Eastleigh District Scouts

On Friday the 1^st, Eastleigh Museum hosted the opening of the Celebration of Scouting exhibit in the presence of the Deputy Mayor Councillor Derek Pretty and invited guests. There were many stories and exclamations of recognition at the pictures and best of all, some of the names of the people in the photographs were recalled. A very successful event.

This exhibition is a coming together of many historic items, photographs, and memorabilia from Groups in the District. There are far more items than there is space for in the Museum such that I think we could do it all again and not show the same exhibits. The items are as diverse and widely spread as the official charter for the first Scout Group to open and a celebration gift from the team that have just returned from Nepal where the not only supported the Sky High team in their ascent of Everest but they helped to refurbish a school and then undertook some teaching of the children there. There are displays showing the involvement in the Gang Shows and even the Red Jacket presented to Don Fern, the Gang Show Producer, by Sir Ralph Reader himself. The Chief Scout. Sir Charles MacLean came to Eastleigh in 1971 and was escorted around the area by Malcolm Young and he has kindly allowed us to display the personal gift he received at that time. There are personal log books for camps abroad, picture records of training for expeditions, and even Queen Scout log books for expeditions in Norway.

This display is part of Eastleigh’s celebration of the Centenary Year, and there is a flag that has been specially commissioned for the year. It depicts all of the Scout Groups in Eastleigh and the design of each sector has been sewn by Christine Cole an active Beaver Scout Leader here in Eastleigh.

Thanks to all of the Groups who loaned items and the people who helped with the planning and of course the team that built all the displays. Also a big thank you to Hampshire Museum Services, in particular the staff in Eastleigh for their support, guidance and enthusiasm, and for hosting the opening evening for us.

Eastleigh Museum is open Tuesday to Friday between 10 am and 5 pm and Saturday 10 am to 4 pm and the exhibition runs until 23^rd June.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 3:00 am and is filed under District. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.