100th birthday 1908-2008

It's our Centenary!

2008 is 1st Claremont’s 100th birthday – and it’s a particularly special centenary, because we’re the oldest Scout Group in South Africa, with our first meeting on 3 March 1908. You can read all about the History of First Claremont Scout Troop on this site.

How have we been celebrating?

• On Saturday the 1st of March 2008, we held a celebration for present and former Scouts and families, at the 1st Claremont Scout Hall in Bowwood Road.
• The Scouts themselves went on an expedition to the Northern Cape and Orange River from 21 to 30 March 2008.
• We renovated the stage as a “Centenary Room” and made several other repairs and improvements around the hall.
• For our AGM in October, we published "100 Years of Scouting at 1st Claremont", a 36-page magazine full of photos and stories from the last century of Scouting at 1st Claremont. This is available for download; see the link on the right of this page.

Our Centenary celebrations

The celebrations took place on the afternoon and evening of Saturday 1 March 2008 at the 1st Claremont Scout Hall, 17 Bowwood Road, Claremont. The Scouts camped in the grounds on Saturday, and there were displays of photos, logbooks etc, as part of an “open day”, with many former Scouts visiting to see our displays. In the evening we had a celebratory dinner for around 100 former and present Scouts and families. Messages were read out from former members all around the world. After dinner, Andre Bredenkamp, former Chief Scout's Commissioner, spoke about his experiences climbing the 7 Summits - the highest peaks on all 7 continents. The evening ended with a campfire.

Please get in touch!

If you're a former Scout, Cub, adult leader, parent, friend, or supporter of 1st Claremont, and are interested in hearing about plans for our 100th birthday, we would like to hear from you! Please help expand our list of former members by sending us your contact information, and contact information for anyone else on our list of former members, of anyone we have missed. The reply form can be used for this. Please also pass this message on to any friends and family members who may be interested.

You can also join our facebook group: if you're a facebook user, just search for 1st Claremont Scout Centenary.

Photos, stories, memorabilia

After 100 years we have some excellent Troop archives, including hundreds of photographs, logbooks and other items. Some of these are available on our website and many were on display at the centenary celebration or form part of our centenary publication. We always welcome stories and photos from your time at 1st Claremont. Smoke Signals magazine has appeared on and off over the past 50 years, and we have now scanned in all the past editions we could get hold of. These are available electronically, along with many photos of the Scouts in action over the years. If you have Scout stories you would like to tell, or memorabilia or photographs to donate or lend us, please let us know.

Contribute to our centenary fund

A great many 1st Claremont Scouts marked the occasion by donating to our centenary fund. This assisted the Troop in many ways, ranging from hall renovations to sponsoring Scouts who could not afford the costs of our centenary trip to the Northern Cape. We are very grateful to our many supporters. Although our centenary year is drawing to an end, you may still donate if you would like to. Please do so using the details on the reply form.

Funds are raised for the following purposes:

• We want to ensure that no Scout misses a camp or other Scout event for financial reasons.
• Equipment is always in need of replacing – for instance, several of our current tents have done 20 years of service and need to be replaced at a cost of around R5000 each.
• We are very fortunate to have our own hall filled with Scouting tradition, but old buildings are expensive to maintain. Whether it is the roof, the electrics, the plumbing, the fences, painting, or simply maintaining the grounds, there is always more work to do than our bank account will allow. We would like to continue to improve the condition of the hall and grounds for our centenary year and beyond.

For more information

• Explore the 1st Claremont website at www.scouting.org.za/groups/1stclaremont
• Contact us at , or see Contact Information for other ways to get in touch.
• Join our facebook group “1st Claremont Scout Centenary”

The Scouts, adult leaders and parents at 1st Claremont thank you for your participation in our centenary!

Yours in Scouting

Ian Webb
Group Scouter
1st Claremont Scout Group