17th Essendon’s 50th anniversary

One of the reasons I was going to Melbourne this weekend was to attend the 50th anniversary celebrations of the 17th Essendon Scout group, which played such a large part in my life during my time in Victoria.

When I arrived at the hall for the day’s casual festivities it was bedecked with memorabilia including enlargements of quite a few photos from my time with the group. I was involved with 17th Essendon for over 1/4 of its life (and a slightly larger proportion of mine!!), and took many photos of the hikes, camps, and other activities that were part of our program. One of my major tasks on the boat trip over was to finish labelling the photo albums full of photos that I’d had printed at the end of last year but hadn’t had time to label before I moved south. (I ended up taking the photos with me when I moved so I could finish the labelling job, but it’s been “one of those years”, meaning that it was only the impetus of the anniversary that forced me to somehow find time to get them done … and I only just made it, even then.)

It was a very enjoyable day. It was great to see old friends, and to see how much the kids had changed (some of them quite a bit older now, and very definitely no longer “kids”!). Not all of the people I’d hoped to catch up with were able to be there, but there were a good many of the folk who featured in the photos in the albums, and there was lots of reminiscing to be had … of antics, incidents, achievements, challenges, and fun. One of the gently amusing sights was Matthew Cengia—who started in Scouts just before I arrived, and who became an assistant leader to me about 4 years ago, and who took over running the troop after I left—who had found the old Scout shirt that he’d worn as a 14 year old, and managed to fit himself into it (fairly comfortably, he’s disappointed to acknowledge) for the day’s festivities.

So, here’s to another 50 more years of 17th (although I doubt that I’ll make the 100th anniversary!).