Group News 2008

Cian O'hOgartaigh and Pat Murphy honoured at Annual Youth Awards (20/12/08)

Above: Pat Murphy and Cian O'hOgartaigh with their awards from the Waterford Voluntary Youth Council.

Congratulations to Cian O'hOgartaigh who won the Youth Award in the Uniformed and Rescue category at the Waterford Voluntary Youth Council Annual Awards held on Thursday the 4th of December 2008 last. Cian has been a very active member of the De La Salle Scout Group for the past nine years and spent many years as a leading member of the 3rd De La Salle Scout Troop. He is currently a member of the De La Salle Venturer Group. Cian's achievements in the past year included an excellent performance in the national Venturer Trizone event and participation in the Mountaineering Council of Ireland's Scottish winter skills course.

Above: Members of the De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band at the 2008 Waterford Voluntary Youth Council Awards.

This year's overall youth leader award also went to the Pat Murphy of the De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band which had yet another phenomenal year.  The award was also in recognition of all of his work and efforts to scouting over the years but in particular for his work in Waterford City. The De La Salle Scout Group would like to pass on its congratulations to Cian and Pat and all of the award recipients.

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Official Launch of the Pipe Band's 75th Anniversary (19/12/08)

In 2009 the Group's pipe band will celebrate its 75th Anniversary. Through the historians in the Group it has been established that the meeting to found a band in the De La Salle Scout Group took place on December 15th 1933 and the band had its first parade on May 15th 1934. To kick off the celebrations the band launched its programme of events for their 75th anniversary celebrations on Sunday December 14th last in the Hall at Stephen Street School. Detailed information on the programme was disclosed by the young members of the band and the band also gave a short performance of some new and old tunes. You can read the full programme here.  There was also a very interesting slide show of pictures of the band over the 75 years. Best of luck to the band in the coming year from all at the De La Salle Scout Group.

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New Fencing Installed at Faithlegg Scout Centre (19/12/08)

The De La Salle Scout Group would like to express its sincere gratitude to Waterford County Council for its support in installing new fencing on the road boundary at our Faithlegg Scout Centre. The Fencing has been very badly needed for some years but due to the high cost the Group were unable to install it on its own. The high quality fencing now runs the length of the site.

7th De La Salle achieve Gold at the Phoenix Challenge (10/07/08)

The 2009 Scouting Ireland Phoenix Challenge took place from the 21st to the 24th August 2008 at Larch Hill in County Dublin and the De La Salle Scout Group were represented by the 7th Waterford at the event. The 7th were one of just four scout troops that were awarded the Gold standard for their participation in the event. Group Leader, Owen Riordan congratulated all of the scouts and the leaders from the 7th for their hard work and effort in preparation for what turned out to be an excellent event.

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Pat Murphy elected Honorary Member of Scouting Ireland (10/07/08)

The Scouting Ireland National Council for 2008 was held in the Carlton Shearwater Hotel in Ballinsaloe from the 21st to the 22nd of June. There was a great turnout of members from the Association which brought about thought provoking debate and great participation over the weekend. As part of the business of National Council our very own Pat Murphy was elected as a lifelong Honorary Member of Scouting Ireland. This was in recognition of all of his work and efforts to scouting at a local, County and National level. As he has already been presented with the highest award that is possible for a member of Scouting Ireland, the Cuchulain award, this was the next step. Congratulations to Pat from all at the De La Salle Scout Group.

7th Scout Troop win the County Challenge (22/04/08)

Congratulations to the 7th De La Salle Scout Troop which won the 2008 Waterford Scout County Challenge which was held from the 18th to the 20th of April last in Stradbally and the Comeraghs in Co. Waterford. The event was broken into two parts: In the Prison (on site at Stradbally) and On the run (in the mountains). On the site the teams had to put up a table and seating, an alter fire, icelandics and domes, a dresser, a store tent and store gadget, bins with segregation and a gate and boundaries. While 4 of the team headed for the mountains the next morning, the rest got stuck into Chain Gang work and Prison Chores, a test meal and of course the Prison Sand Castle Building Competition and a Campfire where each group had to perform a song or sketch on the theme of Prison Break. They also had to keep a log of the weekend. On Sunday there was a treasure hunt followed by the breaking of the site and a final inspection. It was a very successful and enjoyable event and the final marks can be viewed here. Well done also to St. Pauls who came second and Ferrybank who came third.

Robert Windle (Roddy), the section leader said "On behalf of the leadership team in the 7th I would like to congratulate all the County Challenge Team who won the the County Shield. They put in a huge effort into training for and well deserved to win." De La Salle Group Leader, Owen Riordan added his praise to the team and also the hard work and effort of the leadership team of the 7th under Roddy.

Above: The 7th De La Salle - winners of the 2008 Waterford Scout County Challenge.
From L-R: Roddy Windle SL, Keith Cunningham ASL, Bill Power, Emily Costello, Aaron Mooney, Robert Parle, Sarah Lawrence, Matthew Carrick PL, Eoin Falconer, Cathal Ryan, Ciaran Kelly APL, Robert Jacob, Stephen Thul, Tara Buggy ASL.
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100 trees planted to celebrate 100 years of Scouting (17/04/08)

Pictured below are members of the 3rd De La Salle Macaoimh pack who recently planted no less than one hundred trees at our scout centre in Faithlegg. The tree planting was to celebrate 100 years of Irish scouting and will go towards the pack members earning their centenary badge.

7th Scouts bound for Scotland on Camp 2008 (17/02/08)

This year the 7th De La Salle Scout Troop will be going to Scotland on their annual camp which will take place from Sunday 27th of July to Monday 4th of August. The programme will run as follows: Sunday 27th: Travel by bus to Fort William via Belfast – Stranraer ferry; Monday 28th: Weather permitting climb Ben Nevis (Britain’s Highest Mountain); Tuesday 29th: Head for North Berwick to stay at the 1st north Berwick Scouts Den; Wednesday 30th: Day trip to Edinburgh; Thursday 31st: North Berwick Adventure Centre; Friday 1st: Mystery tour with over night stay in The English Lake district; Saturday 2nd: Mystery tour with over night stay in The English Lake district; Sunday 3rd: Return to Edinburgh for the Cavalcade Parade; Monday 4th: Homeward Bound. A preliminary cost for the trip is 400 euro per scout.

Pipe Band and Eoin Smith honoured at Annual Youth Awards (01/01/08)

Above: Eoin Smith (centre), recipient of the 2007 youth award from the Waterford Voluntary Youth Council.
Photo by John Power Photography.

Congratulations to Eoin Smith (pictured above) who won the Youth Award in the Culture category at the Waterford Voluntary Youth Council Annual Awards held on Thursday the 6th of December 2007 last. Eoin has been a very active member of the De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band for the past seven years and is also a member of the De La Salle Venturer Group. This year's overall youth group award also went to the De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band whose phenomenal year included playing at the sunrise ceremony at the World Scout Jamboree in England,  a trip to play in Scotland, countless other very successful engagements in Waterford and around the country and an excellent approach to their practice and training.

Above: Members of the De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band and Eoin Smith receiving their awards.
Photo by John Power Photography.

Scouting did extremely well this year in the Uniformed and Rescue sector also with Tom O Neill, Waterford's County Commissioner, the recipient of the Adult Award and Brian O Connor of the St Paul's Group receiving the Youth Award in the same section.  These awards are made to youth groups and their youth members and their leaders operating in Waterford City each year and they are sponsored by the Waterford Youth Committee of the VEC and Waterford Crystal. The award ceremony was attended by a number of Waterford City Councillors and was chaired by the chairperson of  the Waterford Voluntary Youth Council.  Each award winner was presented with a beautiful piece of engraved Waterford Crystal and the De La Salle Scout Group would like to pass on its congratulations to all award recipients.

Above: Members of the De La Salle Scout Group Pipe Band with the Waterford Crystal award from the Waterford Voluntary Youth Council.
Photo by John Power Photography.

Previous Group News stories are available on our
Group News '07, Group News '06, Group News '05,  Group News '04
and Group News '98-'03 pages.

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