The following is taken from the group's Annual Report for 1955.
ST. MICHAEL'S SCOUTS IN MALTA
Once again we made Scouting History by visiting Malta; this is the first time that a U.K. Troop has, on its own initiative, camped in any of the Queen’s territories overseas. An excellent report was published in “The Scout”, written by David Harwood, the Troop Leader of the Brentwood School Troop. The local Press also reported it. We can only give here the briefest mention. 21 Scouts and 3 Scouters of this Troop took part out of a total of 57. We travelled overland to Syracuse and then by the ”Star of Malta” mail steamer (formerly the Duke of Westminster’s private yacht). We spent a warm Palm Sunday on the shore of the Lake of Geneva at Vidy campo site, Lausanne. We rose early enough next day to pack tents, tidy up and catch a train at 6.50am for Milan, via the Simplon Tunnel and Lake Maggiore. After a short tour of this city, we resumed the journey, across the Plain of Lombardy, through the Apennine tunnel, Florence, Rome, Naples and the beautiful Calabrian coast, with distant views of the active volcano of Stromboli away to sea; over the straits of Messina, passing Taormina once again, with glimpses of our 1950 camp site; meeting once more Dr. Russo, the busy Commissioner for Catania; and at Syracuse revisiting the Greek theatre and the papyrus-girt Fountain of Arethusa.
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