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History

The Scout Group was originally started by the Reverend Bryn Jones, the curate at St Mary Magdalene’s in Pontygwaith and Fred Roberts in October 1942. The Group was based in a number of different premises in Pontygwaith over the years. Just after the war the Group linked up with the 21st Harrow Scout Group as a result of the “Hearth and Mine” scheme when Harrow war evacuees returned home from staying in Pontygwaith. In 1951 the then Senior Patrol Leader, Glanville Martin attended the seventh World Jamboree in Austria and received his Chief Scout Award from the Chief Scout, Lord Rowallan. The first Queens Scout Award, awarded in the Rhondda was presented to Roy Martin a member of our Group in 1958 by the then County Commissioner Christopher Cory, Lyndon Goddard also gained his Queen’s Scout Award in 1962. We also have a current leader of the Group that also holds the Queens Scouts Award, the highest award a Scout can gain.

With the need to expand the Group, the Group Committee were able to purchase a plot of land at Park View in Tylorstown to enable them to have premises of our own. The premises they occupied for number of years was a wooden hut. Tragedy truck the Group one night in October 1966 when the wooden hut was burnt to the ground. With the premises demolished by fire, the Group Committee set about fundraising to build a new headquarters for the Group. After a mammoth task the committee raised enough money to build our current headquarters. The premises were officially opened on November 30th 1968 by the then Chief Commissioner for Wales, Mr Christopher Cory.

When the new premises were opened, it was the intention of the Group to landscape the headquarters but with resources being limited, the grounds were never landscaped. It was to take the Group another twenty years to undertake a feasibility study into the cost of providing an activity area and car parking facilities. After various fundraising events and grants, the Group was able to undertake the landscaping and provision of car parking facilities on site. As a result of this we now have a lawned area, where the young people can use the area for their activities and a conservation area at the bottom of the grounds that encourage the young people to care for their environment.