Author: admin

SHACKLETON SCOUTS’ OWN

We did it! Our Shackleton Scouts’ Own made its way all the way from London to Antarctica and back again following the route of the 1921-1922 Shackleton-Rowett ‘Quest’ Expedition exactly one hundred years later. Huge thanks to everyone who participated along the way. #REQUEST2021

Sunday 5th September – Gilwell Scout HQ, by the REQUEST2021 plaque and interpretation board to Scouts Marr & Mooney.

Friday 17th September – St. Katharine Docks, held by the REQUEST2021 team meeting up as a group face to face for the very first time.

Saturday 18th September 6pm – Gravesend, held by the LV21 lightship in St. Andrews Gardens.

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Sunday 19th September 6pm – Sheerness, in front of Sheerness Swimming Pool.

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Friday 24th September 6pm – Plymouth, on the Mayflower Steps in the Barbican.

Monday 11th October 2021 – Lisbon.

Monday 18th October 2021 – Madeira, One hundred years to the day the Quest left Madeira we are grateful to Luis Sousa who arranged for members of Agrupamento 432 Sagrado Coração de Jesus in Funchal, Madeira (https://agrupamento432.wordpress.com) to hold our Shackleton Scouts’ Own to mark the departure of the expedition.

Thursday 28th October 2021 – Cape Verde Islands (St. Vincent).

A huge thanks to Carlos Monteiro and the Scouts of the Cape Verde islands who held our Shackleton Scouts’ Own for the day the Quest left St. Vincent (28th Oct).

Monday 8th November 2021 – St. Pauls Rocks (Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago)

REQUEST2021 – 100 years to the day that the Quest visited St. Pauls Rocks (8th November 1921), here is the video of our Shackleton Scouts’ Own ceremony held by St Paul’s Scout Group at their Headquarters in Maidstone, Kent. THANKS TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF ST. PAUL’S GROUP WHO TOOK PART INCLUDING IAIN & VICKY SOAMES. PLUS MATT WOOD FROM THE REQUEST2021 TEAM.

Saturday 18th December 2021 – Rio de Janeiro, at the Christ The Redeemer Statue!

Shackleton Scouts’ Own – Rio de Janeiro #REQUEST2021

100 years ago to the day Shackleton’s Quest left Rio!

A symbol of Christianity around the world, the statue has also become a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil and was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

5th Jan – the anniversary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Death. Venue: REQUEST2021 team on Bark Europa in Antarctica and as many Scout Groups as possible around the world on the same day.

Falkland Islands.

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South Georgia.

Thursday 20th January 2022 Zavadovski Island – Sandwich Scouts representing Zavadovski Island in the South Sandwich Islands. Venue: Sandwich Scout HQ.

Tuesday 15th February 2022 – Pack Ice

Sunday 27th March 2022 – Elephant Island, Elephant Park, Swanley District. Recorded at 4pm on Sunday 20th March.

Sunday 8th May 2022 – South Georgia (Second time!), Shackleton’s Cross & Cairn, South Georgia #REQUEST2021 – Marking one hundred years since the Quest left South Georgia, for the second time, on the SHACKLETON-ROWETT Expedition. Huge thanks to Sarah Clark for visiting the cairn and cross for us on Saturday 7th May 2022. Reading from Scout Marr’s INTO THE FROZEN SOUTH. (Chapter XVI)

Wednesday 25th May 2022 – Tristan da Cunha.

And a huge thanks to the wonderful students of St. Mary’s School, Tristan Da Cunha. In the absence of any Scouts these days on the Island they stepped up and held our Shackleton Scouts’ Own in their assembly. This marks 100 years to the day that the Quest left Tristan Da Cunha, 25th May 1921.

Thursday 2nd June 2022 – Gough Island.

Alan Noake (by Shackleton’s James Caird Lifeboat at Dulwich College) shares a little bit of Gough Island!

Wednesday 13th July 2022 – Cape Town

Thrilled that to commemorate the Quest leaving Cape Town on 13th July 1922 the South Cape Scouts have held our REQUEST2021 Shackleton Scout’s Own service 100 years later.

The Quest had been in Cape Town since Sunday 18th June 1922. A huge thanks to all the Scouts taking part and a Shackleton The Penguin badge is on the way to them!

Wednesday 27th July 2022 – St. Helena

“Without any event of outstanding importance, following a placid round of commonplace duties, living on the fat of the land, since there was now no pronounced need to conserve our stores, cleaning ship diligently, fishing for albatross, taking occasional soundings and dredgings, we reached St. Helena and anchored off Jamestown. It is a pretty little town, which straggles picturesquely for a long way up the bottom of an acute-sided valley. The island itself is a mountainous mass, intersected in every direction by deep valleys, those opening to the sea in our direction being of a very regular V-shape. An exceedingly fertile land, its chief industry is the growing of flax.”

(Scout Marr, Into The Frozen South)

Thursday 4th August 2022 – Ascension Island, venue TBC.

Saturday 20th August 2022 – Cape Verde Islands (St. Vincent), (Second time!) As the Cape Verde Scouts have already participated in the REQUEST2021 Project back in October 2021 by holding our Shackleton Scouts’ Own we wanted to do something a bit different. So we arranged a Zoom link-up today between Scouts in Kent with Scouts in Cape Verde to build even stronger links. Both sides spent time asking questions about the differences in Scouting between the two locations.

Wednesday 5th September 2022 – San Miguel, The Scouts of San Miguel (CNE Agrupamento 1197) held our Shackleton Scouts’ Own in Portuguese to mark the occasion.

Sunday 11th September 2022 – Fordell Firs (Scottish Scout HQ), 2pm.

Friday 16th September 2022 – Plymouth (Second time!), 6pm by the new Devon & Cornwall Polar Society Plaque, Millbay Docks.

Sunday 18th September 2022 – Portsmouth, 4pm (Approx.) Gunwharf Quays by the Spinnaker Tower.

‘Scout Marr’ plaque installed at the whalers’ church, Grytviken, South Georgia

Author: Ron Lewis-Smith

Myself and other former members of the 1^st Aberdeen Grammar School Scout Troop arranged to have a brass plaque placed in at Grytviken back in January this year. The occasion was to commemorate our local hero James ‘Scout’ Marr who was a member of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ‘Quest’ Expedition to Antarctica. Shackleton died on 5^th January 1922 just after the expedition reached the sub-Antarctic island. The centenary of his death was commemorated on that date this year.

Approval was given by the Government of South Georgia for our plaque to be displayed permanently, but in the whalers’ church rather than in the museum. Jayne Pierce, Curator of the Museum, installed the plaque on our behalf in the church on 5^th January 2022. She sent me the following email shortly after:

“The plaque was successfully transported and installed in the Grytviken church and it now rests next to a number of other memorials, including dedications to Frank Wild and Brigadier David Nicolls. I have attached a photograph for you to use in any relevant newsletters etc. The photograph shows a nice reflection of the church but if you want something different for publication I took lots of images, so do ask if you need anything further.

I have also added the Scout scarf that you donated to the museum collection and it will sit with reference to the plaque in our database.”

The scarf she refers to was presented by the current 1^st Troop Scout Leader and accompanied the plaque on its journey to South Georgia.  Unfortunately, Jayne forgot to photograph it in the Museum!  However, she did send me some photos of the plaque in situ in the church (see below).

It is now a popular visitor site for Antarctic cruise ships. The Norwegian whalers’

Lutheran church (built 1913) is on the right, next to the Kino (cinema).

Note the football pitch far right.