Hundreds of scouts on city reconnaissance mission

They are coming to celebrate Founder’s Day on the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell.

The Scouts will be setting up camp sites in both St Columb’s Park and at Ebrington, right below the Peace Bridge, for their weekend stay from February 22 to 24.

They’ll be staging a day of activities on Ebrington Square on Saturday and the key event of the weekend is the Founder’s Day Parade from the Foyle Valley Railway Museum over the Peace Bridge to The Venue 2013 at Ebrington where a non-denominational service will be held in honour of the movement’s founder Robert Baden-Powell.

“This is the ideal opportunity for the scouting movement to celebrate their cultural identity, history, beliefs and skills in the art of scouting and also allow the public to learn more about the ethos of scouting,” said Dessie Taylor, the County Commissioner of host group Errigal County.

Culture Company Cultural Programmer Martin Melarkey added: “It’s terrific to see Scouts from the Scouting Association of Ireland coming together with Scouts from the Scouts Association of Northern Ireland to celebrate the birth off the movement’s founder Robert Baden Powell in this way.”

Scouts from the city will be joined by Scouts from Coleraine, Mid-Ulster and from Donegal in the largest gathering of Scouts ever in the city.

Each group attending will be presented with a special commemorative City of Culture flag and each Scout will be given their own specially designed City of Culture scarf and woggle.

Scouting Weekend is being hosting by St Eugene’s Scout Group, the longest-serving Scout group in Derry~Londonderry.