Parents’ Committee, Fundraising & Social Events

Over many years, 2nd Renfrew has had a Parents’ Committee which allows parents to help the Group with various social events and fundraising activities.  The funds raised help to sustain the general working of the Group through the ‘Working Account’ and, in years gone by, the ‘International Fund’.

Having dug through archives, the first mention of a “Committee of the boys’ parents” is in 1926, when that Committee presented the Troop with three sets of bagpipes.

The first set of Group Committee Minute Books shows that the Committee was formally constituted on 1 February 1946.  Subsequent meetings were on a formal basis to manage the group by way of accounts approval, receiving reports from Sections, fundraising and social events, property management (as Rovers’ Dens – there’s more about the Dens in the Explorer/Venture/Rover Section) and, very important to many Scouts, agreeing subsidies to camps, some of which were international.

As the years passed by, some topics of the Minutes changed, but the essentials of Section reports and fundraising remained.

Fundraising was one of the key functions of the Group Committee, now called Parents’ Committee, and many a good evening was had at an event they organised.  Organising was, of course never an easy task – take one of the dances in the Town Hall for example.

There was a supper item to be agreed – on one occasion supper was Marsetti, so Committee members had to be given the recipe, told how much mince, soup and pasta to buy, then make it all in bowls and take it to the Town Hall to be heated later (no food hygiene laws at that time!).  Then there was the need to ensure there was enough crusty bread and butter to go with it – someone had to calculate and buy all that.  Any deserts received the same treatment – obtain the recipe, buy ingredients, make sure there was enough to go round.  Then of course there was the serving and the not so fun job of clearing up.

In addition to a general dance, there were whist drives, beetle drives, wastepaper and can collections, ceilidhs (always with a supper), a car boot sale, a disco and jazz night, and innumerable other ad hoc events.

There were also the usual coffee mornings with requests for home baking, crafts made by the Sections and, on one occasion, a Christmas coffee morning with an extra special visitor.

On reading the old Minute Books we discovered that there’s even been a bus run for fundraising, when the Committee organised a trip to Kippen on Friday, 20 June 1954 at a cost of 6 shillings and sixpence.  We then discovered there was more than one bus run over the years.

As already mentioned, the funds raised were split between the Group’s Working Account and the International Fund.  The Working Account is, as the name suggests, for general funding of the group – equipment for the Sections, camping equipment and, what is possibly one of our biggest expenditures, the annual Capitation Fee which has to be paid to Scout HQ for all members of the Group.

In years gone by, the international fund allowed us to subsidise the cost of our members attending international camps and we’re delighted that our archives have letters from Scouts to the Group Committee thanking them for the subsidies for an international camp – the letters are 50 years old.  The International Fund wasn’t for outward trips – it also helped  subsidise the cost of hosting foreign visitors at our exchange camps.  An example of this is Scottish Night when we entertained our friends from Vinderslev Scouts (1986) during their  week’s hospitality with us.  This fund now forms part of our overall Group account.

Fundraising has not been restricted to dances.  We all remember the annual jumble sales. 2nd Renfrew’s jumble sales were legendary.

Not only did we have a lot of items, but they were often good quality and, above all, with many thanks to Stevie Hart (one of our GSL’s) and his employer for lending us a van, the Scouts did a free collection and delivery service for items which couldn’t be carried – all anyone had to do was complete and and return the Pickup/Delivery Form for collections, completing the same form on the day of the sale for deliveries.

Such items included a 3-piece suite, a full set of bedroom furniture (wardrobe, chest of drawers, bedside table, a bed (including bedding)), wingback armchairs, settees, and a fridge.  Not all delivered to the same house!  The Scouts had many great stories of carrying furniture up four flights of stairs to a top floor tenement.  In one case, they were asked to empty the purchaser’s old fridge and put the items in the new one purchased from our sale!  Did the Scouts complain?  Of course they didn’t, they stacked all that up to helping people and learning life skills.  One Scout did say that the deliveries gave some people the chance for company and a chat, and who isn’t up for a chat, particularly if someone is lonely.  Good on you Scouts – that’s the ethos we’re instilling.

Alex Connor, then Chair of the Parents’ Committee, will be remembered by many for his sterling work making sure the door wasn’t broken down by keen purchasers who were raring to be first for the bargains at opening time.

We had it on authority from many who attended that 2nd Renfrew’s jumble sales were one of the jumble sales in the town – an event not to be missed, and that can be said for those who attended and the Scouts and Committee to helped to organise them, as the sales were enjoyable, certainly entertaining and always busy.

We think this image describes the opening rush …

Although hard work in getting all the donations organised (donations arrived on a Thursday night, were separated on a Friday and the sale was on the Saturday afternoon), the jumble sales were, above all, good fun.  Many a customer tried their luck at bargaining if they thought 10p was too much for a particular jumper!

As Charity shops grew in popularity, jumble sales became a thing of the past and, sadly, jumble sales were for us no more.  However, if you ask any ex-members who are over 50, someone will have a great jumble sale story for you.

In the 2000’s fundraising has taken a different tack as we now do bag packs and recently had a very successful race night.  The supper was much simpler than that served at the dances – race night supper is a roll and sausage, roll and bacon, fried onions and potato scone.  Very easy, very tasty and very popular.

2nd Renfrew is, and will always be, very grateful to all who served on our Parents’ Committees.  After 100 years there are too many of you to mention here, but you, and we, know who you are, so enormous thanks for being there for us.

We’re also very grateful to those who support our fundraising and social events.  Without your support there’s a lot we would not be able to do, so we value you greatly.  Whether that support is financial or material does not matter.  What does matter is that parents, guardians, group members, leaders, Trinity Church, its members, and general members of the public, care about us now, and we hope will do so in the future.

Sincere and heartfelt thanks
to one and all