About us
The 5th Medway Towns Scout Group are based at the Scout Hut on Beresford Avenue, Rochester, ME1 2QX and the group was founded in 1912. This makes us one of the oldest groups in the district and the country! Find more about our history below.
The group offers scouting to young people aged 6-18 with our Beaver colony, Cub pack, Scout troop and Explorer unit. The Explorer unit is nicknamed 'Direwolves' and Explorers also have the chance to work with younger sections as Young Leaders.
The 5th are very fortunate to own our own campsite on Blue Bell Hill named 'Glenway' and we are the only group in Medway to own our own campsite. This allows us to camp whenever we like at low costs and during the summer months we are often at Glenway every week! Find out more about Glenway on the dedicated page.
Group history
We were formed in 1912 and met at St Paul’s Church in Chatham, where we had Scouts and Rover Scouts. During both World War One and World War Two we contributed to the war effort by collecting newspapers for recycling - the group moved to the hall on Southill Road in Chatham during this time.
In the early 1950s we moved to the church hall on Neville Road, across the road to what became our HQ for the next 50 years. By this point we had Cubs, Scouts and Rover Scouts. We contributed financially to the building of Buckmore Park and the transformation of Baden Powell House in London which made us founding groups for both. In the early 1950s we were bequeathed a plot of land on the Kits Coty Estate which would become a place anybody linked to the group holds dear, Glenway.
As the years went on we went from strength to strength with members who had started as young boys going through the group section by section and becoming leaders with long service. 1986 saw the start of our very successful Beaver colony at our new premises at Beresford Avenue. The 90s saw the start of Trident Venture Scout unit and girls being allowed to join Scouts. 3 members of the unit achieved the Queen’s Scout Award. The Venture unit went on to become Direwolves Explorer Scout unit and have gone from strength to strength with members achieving the Queen and King’s Scout award, Chief Scout Platinum and Diamond award and the Explorer Belt as well as developing these young adults into future leaders of the sections of the group.
