Some two hundred uniformed Scouts, Cub-Scouts, Guides and Brownies from Anguilla and neighbouring French St. Martin added substantially to the congregation which filled St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Anguilla to capacity on Sunday, February 24.
The occasion was Founders’ Day or Thinking Day, the annual observance of the work of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, both of whom founded the Scouts and Guides Movements which spread to the western hemisphere.
The special service was conducted by the Reverend Sydney Jacobs, a visiting Priest stationed in Aruba, in the absence of Bishop Errol Brooks (who was at the time in Aruba) and Reverend Menes Hodge (who is on sick leave).
Reverend Jacobs told the Scouts and Guides that they needed to know the history of their movements and to maintain the teaching and discipline which the founders instilled in those who went before them.He said the annual observance of Founders’ Day/Thinking Day demonstrated that scouting and guiding had a strong foundation with many young people continuing to pay attention to the disciplines handed down from generation to generation. He hoped that manyother youngsters would be willing to be part ofboth organisations and become leaders as well.
Meanwhile, Chief Commissioner of Scouts, Othlyn Vanterpool, was pleased with the large turnout of members of the Scouts and Guides from both Anguilla and French St. Martin. “We had to start very early in the morning and I am impressed to see the number of youngsters who came out. I think that parents and everyone else understand that they have to get their children involved in useful organisations and positive living.”
Mr.Vanterpool said that both movements were helping to shape the lives of the youth. “The principles that we inculcate in them are basically duty to God, to themselves and to their country,” he added. “We are trying to help young people to be able to take care of themselves and how to live together, and I think those principles are coming out.”
Following the service, the participating members of the Scouts and Guides Movements paraded around the street block to the beat of drums by the Anguilla Pathfinders’ Band and the Scouts’ Band from St. Martin.
The young people spent the rest of the day involved in various social activities on the grounds of the Scouts and Guides Ruthwill Auditorium.
