Scouts and guides on parade

More than 300 members of the organisations took part in the annual St George's Day parade.

Sunday's occasion saw a large crowd in the town centre watching as the young people marched past with their standards flying.

Their route took them from Edward Bryant Primary School in London Road along the shopping precinct into the High Street and on to Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Clarence Road.

A church service led by the church's Canon Dennis Barry and the Rev John Gordon, of the United Reformed Church, included the renewal of the scouting and guiding promise by all the youngsters and adults present. The large congregation said the seven scout's law prayers as well.

The service also featured a presentation by a Scouting county commissioner, Anthony Cleall, of certificates to two brothers from 1st Pagham and Aldwick Scouts who lit the candles for Scouts and Cubs at a special service at Chichester Cathedral last month to celebrate a hundred years of scouting.

Bognor district Scout commissioner Vicky Hennessy said the occasion provided another fitting event to mark the first century of the movement.

'There were about 180 scouts there and some 150 guides,' she stated.

'It was a lovely parade and it was good to see so many people in the town centre watching us.'

A collection during the church service raised 202.30 for the National Society of Epilepsy in memory of Richard Shimell. He was a son of one of the scout leaders around the town who died from the condition just before Christmas.