The origins of the scout movement in Gozo

Abstract

The Scout Movement in Gozo owes its beginning to Mr Carmelo Joseph Flores, a Maltese teacher at the Secondary School in Gozo. The first Scout Troop, known as The Gozo Secondary School Troop (No. 16), was set up on the 1st November 1916 and it was registered on the 24th November 1916. The Troop, with Mr Flores as Scoutmaster, was recognised officially by the Scout Association of Malta on the 26th December 1916. On the day of registration, the Troop consisted of 19 Scouts, but a year later, the number had increased to about 27. One of the first problems which the Troop had to face, was that of having a place where to hold its meetings. Through the intervention of W.C. Millard, Gozo Secretary for the Government, the Scouts were allocated a Government property at Triq Żenqa in the Citadel. Since 1890, this building had housed the archives of the Gozo Law Courts but it was then refurbished so that it could be used by the Scouts. This early experience of Scouting in Gozo is followed by a period during which there is no evidence of any form of Scouting activity on the island. The movement became popular again in the 1930s, when several Boy Scout Groups cropped up in Gozo namely Victoria, Lyceum, Għarb, Għasri, Żebbuġ, Xagħra, Xewkija, Għajnsielem and Nadur. A census on the number of Scouts in Malta, held in 1938, shows that in Gozo there were 359 Scouts in all: Għajnsielem 38, Għarb 37, Għasri 31, Lyceum 27, Nadur 68, Victoria 47, Xewkija 25, Xagħra 21 and Żebbuġ 15.