4,000 Scouts and Guides to attend annual parade

Some 4,000 Boy Scouts and Girl Guides will hold their annual parade in Valletta this morning.

The activity, being held jointly by the Scout Association of Malta and the Malta Girl Guides Association, starts with Mass at St Publius parish church in Floriana at 9 a.m. The parade will march off from the Granaries into Valletta by 10.30 a.m.

Taking part will be 40 Scout groups and 30 Guide companies including 11 Scout bands. Air and Sea Scouts will also take part, the St Augustine Air Scout Group will march with the Central District and the Msida Sea Scout Group with the North District.

Some members of the Girl Guide Association will be marching with their new uniform, which will be gradually introduced across their members in the coming months.

This year the association is hoping to host the Commonwealth Chief Commissioners' Conference in June.

And the Scout Association of Malta has this year decided to lower the entry age from seven to five years and will in the coming months be taking various decisions to formally introduce these new members as Scouts.