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Till The Mountains Disappear Josephian Scouting : A Retrospect  by Jeremy De Lima Source:tillthemountainsdisappear The Scouting movement which now spans 216 countries with over 38 million members was started in 1908 by Robert Baden-Powell, (later Lord) a British Military hero in the 1900 South African war. Under the aegis of one of our greatest Rectors, Rev Fr Peter Pillai OMI, the first Catholic Scout troop in Sri Lanka, began at Darley Road in 1949. Using his good-given second-sight, he was appointed as our first Group Scout Leader, the Rev. Fr Henk Schram OMI, a Rover scout back in his home town was in Holland. Our fledgling group starts to take wing, ably assisted by Mr Francis Naidu (alias the “Black Panther”), seconded from 1st Port of Colombo. In August 1949 we made our public debut at the Group Scout Camporee and Pageant, held at the Royal Primary Oval in Colombo. ...