HISTORY
The Group was first formed on 24th August 1924 and was known as the 1st Borstal Scout Group and had a
In December 1928 the Group was re-registered at Imperial Headquarters and is shown as the 24th Medway (Borstal) it was given a new registration number of 9096.
Names of officers of the Group in those early days include: Col. Bull; George Petts; J.E. Barbridge; N. Holloway; R.J. Scott; C.H. Neal; C. Larkin; L.E. Dawes; Miss Killick; Miss Owen and A.A. Smith.
All of the above played their part in keeping the Group alive although I have no record of what their roles were within the Group. Likewise the Group's meeting place has moved around the village of Borstal over the years: Manor Lane; Factory Farm; Borstal Road; Borstal Street; then, in 1948, Cookham Hill with a purpose built building that cost £1,250 to build and 25/- (£1.25p) per week to run! Sometime in the late 1960's or early 1970's the Group relocated once more to its present site in Warwick Crescent, Borstal, under the M2 Motorway Bridge on the south-eastern bank of the River Medway.
There was a short period of uncertainty about our tenure of the land under the motorway due to plans to widen the motorway and also take the high speed railway across the River Medway. However all things worked out well and all of the disruption caused by the building of a new road and rail bridges happened upstream of us. The only inconvenience was when we had to keep away for a few weeks in the summer when they trimmed part of the emergency roadways off of the sides of the bridge.
We were granted a new lease on the completion of the works and all of the money that we had managed to save, in case we needed to find a new home, was now available to spend on refurbishing the building instead.
On went a new roof and in went new toilets, including a disabled facility; gas fired central heating and hot water - oh what luxury; we could now wash up without having to boil kettles! We also cleared out the two store rooms and turned one into a Leader's Room and the other is still used as a store, but it is kept tidy. All of the equipment and other stuff was consigned to the container in the yard.
We are quite proud of the fact that we manage to keep our weekly subs to a very reasonable level. This is due to our fund raising activities as a Group; we depend on parental assistance with our fund raising so that we can continue to keep things that.