Newly restarted Corryong Scouts Group has big goals for 2020

Fifty-one members were officially invested on Sunday after the group was restarted during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Among them was 11-year-old Teddy Byatt, who was glad to go from Zoom to physical meet-ups recently.

"I first started as a cub and on September 11 I became a scout - you have to be 11," he said.

"We were talking about what we wanted to do for Scouts [on Zoom].

"It was good to see friends again."

Northern region commissioner for Scouts Victoria Darren Leckie, who was recognised for 35 years' service, said it was heartening to see Corryong and Tallangatta start up again.

"I took the tree change on the 20th of December and moved up, with then bushfires, smoke and COVID - it's been quite the year," he said.

"We started this from a Facebook post in March while we were in lockdown.

"We had 12 by the end of the day and it grew from there - it shows there's such a need for it.

"It's one of the biggest groups in the Upper Murray district now."

Group leader Sarah Austin gave members their scarves in a ceremony attended by Chief Commissioner Rod Byrnes.

"I'm a little bit in awe of the support shown to the 1^st Corryong Scouts," she said.

"We have used the original scarf of the Corryong Scouts designed by Thomas Mitchell.

"We had the option of designing a new one, but while it was 11 years ago that we stopped, it doesn't stop us being the Corryong Scouts.

"We wanted to keep that tradition."

Members were gifted four new tents from a Scouts group in Melbourne that had learned of Corryong restarting.

Mr Byrnes said Scouts helped local communities thrive.

"I look forward to seeing great things from Corryong," he said.

Mr Leckie said Scouts would eventually like to return to their hall, which is currently being used by FoodShare.

"We've been using the Memorial Hall and it's a great size but there isn't storage for us to use," he said.

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"Getting back to the hall will be great, when that happens.

"Next year is going to be a huge one for scouting because the start of 2022 is the Australian Jamboree.

"We'll have around 17,000 scouts down near Bendigo for a 10 day camp.

"We'll be doing lots of activities to get them to the skill level to go, as well as fundraising activities to pay for them to go."