Gillingham District Badge
Way back in 1977 Gillingham Scout District decided that it wanted its own badge and so asked its members to submit designs. Many came from the Cub section, (there weren't Beavers then), some from the Scout section and a few from Leaders. As always with making a choice, a lot of “uumming” and “aarring” took place and the eventual winning design, co-joined with the Kent County Scout badge, is now the one we all wear (shown below). It was the brain-child of a Leader, who was then with the 22nd, by the name of Tony Hall.
Its make-up consists of the head of the Invicta horse from the County badge, representing Kent Scouts. The crown collar, representing the Royal Naval Dockyard, that was closed in 1984. The sword, representing Gillingham as a garrison town but now only has the Royal Engineers barracks at Brompton. Gillingham Business Park has been built on the grounds that at one time was the site for the barracks of the Devon and Dorset regiment. They even had a Cub Pack, known as the 6th and it was a bit of a challenge to get past the sentry on the gate when making a Pack visit However, it was very useful on occasions to be able to use their facilities and grounds for Scout training programmes. Finally, the fish tail was taken from the coat of arms, representing the Borough of Gillingham before it was merged into the Medway Towns. So you see, if you have taken a look, it tells the story of a little bit of local history being depicted on ‘our’ badge.
