Over 4,000 Boy Scouts and Girl Guides converged in Floriana and Valletta yesterday for their seventh joint parade.

Yesterday’s parade comprised no less than 39 Scout groups and 30 Guide companies marching in district order – with the North District leading the South, Central and Gozo Districts respectively.

This year also marks the centenary of the worldwide Scout Movement, which was founded on 1 August 1907.

The event began with a thanksgiving Holy Mass celebrated at St Publius Church, Floriana by Floriana parish priest Fr Richard Borg, who was assisted by Fr Anton Briffa – Commissioner for Religious Dimensions of Malta’s Scout Association.

Following the Mass, the Scout groups and Guide companies assembled for the parade at the Floriana Granaries in the prescribed order and headed over to Valletta, where they marched through City Gate, down Republic Street, into Archbishop Street and up Merchants Street.

The new Beavers Section within the Maltese Scout Association, meanwhile, made its first official appearance yesterday.

President Eddie Fenech Adami and Mary Fenech Adami, patrons of the respective associations, accompanied by the Chief Scout and the President of the Girl Guides Association, were saluted in Palace Square before the event drew to a close.