In 1928, when the 1st Abercarn Scouts were formed, Mickey Mouse was making his debut in Steamboat Willie, women over 21 were given the vote and penicillin was discovered.

World wars have come and gone but still the Group has scouted on to celebrate 75 years of continuous existence.

"There might be Groups which started before ours but they have usually suffered an interruption for one reason or another," says Linda Terrell, who is Bagheera, or leader of the Cub pack.

"We have been Scouting for 75 years as a Group with a break.

"In fact, the Scouts were formed a year before, but by the time we realised that the time for a celebration was past."

It was on November 20, 1928 that the first Scouts, complete with the famous 'Mountie' hats and short trousers reaching to the knees and with their associated Cub pack, gathered at the old Wesleyan Church hall in Abercarn under the leadership of Acting Scoutmaster Britton J Jefferies.

By the mid-1930s the Group moved to Abercarn House at Chapel-of-Ease and shortly thereafter to the Old Post Office at Abercarn.

By 1937 it was housed in an increasingly rickety HQ in the High Street which was on the point of falling down by the time it moved into its present HQ on the Prince of Wales industrial estate.

And there, quietly, it has done really rather well. To the original Scout troop and Cub pack has been added a Beaver Colony and Explorer Scouts. A 'Group' is defined as the Scout troop plus Cubs, Venture Scouts. etc. For the Terrells the Group is a family affair with Linda Group Scout Leader in addition to her responsibility to the Cubs; David the Assistant District Commissioner for Beavers in Mid-Glamorgan (which includes Islwyn); their eldest son, Richard, 26, an Assistant District Commissioner; and Alan, their younger son, the Assistant Scout Leader.

"It all started for us when Richard wanted to join Abercarn Scouts," Linda says. We got more and more involved as parents until one day we found ourselves in uniform. Since then the Group has taken over almost as a full-time job.

"One day I was on a Scout training course at Aberdare when one of the tutors, who was a bit of a Scout historian, pointed to the title of the Group on my uniform and asked our Scout Association registration number which is 04794.

"He said this was a very early number and that the 1st Abercarn Group was among the oldest in Wales that was still functioning.

"When I came back I mentioned this to the family and Richard pointed out that if you counted back to 1928 from 2003 you got three-quarters of a century.

"When I told our committee it was unanimously decided that we couldn't let the occasion pass without a party."

The Boy Scout movement had its origins in the siege of Mafeking during the Boer War when the commander, Robert Baden-Powell, organised a corps of boys for general duties, the emphasis being on initiative and self-reliance rather than military drill. At the end of the war Baden-Powell applied the same principles to organising the South African Constabulary and in addition, grafted scouting units onto Boys' Brigade units.

A first camp of 'Boy Scouts' in 1907 at Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour gave encouraging results and soon, troops began to start up all over Britain. By the 1920s the movement was mushrooming, the 1st Abercarn being among the newly-formed groups.

"The Group, just like the Scouts in general, has moved with the times, but the basics are still there," David says.

"The big Mountie-type hats and the shorts went long ago and some of what used to be called Boy Scouts are in fact girls, but youngsters get the same sort of pleasure from Scouting that their fathers and grandfathers did.

"In an age of television and personal computers it is amazing how much pull the traditional things - the camp fire songs and storytelling, the pioneer work and outdoor pursuits in general - have.

"In fact, when we have a camp fire a large number of parents turn up. Health and safety has to be taken very seriously these days but it hasn't taken the fun out of Scouting."

As the 75th anniversary celebrations continued, Linda revealed that the South Wales Argus had played its part.

"When we found out that we were about to be 75 your Grassroots reporter for this area put a piece in the paper and before we knew it people were getting in touch," she said.

"One lady had a warrant card belonging to Mr Evan John, a founder-member and Mr Gary Powell of Cwmcarn and a Queen Scout himself, loaned memorabilia that had belonged to his father Roy who was a founding Scouter.

"People who have been wondering what to do with old Scouting memorabilia have been coming forward with items that they have kept for sentimental reasons. It has been thrilling for us to be able to handle material which is so much a part of our history."

For some years Scouting, in common with other youth movements, went out of fashion. Now, with diligence and discipline seen as virtues by parents who want the best for their children, membership rolls are growing again.

"We are on the look-out for parent helpers, though. Everyone has a skill that can be used to help enrich young lives," David says.

"There is a vetting procedure but training is spread out and not intrusive. Parents with something to offer can get involved from day one."

Semaphore and smoke signals might have given way to the mobile 'phone but the basics of Scouting are refreshingly unchanged.