of the night for Scouting, and it was presented to Oliver Robinson. It was the result of plenty of hard work, including meeting outdoor, hiking and camping targets.
Scout members took turns hosting the night as the Masters of Ceremonies, and members were treated to items from each of the groups, which was also framed around scouting activities.
The Joey group started the night and carried homemade iPads. When asked if they liked them, they responded with an emphatic no, and responded with an equally-emphatic yes when asked if they liked camping, hiking and exploring.
Scouts then arrived with metre-long pieces of timber, assembling them to build a ‘DaVinci Bridge’ without using fasteners or rope, just their ingenuity. After that, members walked over the bridge and told the room what they loved most about Scouting from the bridge’s highest point.
A brief history of the 1st Whittlesea Scouts sees the story start in 1916, with early Scout meetings held in the RSL hall in Church Street on the corner of Lime Street, which has since been removed. It was once the staple of Whittlesea, hosting plenty of community activities, which included dances, balls, concerts and many regular activities from local groups and clubs back in the day.
The front room back then was occupied by the Merle shoe company’s slipper factory. Many local ladies worked there or the manual telephone exchange at the nearby post office.
As ever, the Scouting movement has been a regular fixture for so many young kids coming through, with education on practical and life skills helping young people become community leaders.
The story progressed through to 1959, with fundraising for a new hall kickstarted by the donation of a block of land on Wallan Road by the Rowe family from Eden Park, showcasing how much support it garnered from the Whittlesea community.
A hall committee was formed on August 29, 1960, and while concerns were raised about access and parking, an alternative site was soon donated by Don Goding, which was once part of their farm.
The Rowe family then allowed the committee to sell the block that was donated, which reimbursed them the original purchase price of five pounds. Those proceeds went towards the cost of the new purpose-built hall, which is still in use today, while the committee also sold the Nissan hut which was originally purchased for use as the hall.
Donations, fundraisers and working bees, as well as contributions from the Lions Club, saw the building progress. In July 1973, a concert and supper was held, and the hall was opened by Councillor Stan Owen, before it was announced in November later that year the hall was fully paid for.
Tragedy hit in 2009 for the 1st Whittlesea Scouts when the Black Saturday bushfires claimed the lives of leaders Alan O’Gorman and wife Carolyne. As a direct result, the group went into recess for five years.
However, the group soon bounced back. A new committee was formed when the hall was being considered to be sold, where there was not enough funds to pay for electricity and the building needed maintenance.
But with community support, the hall was refurbished and now supports a thriving Scout group. Girl Guides are active at the hall, while there are 44 active members, eight leaders and seven assistants.
