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This year the Scout Movement celebrates the 75th Anniversary of the historic camp on Brownsea Island, Dorset, when Major— General Robert Baden Powell put to the test his idea for training young people in responsible citizenship. There were twenty boys at that camp. Today there are over 644000 members of the Movement in the United Kingdom and over 16 million members around the world.

Baden—Powell's ideas are basically simple. They are that young people will accept responsibility given good adult leadership, that they enjoy fun and adventure and that they like to be doing things as a member of a "gang". This is as true today as it was in 1907 and it is very evident that the cast of tonight's show enjoy working together as a gang.

The Movement has changed with the times and now offers its members activities and training commensurate with the area in which they live. The Middlesbrough Gang Show has changed too in that, this year, it offers you even better family entertainment. The professionalism of the team both front and backstage has long been accepted by Middlesbrough audiences and is a tribute to the gang spirit on which the Founder based his ideas.

In this "Year of the Scout" I should like to thank all the members of this year's Gang Show for once again putting their Scout training to such good use in entertaining you. I hope that you will sit back and enjoy yourselves and, like me, look forward to many more years of meeting the Gang.

Simon A.E. Pilley
County Commissioner