PATRICK Murray, the assistant scout master at the first ever Charleville Scout Troop formed in 1934, was present at a gala dinner to celebrate seventy-five years of scouting in Charleville, which was held at the Charleville Park Hotel on last Saturday night.

Unit leaders and scouts, past and present gathered at the popular venue to celebrate the years of scouting in Charleville which began in 1934 when the Cork 24th/65th troop was first established. The Unit Leader today Ms Pauline Fitzgibbon recalled that the first scoutmaster was Ian Bowie and the assistant leader was the aforementioned Paddy Murray.

Ms Fitzgibbon told the attendance that the outbreak of World War II curtailed scouting events and in 1942 and amazingly it would be thirty-two years until the reformation of the unit in 1975. The 24th/65th Troop was invested on February 14 of that year and had Maurice Lapthorne as Unit Leader and David O'Sullivan as Scout Leader and Brian Dillon was the Assistant Scout Leader. Rev Dr. Donal O'Driscoll, CC was the units chaplain. The troop was later joined by John Maguire in 1978.

The troop's Cub section came into being in 1978 and these were led by John Haugh, the same years as the Venturers were started with Michael Byrnes senior. Ms Nora Quain started the Beaver section in 1991.

Ms Fitzgibbon said that down through the years the Charleville scout troop has had many successes at local, regional and national levels. They won the Cloyne Duocesan Cup in 1940 and also won the national scout quiz. The late Brendan Ryan and Michael Byrnes junior led the troop to victory in the coveted Melvin Cup in 1994 and the national camp craft trophy in 1997. The troop has also won countless regional and county titles.

"The greatest achievement of the troop to date was the opening of their scout hall in the Town Park. We had been meeting in an different places such as the parochial hall, the shed in the community centre yard, the community centre itself, Cronin's Hotel. They began raising the necessary finance to erect their own building on a site in the town park in the 1990s and this came to fruition with the help of many people and the new purpose built scout hall was officially opened by President Mary McAleese in 1999," she said.

The troop will mark this their 75th year with a special programme of events and plan to make it a special celebratory year for the youthful members of the troop.

Mr. Michael John Shinnick, the Chief Scout of Ireland, antive of Fermoy but resident in Kilworth in his address congratulated the Charleville troop on this great celebration. "The troop is doing splendid work in shaping the characters of their young members by encouraging healthy pursuits and instilling a great love of all things Irish.

"I salute the people who are in charge for their commitment and for giving of their time and talents to help young people achieve their potential within the ethos of the scouting movement," he said.