The great scout camp of 1977 – Ardmore, County Waterford

Ger Corrigan shares some of his memories of the Nenagh Scouts trip to Ardmore in 1977.

Recently, while watching the TV miniseries Roots, a series my parents deemed inappropriate for my innocent eyes back in 1977, it triggered memories of what can only be described as innocent cultural misappropriation. Hold tight and I shall explain later!

Indulge me and permit me to take you back to 1977. We had one TV channel and very little of what one might call entertainment. In between Radharc, Amuigh Faoin Spéir, Féach and Closedown we were treated to episodes of those Polish cartoon legends Lolek and Bolek. Let’s be honest, things were grim. If you weren’t going to Mass, confession, devotions, confraternity or missions regularly, there was little else to do. Between book bannings, film bannings and bishops letters to RTÉ at the mere suggestion of a reference to sex, Ireland was truly a dark, dim, repressed, backward and wholly ignorant place.

Let’s go back to 1977: Jack Lynch had just swept in to power in a landslide election victory. This was a beautiful time when people still referred to Fine Gael supporters as Blueshirts. The old Blueshirts, they get a hard time, but they were only trying to keep us safe from the communists.

Prices were kinda strange. The price of a pint of Guinness was 39p. A box of cornflakes was 26 and a half p and a gallon of petrol, 93p. These prices were subject to government control, a bit like communist Russia. We were all afraid of nuclear war. We were also very anxious that Gay Byrne would move to America and leave us with no Late Late Show. They were tough times!

BEAUTY OF THE SCOUTS

I joined the Boy Scouts in Nenagh in 1977 and I was delighted with myself. Over the moon!

In July we were advised that we would be going on camp to Ardmore in County Waterford for a week; we would be leaving the Scouts Hall in Nenagh on a Saturday morning in early August.

It is hard to describe how much I was looking forward to this. I had just finished primary school and was about to have this amazing life adventure before I started secondary school. The beauty of the scouts was that there were boys as young as myself and boys as old as 18. Some of the older lads were just great characters, great craic and all were very kind to the younger lads.

That Saturday morning in early August arrived and over 40 of us boarded a bus outside the Scouts Hall and got ready to depart. There were anxious parents hugging their little scouts and I was very little, while the older lads were sniggering.

We boarded the bus and pulled away and waved back to our parents. The bus journey seemed to take forever but for many of us, this was all new so we savoured the journey. There was singing, banter, stops for wee-wees and it soon became clear that the older lads , the Leaving Cert lads ran the show and were not to be disrespected.

We arrived in to the beautiful village of Ardmore in the early afternoon and about half a mile from the village we pulled in to a field. We emptied the bus of personnel and scout troop equipment, and we got to work in our individual patrols (your patrol was the group you were in).

We erected our tents; each patrol had their own tent and I was fortunate that only four of our patrol were on this camp. There was me and three other 18-year-olds who had what I can only describe as very big personalities.

I felt privileged to be in this group. They were really intelligent funny lads and they took the piss out of me in the kindest of ways. They showed me how to play poker, gave me an overview of who they considered to be the most attractive ladies of Nenagh and its neighbourhood, and asked me if I had ever tasted snakebite, which I understand to be a mixture of lager and cider. They did not offer or consume snakebite in my company, but I was charmed that they deemed me worthy to involve me in the conversation.

JOYFUL CAMARADERIE

We then had to prepare dinner, on an open camp fire; each individual patrol leader took responsibility for this and we all helped. We peeled potatoes and boiled bacon, peeled carrots and a few hours later had conjured up a magnificent meal, its taste enhanced by the open air.

We tidied up put out the fire, washed all the utensils and then in an open area away from all the tents, 45 of us and our two scout leaders built an enormous camp fire. I mean, enormous - it was 15 feet in diameter.

Just as twilight yielded to darkness, the fire lit up the field and the skyline. All of us selected a block of wood or a rock and sat around the fire. It was magical to see the fire reflected in the eyes of all our fellow scouts. Our two wonderful scout leaders, truly magnificent gentlemen started the singing and I was consumed by the atmosphere, camaraderie and sheer joyfulness of the moment.

As the fire burned brighter, one could not but feel and sense the sheer companionship. I remember as one song ended, another would automatically start; there was a natural timing.

The funniest memory I have however was when the singing stopped and one of the older lads, an incredible wit, said he wished to tell a ghost story. The atmosphere was perfect, the fire was casting shadows everywhere and he started his tale of the paranormal.

‘JAMBORORA’

The reason we were in the area in the first place was to attend the ‘Jamborora’, which was an international event celebrating 50 years of scouting. It was hosted in Mount Mellary and we attended it for one day. We arrived and were amazed to see acres of international scouts displaying scouting innovations that were eye watering.

We marvelled at feats of outdoor living engineering, gazebos put together with rope and tree branches, barbeques that were constructed from stone. Canadians, Australians, Americans, Germans, British resplendent in colourful uniforms, state of the art tents and equipment that exceeded the entire collateral of the Irish Army. It was a wonderful scene to behold.

We left Mount Mellary impressed in the clear knowledge that we had many opportunities to improve.

The week really flew by and we packed up and went home and we were picked up outside the Scouts Hall.

reunion appeal

I am hoping to host a virtual reunion of the Ardmore Scout Camp of 1977 by Zoom in January and I would be grateful to hear from anyone interested in participating. I am contactable by email at the following address - corriganbrothersmusic@gmail.com.