Sunday, 22th of June 2025, being the closest such to the longest day of the year, it was the Scouting Ireland Remembrance Day, where we gathered in Larch Hill, the national campsite of Scouting Ireland, to remember all those who have "gone home" from the Scouting Trail.
Days such as this one are both very important and are very special and we were honoured today with several guests, most especially the families, the friends and fellow Scouts of those who have "Gone Home", including sadly those who have done so, in the time since we last gathered at this time last year. Remembrance Day is organised by the Scouting Ireland Fellowship Patrol, a group of very dedicated and highly experienced Leaders, with fellowship and camaraderie at their core.
The day began with remembering, by laying a wreath, at the memorial in Larch Hill, the ship, R.M.S. Lancastria and its unique relationship with Larch Hill, but especially we remembered, the countless thousands of souls, many known only to God, who perished when it sank off Saint Nazare, France on the 17th of June 1940. The remembrance ceremony itself, is a very simple, dignified and solemn one, where symbols (namely, a rucksack, boots, a map and a compass) of the Scouting Trail (the journey of life), are placed beneath the flag, which is lowered to half mast. Later in the ceremony, some of those present, place stones around the flag and in the centre, in the "gone home" tracking symbol. Prayers, songs and readings / reflections, as well as silence, added greatly to the ceremony that afternoon, in the soft rain and spells of sunshine through the trees, at the lawn, in Larch Hill.
Those Scouts and Guides in Larch Hill and those throughout the island of Ireland today, are making memories that are yet to be, while this day, we gathered, we remembered and we paid our respects to those, whose memories we have and we hold.
Author: Charlie McGuinness
