Our Group is registered for both the Sainsbury's Active Kids Voucher Scheme and the Tesco for Schools and Clubs Scheme. We hope that you will be able to support us by donating your vouchers to the Group. Please pass them to any of the leaders at one of our section meetings. We are also collecting old DVDs and CDs. These can also be passed to any of the leaders. Thank you for your help.
Orsett Scout Group was originally formed in 1919 and was sponsored by Mrs (later to become Lady) Whitmore and was known as the 1st Orsett Mrs Whitmore’s Own Scout Group. Numbers grew and a wolf cub pack was added. The Group was successful until the start of the 2nd World War when meetings were suspended.
The Group did not reform until 1965 with the formation of a wolf (soon to become cub) pack. A scout troop was formed fairly shortly afterwards but this closed down during the mid 1970s and did not reform until the early 1980’s when Jo Cooper joined the Group as Group Scout Leader and reformed the Troop. A Beaver Scout Colony was formed in 1984 and the Group continued to develop, meeting in the congregational Church Hall.
In 1997, the Group received potentially devastating news when the church informed us that the Hall was going to be demolished along with the Church as they had both reached the end of their useful life. The Group had only 9 months to find a new meeting place. Money was offered by Hew Watt to enable the purchase and building of a new hall but securing a piece of land proved very difficult. Out of the blue, the Group was offered a brand new hall on the Bonners Estate which had been built as part of a new housing development. For the grand sum of £1, the Group took proud possession of its own headquarters, named it Whitmore Hall and has not looked back.
The last five years have been ones of rapid growth with the formation of new sections within Orsett ( Falcons Beaver Scouts in October 2006, Tigers Cub Scouts in October 2007, Cooper Scout Troop in January 2009) and an expansion into Bulphan. (leopards Cub Scouts in October 2008, Osprey Beaver Scouts in October 2009 and Petre Scout Troop in October 2010) As a result of this, the Group was renamed Orsett & Bulphan Scout Group in October 2008.
These are very exciting times for the Group with numbers now reaching over 190 which is a growth rate of over 150 % over the past five years.
