Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Victoria Institution's 100th year in scouting

The campfire

A fire eater dude doing his stuff.. Pretty stupid if you ask me..

A section at the school where some relic photos were exhibited...

I've been giving my old school's scouts campfire a miss for donkey years.Since l dropped out of secondary school some 25 years ago, I had never
looked back.But the scouting spirit is still strong in my heart as I am still living my passion
for the great outdoors.Last Saturday, I went back to my old school for the first time in years to join a
few friends.My wife Michelle also joined in the fray as we meet up earlier in the evening for
dinner at a popular food outlet in the city centre.Later, we walked back to Victoria Institution to witness their 100th year of
scouting celebrations with a parents campfire.And I what I saw was not impressive at all. Through the years, the scouting skills and spirit has drained away.The boys are at lost when they performed in front of a crowd consisting fellow
scouts from other schools, parents and old boys who came back to suppor
them.As an old scout, I felt that the elements of song and yells in a campfire was
missing.This was marred by a daring 'rescue' act where kids performed free climbing
on the school's structure.Bob Lew, my old buddy protested the show by giving the campfire organising
committee a mouthful.All I can say is that scouting didn't change much, the only glaring difference is
the boy's attitude.I think they have a long way to go to recover what was lost not only in the fire
that destroyed the scout den, but the scouting spirit and skills that went along
with it..

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