Celebrating 100 years of OUSGG
Danica Fernandes (Oxford University Scout and Guide Group)
Monday 7th of October 2019
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Oxford University Scout and Guide Group, the UK's oldest student Scout and Guide Club. Carina Williams tells us about how OUSGG celebrated with a 100th anniversary annual dinner.
2019 marked the incredible 100th anniversary of the Oxford University Scout and Guide Group. Founded in 1919, OUSGG is the UK’s oldest student Scout group, and we marked this centenary with a fantastic dinner for members past and present.
We were thrilled to welcome around 120 people, ranging from current members to those who matriculated in the 1960s. The evening took place at Somerville College and began with a drinks reception – the perfect opportunity to both catch up with old friends and chat to new acquaintances! This also provided a chance to look at displays of photos from OUSGG’s more recent history, as well as to admire the specially-designed birthday cake complete with a miniature Erik the Panda. We then moved to Somerville’s beautiful dining hall for the actual dinner, with the classic shuffling around of seats between courses to allow mingling between tables.
Having eaten, we received our copies of the special centenary edition of PostScript, complete with ‘OUSGG of Legend’ and a letter (sort of) from the Queen. Then it was time for the speeches, and we were treated to an eclectic and touching collection of anecdotes and memories from past OUSGG activities and adventures. For cutting the cake we nominated the oldest alumnus and youngest current member for this all-important job. As the cake was being distributed among the tables we also took part in a highly competitive quiz which thoroughly tested our knowledge of OUSGG history and Scouting/Guiding.
The evening was rounded off with a group photo in the dining hall – although it took a while to get everyone organised and in position, eventually we were able to take a lovely photograph as an excellent way to commemorate this special occasion.
A huge thank you to all who made this event possible, and to the catering staff at Somerville for an excellent dinner. And, of course, thank you to everyone who came! It was great to see so many people coming together to celebrate OUSGG, and it was lovely to hear everyone’s fond memories of their time in the group. Here’s to 100 more years!