2nd Renfrew Scouts & Trinity Church

Archiving Team Note:

The following article refers to Trinity Church, Renfrew, as that’s where we began in 1921 and continue today as our meeting place, but we want everyone reading this to know that although we meet in Trinity Church, 2nd Renfrew Scouts are open to anyone of any, or no, denomination.  We do not have any barriers to anyone joining in terms of their faith or beliefs.  With that in mind, the Scout Promise has been adjusted by the Scout Association to take account of multi-faith and no-faith members.

Now on to our history …

Trinity Church in Renfrew has been an integral part of 2nd Renfrew since the Scout Troop was inaugurated by the Rev. Robert Hastie in November 1921.

Our connection with Trinity Church, and the inclusion of Trinity in the Group’s name, has been in place for over 100 years.  Some of the initial Scoutmasters, and many who have followed them, including Cubmasters and Beaver leaders, have had strong ties with the Church, all of which has helped the Church/Scout relationship.

Irrespective of the ties of leaders to service roles in the church, leaders have shown their commitment to the Church by supporting it in various ways through their Scouting.

This support has also gone the other way, as church shows support by a delegation from the ‘Kirk Session’ visiting all sections of the Scout Group twice every year.  This confirms the Session’s interest in our Group’s activities, as after each visit a report is made to the full Session.

We will always be grateful to Trinity Church, for not only being forward thinking in 1921 in encouraging the formation of the Scout Troop, but in allowing the Cub Packs, Rover Crew and Beaver Colony to follow and subsequently flourish.

The Church gives us safe, warm and dry indoor areas for our meetings and a safe area outdoors.  Having such a place of safety is of paramount importance.

Since our creation, there have been 8 Ministers of Trinity Church, all of whom have supported us by hosting Armistice Services (our Pipe Band having played at many of these at the Cenotaph), Founder’s Day Services, Annual Scout Parades and all manner of other services in between, each one, at some point having been conducted by one of the Ministers.  Our memorabilia events had many Orders of Service from each of the Founder’s Day, Annual and Armistice Parades.  They’re a great insight in to how services have changed over the years.

The overall relationship between Scouting and the Church is particularly relevant when, on Sunday, 19 January 1941 there was a Service of Thanksgiving for the first Chief Scout, the Rt. Hon. Lord Robert Baden-Powell following his death in Nyeri, Kenya on 8 January 1941.  Douglas Killin (former Group Scout Leader) had kept his original Order of Service from that occasion and we displayed it at our events in November 2021 and April 2022.

The Scout association took its relationship with Churches and religion seriously and published a book entitled “Scouting, Religion and the Churches”.   The book covers various aspects of Scouts and religion and our copy, dated 1944, was on display at our memorabilia events.

Of course it’s not only the Clergy who carry out services.  Scouts can perform their own services when they hold a ‘Scouts’ Own’.  The Scouts’ Own is not an obligatory part of the Scout programme, but these services help Scouts live the values of the Promise and Law.

The annual Armistice Service in Trinity Church is always attended by 2nd Renfrew Scout Group (and the Guides), when Scout (and Guide) colours are carried and flown and we remember those who laid down their lives for our peace.

When they were old enough a number of the Scouts of 2nd Renfrew Scouts took part in the Second World War by serving in the Armed Forces at home and abroad, and younger members serving at home to support the war effort.  There’s a separate history item entitled ‘Scouting During the War Years’ which gives more information on the involvement of Scouts during the Second World War and, in particular, one of our Rover Scouts who became one of our Leaders.

Perhaps one of the most poignant moments of the Armistice service is the laying of the wreaths.  A Scout or Explorer lays a wreath on behalf of the Group and, in addition to this being fitting as we had members who served in WW2 and since, the tribute also underlines the link by Trinity Scouts laying a wreath in Trinity Church.

As you’ll appreciate, our records held a number of unexpected items, one of which was a collection of extracts of Scout Group updates and the Troop’s financial information all of which had been included in Church Annual Reports from 1922 (the first full year after the Scout Troop was formed) to 1938 (this is the last extract in our records).  Given the age of these documents we thought it important to share them at our memorabilia events, so tagged them clearly for each year and had them on display, accompanied by a request that anyone who read them put them back in the correct date order!

On these Annual Reports, all Church organisations provided an update, which confirms for the Scouts that the Church was interested in the organisations, what they were doing and how they were faring.  That support exists for the Scouts today through the link with the visits from the Kirk Session and the support the Scouts receive from church members for many of our fundraising efforts.

In return for the members supporting of our fundraising, the Scout Group supports the Church’s annual fete.  Our activities at the fete have changed over the years – we’ve had: throw a wet sponge at a Scout Leader (we had a photograph of that on display), a coconut shy, a car wash, donkey rides (yes, real donkeys – we even have a  photograph of that), Aunt Sally, and stalls selling hot dogs, burgers, onions and hot peas (there’s an ongoing debate as to whether the peas were intentionally mushy; no debate about the inclusion of vinegar!)

For certainly most of our history (or as long back as we can find) we have done, and continue to, support the church financially by giving a donation every year for use of the halls, heating and lighting.

The link between Trinity Church and 2nd Renfrew Scout Group has been long and fruitful, and throughout all these years we have been, and always will be, appreciative of the support we receive.