History
There is documentary evidence that there were Scouts in Birchington as early as 1910, three years after Robert Baden-Powell arranged the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island in 1907. The first Scout Troop was called 7th Margate and in 1916 had a membership of 29 boys. The Scout Leader was a Mr E J Gallup. In 1925, 7th Margate had started up a Cub Pack under the leadership of a Miss Rollings with the assistance of a Miss Fright. In that year there were 22 Scouts and 16 Cubs. Quite a strong group.
An interesting article appeared in the Woodfordian of December 1941: a Mr Hodges of Woodford House had been awarded the Scout Association's Medal of Merit for his service to our scout group since 1916. Mr Hodges held the position of Scoutmaster until the war when a Mr J Elmer of Grenham House School took over.
The 7th Margate Troop moved from the Primative Methodist Church to brand new premises in 1934-35. The land was donated by Alderman G B Farrar and the first stone was laid by Mrs Farrar. The building was completed in February 1935 at an approximate cost of £400. The troop at this time was known as 7th Margate and 1st Birchington. In 1948, the 7th Margate was dropped and the group became 1st Birchington.
In 1986, under the then Group Scout Leader Mr N Smith, the group became "Air Scouts" and started to learn about planes and flying. Since then 1st Birchington Air Scout Group has grown from strength to strength, regularly passing their 18 monthly Air Inspection by the RAF.
Today we have 13 Beavers, 18 Cubs, 15 Scouts, an affiliated Explorer section called Spitfires Air Explorer Unit and a fantastic team of Leaders, Assistants and Parent Helpers. Some that have been with the group for over 25 years.
