Scouts and Guides from across the Romsey area gathered on Sunday for their annual St George’s Day celebration.
In one of the largest turnouts of recent years, more than 400 young people processed through the town centre to attend the service in Romsey Abbey.
For the first time this year, scouting’s newest section took part in the event. Squirrel scouts, aged from four to six, are now meeting at three locations in the area.
Scout district commissioner David Shill said: “I have been taking part in St George’s Day since I was a Cub myself but the sight of all our assembled young people still impresses me.
“Our annual census this year shows that scouting across our area is as popular as ever; we have over 1,000 members and more young people than we’ve had for 20 years. However, we have again seen our adult membership drop a little, which is clearly unsustainable.
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“Without leaders, without committee members, without occasional volunteers, we just can’t offer the adventure of Scouting to as many young people as want to take part. We don’t only need adults prepared to make the weekly commitment to help run our youth sections, we need people with admin, or bookkeeping, or building maintenance skills to help behind the scenes too. Scouting is a team effort and has lots to offer its adults, not only its younger members.”
Guide division commissioner Elaine Urban said: “I always feel very proud to see such a good turnout from our girls. It is one of the rare opportunities for so many of us to get together at the same time.
"Like our colleagues in scouting, as I am sure in many voluntary organisations, we are starting to find a lack of adult volunteers restricting what we are able to do. I would urge anyone who wants to be part of either of our wonderful organisations to come forward; we can find a volunteering opportunity to suit you.”
On Sunday, the long procession filed past the saluting base in the Market Place. The civic party taking the salute included The Countess Mountbatten, Caroline Nokes MP, Mayor of Test Valley Cllr Alan Dowden, Mayor of Romsey Cllr Neil Gwynne, and Deputy Mayor of Romsey Cllr John Ray.
The service in the abbey was led by Rev Thomas Wharton and concluded with ‘God Save The King’. The collection from the service will go to local charity Alfie’s Wish, which supports families of children with cancer.
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