The scouts have entered into their second centenary as they celebrated the 100th anniversary of their establishment yesterday.

It was on 1 August 1907, at 8am, that Lord Robert Baden-Powell blew his kudu horn to open his first camp at Brownsea Island.

Scout groups around the world commemorated the event by doing the same thing, renewing their Scout Promise at the exact same time.

The local ceremony was held on the Granaries in Floriana in the presence of President Eddie Fenech Adami and Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg.

Celebrations began earlier this year, while yesterday’s activities began early in the morning, with the sounding of an assembly call at 4.45am. This call was for the scouts to proceed to the Valletta breakwater to watch the “scouting sunrise”.

Following a bugle call and morning prayers, the scouts gathered at the Granaries and walked to the Centenary Gateway to “cross the line”.

The kudu horn was sounded after breakfast, to mark the scout movement’s entry into the second century. The scout promise renewal was followed by a short prayer service, just before the arrival of President Fenech Adami, the patron of the local scouts’ association.

The celebrations ended with the release of pigeons and helium-filled balloons. A group of scouts led by chief scout Vincent Cassar later visited a former chief scout commissioner, 90-year-old Anthony Azzopardi at the Gzira residence for the elderly.

More than 2,500 scouts form part of Malta’s 39 groups; of these 28 to 30 per cent are girls and about 500 are leaders. The scouting movement exists in 155 countries, with a total of 28 million members.

Celebrations in 2008 include an issue of a commemorative badge on Founder’s Day, the unveiling of a life-sized statue of Lord Baden-Powell at the Island Headquarters and a Commemorative Stamp issue.