50th Anniversary

When we celebrated our 50th Anniversary in 1971 we looked back at what we had achieved as a Group and also remembered the leaders and members of the sections, including all others who helped us reach our half century.

Although we’re doing the same at our Centenary, we think it appropriate to dedicate an item to our half Century, as many who were instrumental in the early days of the Group and at the 50th Anniversary are no longer with us to share their memories.

However, Brian Cowie one of our former members and a prolific recordkeeper, had retained many documents from the 75th Anniversary (and the 50th (and a whole lot more)), had a copy of a letter dated April 1971, said letter outlining events through the 50th year – it’s available here.

In the April 1917 letter you’ll have read that the 50th Anniversary had, as we did in November 2021 and April 2022, memorabilia displays.  The picture below is a Renfrew Gazette press cutting of a display in 1971 (we had the original on display at our memorabilia events).

Pictured (from left to right) are: John Brown, Margaret Shaw (Asst Cub Leader), Gordon Murray, Ronald Findlay, Joan MacKinnon (Cub Leader), Alex Harvie (GSL)

One of the most important items from the 50th Anniversary is a letter from Alex Harvie who was Group Scout Leader at the time.  The letter was for those who attended the memorabilia events, or Jubilee Exhibition, as it was referred to.

Although it was written 50 years ago, the first paragraph is relevant to our Centenary displays in that the three-fold message of the past is exactly what we’re doing now, namely encouraging former members to get together, give present members an awareness of our traditions, and finally allow the Scout Movement, and 2nd Renfrew, to be heard.

We are delighted our archives held an original letter which we had on display and is available here.  It’s certainly worth reading, as it’s as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

In addition to the displays there was a very well attended dinner dance held in the Airport Hotel (which became the Dean Park Hotel, then was demolished to make way for houses and flats).

We’re fortunate that Bessie Murray (mother of David and Gordon, both of whom travelled through the Group) kept her dinner ticket.

Bessie also kept the dinner menu and we’re delighted that it has been signed by a few attendees.

Here’s the signed menu

For ease of reading and reliving memories, those who signed the menu were:

A H Macdonald (Chairman, Trinity Scout Group Council)
Gilbert Drummond – Minister to the Group
James Watt
Elizabeth (Bessie) Murray (former Parents’ Committee Member)
Frances Hunter (daughter was a Cub Leader)
Anne Parker (former Parents’ Committee Member)
Jim Murray (husband of Bessie)
Ian Parker (former Treasurer and husband of Anne)
Robert (Bob) Hunter (husband of Frances)
Richard (Dick) Bennett (Son was a Group member)
Hilda Bennett (wife of Richard)
Rosina Watt
Jim Ritchie (former Group Scout Leader – preceded Douglas Killin)
Douglas Killin (former Group Scout Leader – preceded Alex Harvie)
Alex Harvie (former Group Scout Leader)

Here’s the inside of the menu

We have two speeches from the Dinner Dance.  One was from Douglas Killin, the other is, we think, from the District Commissioner at that time, but sadly it’s not named.  We had the original versions of each on display at our events – they’re available by clicking Douglas Killin and District Commissioner, above.  The speeches are in note form, but you can get the gist of them.

Another important event for the 50th Anniversary was the Jubilee Camp which was held at the beginning of July on the shores of Loch Fyne at St. Catherines and we’re delighted to have Alex Harvie’s walking stick from that camp.  At the memorabilia events his son and daughter we delighted to be reunited with the walking stick as it brought back many happy memories.

In 2nd Renfrew style, the camp wasn’t just for us, as Alex Harvie thought it would be appropriate to invite our brother Scouts from overseas to join us then spend time in the hosts’ homes.  As a result, 40 Scouts from two Troops in Denmark joined us at Ardno Farm, Loch Fyne for what was a very successful camp.

That our fellow Scouts from Denmark were happy to join us, particularly given the importance of the occasion, confirms that a Scout is indeed a brother to all Scouts.

1971 also included an Anniversary Booklet which has a foreword from Douglas Killin, a letter from Alex Harvie and is a fund of interesting and amusing facts and anecdotes.  This was another great item in our archive and we were delighted to display it.

A half century is worth celebrating in style, so in true Trinity fashion we went the full hog and had a flag made for this celebration – here’s a picture of Brian Cowie (right) presenting the flag to Alex Harvie (GSL – holding the flag) and Colin Macdonald (on the left of the picture):

The 50th Anniversary was a big event for us, as when the Scout Group started in 1921, we’re sure that although everyone knew Scouting was here to stay, all who were involved then no doubt hoped there would be celebrations in 50 years’ time.  We’re delighted we reached that milestone and celebrated it as we did.

Now … let’s move on another 25 years …