Scouting in Russell has been through many incarnations. “The Northland Gazette”, a supplement of Kawakawa’s Bay of Islands Luminary reported on Tues Sep 23 1947, that a Sea Scouts investiture had been held the previous week. Only three months after the establishment of the troop, it had a membership of 27 boys. That evening, in the Town Hall the boys gave demonstrations of semaphore signalling and the tying and use of knots. Russell once had its own Guide and Scout Hall, on York St, near the present Town Hall. It was built in 1932 and erected on Town Council land, on condition that, if the various troops and packs ceased to operate, the hall would become the responsibility and property of the Town Council. It became very dilapidated and the Town Council demolished it in July 1984. Guides, Scouts, Brownies & Cubs had disbanded some years before but reformed in 1988. At the time organisers understood the original Russell scout troop was formed in 1913 – five years after the movement started in New Zealand. Scouts continue to meet weekly in the Parish Hall.
A Scout Camp in the Fifties – #129
