When you’ve been around for 100 years, you tend to collect a lot of memorabilia.

That’s exactly what has happened to the Loose Swiss Scout Troop, who are celebrating their centenary this year.

Their collection of old photos, flags, and carvings is usually shut up in the store rooms at their Pickering Street headquarters in Loose, but this year the troop is putting it all on display.

The week-long free event starts on Sunday, October 26, and runs till Saturday, November 1, from 10am to 4pm on the Saturday and Sunday, and from 2pm to 8pm the other days.

There will be a separate panel dedicated to each decade of the troop’s history that began in 1908, when Jack Barcham Green, later the owner of Hayle Mill in Tovil, founded the troop.

Among the items on display will be a Rover Scout hat from the 1950s, Mr Barcham Green’s original Scoutmaster’s Warrant signed by Lord Baden Powell, a Union flag embroidered by the boys at the 1913 camp in Birchington, and pics of various Cubs and Scouts across the years, including the boys on a Cub camp at Chainhurst in August 1965.

They were Keith Wright, Peter Stevens, Tony Galbraith, Andrew Sandham, Ian Longman, Kevin Tucker, Philip Brakefield, Christopher Owens, Ivan Bertram, Steven Wood, Paul Williams, Graham Heath, Martin Richardson, Barry Croft, Robert Stewart, Michael Dixon, Charles Koring, David Howell and Colin Lyle.

Group Scout Leader Trevor Gallavin said: “Some of those boys still live in the area today and we’d be delighted to see them pop along.”

n ARE you a former Swiss Scout? There will be a reunion for all former Scouts and leaders next Saturday, October 25, between 3pm and 10pm. The event will include a buffet tea. Those expecting to attend should register in advance with Audrey Beeching on 01622 820654.