A TROOP of scouts in Dun Laoghaire have helped to redesign and paint a new mural depicting typical scouting activities to replace an old mural, which has adorned the outside of their den since the 1990s.
Approximately 80 children between the ages of six and 15 who are members of the Dun Laoghaire 54th/88th scout group have been carrying out a project to revamp the mural which has been a feature of the front of its den on Patricks Street in Dun Laoghaire since the early 1990s.
The scouts teamed up with local artist, John Burton, who volunteered to design the new mural after the children told them about their ideas for the new project. The artist then drafted three designs for the mural and the scouts chose one of them.
Cavan based company Fleetwood paints also agreed to donate all the paint needed to undertake the project.
Ger Kearns, assistant group leader at the local scout group, explained that the creation of the new mural coincides with the local scout troop’s 80th anniversary year.
“We have been on Patrick Street on and off for the past 80 years,
? he said.
“This is actually our 80th year in Dun Laoghaire. The building has been there since 1977. Liam Cosgrave made his farewell speech to the nation from the doorway of the building.
“The mural had been touched up on and off over time but we decided to update the mural and we rang around to a few paint companies to see if they would help supply the paint needed for the project. The kids and the scout leaders have been working on it for the last four or five weekends.
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He said the children in the scout troop had effectively come up with ideas for an updated version of the old mural that were more representative of scouting activities in the 21st century.
“We have stripped away all the paint on the old mural, put on an undercoat, prepared the wall because it is on the outside of the upper half of the building and during the past three weeks we have painted the whole mural,
? he continued.
“The original mural depicted scouts of all different age groups out hiking. What we have done with the new one is it shows kids camping rather than hiking.
“It shows tents and kids sitting around a camp fire, and it shows a mountain and a lake. Some of the kids are cooking in it and some of them are going in and out of tents.
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In addition Mr Kearns said children in the scout group are continuously involved in doing positive work in the local community.
“The younger kids have got involved with the Tidy Towns in the clean ups along the seafront in Dun Laoghaire.
“The most recent thing that we did in conjunction with the Dun Laoghaire Business Association was that the younger kids were asked to go all around the town and judge the Halloween windows with all the displays. The kids interviewed a lot of the people in the shops and awarded a prize for the best Halloween window.
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Anyone who wants to find out more information about the scouts in Dun Laoghaire can log on to www.dunlaoghairescouts.com.