Scout House service pins honour 30 year membership era

More than 30 Preston Scout House Band members will receive long service pins or plaques recognizing their involvement in the Band’s alumni era, beginning in 1993, during a free Community Open House on June 24. The awards mark five-year intervals in continuous membership. Members with 25 and 30 years of service will receive a personalized plaque.

Scout House is celebrating its 85th anniversary year in 2023. Members will receive their awards in a ceremony to take place about 4 pm during the Open House. They are:

5 Years
Laura Ehrlich, Sarah Ehrlich, Noah Larocque, Rhiannon McCarthy-Dodig
10 Years
Irene Adeney, Daniel Doucette, Roberta Ellington, Terry Ellison, Bill Graham, Larry Jutzi, Jim Kennedy, Cheryl Riley, Al Wolfenberg
15 years
Geoff Adeney, Rob Devos, Doug McHaffie. Pat McMahon, Neal Titford, Danny Young
20 Years
Norm Courneyea, Val Courneyea, Gord Cupskey, Ray Hallman, Christy Mackay, Lynne Musselman, Brian Pugh, Roy Wilson
25 Years
Roger Craig, John Haines, George McHugh
30 Years
Gary Tones, Nancy Weiler, Mike Young

The Open House, at Preston Royal Canadian Legion Branch 126, 334 Westminster Drive North on Saturday, June 24 from 1 to 7 pm, will include comprehensive video and slide show productions along with extensive displays of memorabilia, contest and travel highlights throughout the organization’s 85 years of community activity.

The Open House will also offer a wide array of posters, pictures, programs, championship flags, opportunities for socializing, presentation of youth music scholarships and long service pins, souvenir anniversary buttons and a selection of Scout House collectibles to take home. There will be a cash bar and outdoor barbecue.

The event will celebrate not just the Band’s activities and legacy, but also highlight the history of the five member groups included in the Scout House family over the past 30 years.

Scout House is also celebrating another community milestone this year: the 50th anniversary of the City of Cambridge. The city was formed when Galt, Preston, Hespeler, and the Village of Blair were amalgamated in January 1973.

The internationally famous Preston Scout House Band began as an innovative new activity for members of the 1st Preston Scout Troop under the direction of local pharmacist and scoutmaster Wilf Blum. First rehearsals with instruments purchased through donations by local business leaders took place in the fall of 1938. By the mid-1950s, Scout House Band had grown to become one of the most successful and popular drum and bugle corps in North America.

Preston Scout House Band, Inc. is a non-profit corporation with registered charity status able to issue tax receipts to donors, incorporated under the Corporations Act of the Province of Ontario on November 29, 1956.

For more information about Preston Scout House Band Inc. activities, contact telephone (519) 653-3376, email PSHBAND [dot] INC [at] outlook [dot] com