From 1912 to 1967 the organisation’s name was The Boy Scouts Association and until 1976 only boys were allowed to join. In 1976, the Venture Scout section was opened up to girls and in 1991 girls were allowed to join all the other sections. It was not however until 2007 that all Scout Groups were required to admit girls as well as boys.
Ajax welcomed girls into the Venture Sea Scout Unit in 1984 and into the Beaver, Cub and Sea Scout sections in 2001. Since then the number of girls has increased steadily. The Water Activities Centre was originally designed solely for boys and as a result the changing facilities are now inadequate. A number of different solutions are under consideration and this is currently the biggest issue for the leaders and the Group Executive Committee.
This is an edited excerpt of George Barber’s “70 Years of Ajax and 65 Years an Ajaccio”, first published in the 2018 Ajax Group Annual Report