Three of the original Scouts were Paddy Murphy, Frank Mulrine and Eunan McMullin. The fee at the time was 3d per week. The Scouts camped at Mountcharles, at Buncrana (near Ned's Point, where the lifeboat station is now) and locally. The Group was active for some 15 years.

Scouting was revived in the late 1960's when a Cub Pack was established under the sponsorship of the Church of Ireland. It was affiliated to the Scout Association of Ireland (SAI). Later a Scout Troop and Beaver Team were added. The Group was known as Stranorlar and Kilteevogue. Later it was to become known as the 6th Donegal (Stranorlar) Group.

In January 1983 the Group decided to become an open Group, (not sponsored by any church). Scouting is non-political and non-denominational, all are welcome.

The leaders at the time were Aubrey Oliver, Patrick Johnston, (Scouts); Herbie White, Aubrey Barclay, Jennifer Bates, Margaruite Woods and Mgt. Fairman, (Cubs); Toni Doherty, Rozie Bezus, Daphne O'Mahony (Beavers).

In 1982 the first girls were invested in the group.

From an early stage the Group were aware of an accommodation problem. The sections held their weekly meetings in the old Robertson's Hall, the Butt Hall, St. Columba's College, the Presbyterian Hall and the Finn Valley Athletic Club. The Group decided in 1984 to begin fund-raising for a new Den. The site at Drumboe Ave was acquired from Donegal County Council in 1985.

The highlight of 1986 was the achievement of the Chief Scouts Award by Raymond Meenan. Raymond was followed by Michael McNulty (1989), Martin Lafferty (1997) and by Louise Larkin (1997) who also achieved the award.

1985/'86 also saw the Group being joined by Chris McClay, Rita McNulty, Raymond Meenan, Eamon Foy, Freeda Roulston, Ken McNulty, Michael Gallagher, Joan McElhinney, Martin Chambers and Charlie Boyle as leaders.

The years 1986 to 1989 were taken up by much fundraising by a very active Parents' and Friends' Committee, which included Mrs. Patsy McCool, Nuala Murphy, lsobel McNulty, Sean Quinn, Teresa and Eamon O'Fearaghail, Rose McGlinchey, Pete McGinty, Micheal Timony and many others.

New leaders also joined during these years including Margaret Bannagan, Carol Meenan, Emer Reilly, Pat Houston, Sean Martin, Jarlath Donnellan, Michelle Timony, Liz Clarke, and lsobell Gallagher to replace those who retired after giving dedicated service.

The building of the New Den began in Nov. 1989. The work was carried out by FÁS Trainees under its Community Youth Training Programme. Many trainee's acquired skills in block laying, plastering, joinery skills etc. on this project, guided by the craftsman Michael Kennedy, Drumkeen and Foreman Liam O'Donnell, Convoy and Chris Magee of FÁS.

The Den was ready for the start of Scouting activities in the Autumn of 1990. The Group began to plan for the official opening by the Chief Scout Eoghan Lavelle on 24th May 1991.

In the years 1989 - 1992, Breeda Dooley, Paula Patton, Michael Heekin, Jonathan Barclay, Hugh McGlinchey, lgnatius Larkin, Kathleen Quinn, Ann Walsh, Philomena Doherty, and Mick Carroll all joined as leaders. On the Scouting front the Group was represented at many camps and Jamboree including Australia, Sherwood, Portumna, Gosforth and others.

Over the years a number of attempts have been made to establish Venture Scouts for the 17 to 20 age group. However this has only been a limited success as the young people have been dispersed all over these islands to third level colleges.

The three sections - Beavers, Cubs and Scouts - continue to have good numbers of children joining each year, and most years we have a waiting list for Beavers and Cubs. Scout Association rules specify that a ratio of not more than 6 children to one leader, with one leader to spare, should apply.

THE PRESENT LEADER TEAMS ARE:

Beavers:- Brid McMenamin, Ann Quinn, Mae Ferry, Angela Lafferty and Margaret Bonner. The Section meets on Mondays at the Den at 7.00 pm.

Cubs:- Lucinda O'Neill, Aubrey Barclay, Brian Ramsey and Janice Barclay. Section Meetings are held on Wed evenings at 7.00 pm.

Scouts Section :- Martina Flanagan, Susan Mcintyre and Colm O'Dwyer. The Scout Section meets on Monday nights at 6.00 pm. Mrs. Phena Bonar is Hon. Treasurer.

We wish to thank all former leaders for their sterling work over the years, particularly Eleanor McGinty, Odette Masterson, Leasa Meenan, Irene McNally and Margaret Fairman (Cubs), Eileen O'Grady, Mary McHugh, Tom Meehan and Paul Connolly (Beavers) and Frank Feely, Helena Given, Michael Murphy, EdeI O'Neill, Mark Knox, Claire Bradley, who worked as leaders over the last five years and have now retired to follow other interests. We wish them well. Thanks to Teresa Culhane for her work in Beavers over the years and in particular for her guidance to the new Beaver team since September.

The Den is available for use by local organisations for a modest rent, provided the organisation has insurance cover. It is the home of the Community Play Group.