Throughout the early half of the twentieth century a single textile firm run by the Fox Brothers was the main source of employment in Wellington.
In approximately 1900, two of the elderly ladies from this family decided that there was nothing for the youth of the town to do and were fed up of seeing then hanging around on the streets. They asked a young man, John Exton, who was employed by the family, to start a youth group to solve this problem. This he did, and with the backing of the most influential people in the town, it obviously flourished.

Shortly after the formation of the Scout Movement in 1908, the headmaster of Corams Lane School in Wellington came across a copy of Robert Baden-Powell's book Scouting For Boys and he and several lads were inspired to set up a patrol under the leadership of one of the pupils, Jim Williams.

John Exton then converted his youth group into a Scout Group - 1st Wellington Scout Group, he then became the Scoutmaster and they continued to meet at Corams Lane School.

They had little in the way of uniforms except a stave marked off in feet and inches, and there was no transport to take them around the countryside. When they went to camps at Ilfracombe and Blue Anchor they walked all the way, pushing their gear on a handcart.

In 1920 some members of the Group attended the first Scout Jamboree at Olympia in London, and in 1934 two teenagers, Tom Talbot and Philip Heal, walked all the way from Wellington to London to help re-launch the Group after interest in Scouting had dropped off. They were successful and membership rose to 20 within a few months.

During the 1930s the Scouts met in a hall off Fore Street. The hall is still standing today but in poor state of repair, it can be accessed between what is now The Larder Shop and Amaze Antiques.

Later they met in a tin hut at Church Green. Little is known of this period of the Groups history.

In the 1967 the Scout Group obtained a wooden hut in the ground of a local residential home. The ground was rented to them by the owner, a keen supporter of the Scouts, at £1 a year rent. The lease lasting 30 years.

In 1994 the current owner, and son of the original owner, of the residential home decided that he wished to expand the home and the Scouts lease of the ground was not renewed. The Group left this hut in September 1995 after being in that location for approximately 33 years.

Homeless the Group started meeting in the local town community centre, whilst negotiations continued over a site for the new Group HQ. Late 1995 the Group secured a plot of land and a Lottery Grant to build a new HQ. However after problems with the land the Group decided to purchase an old building in the middle of the town. This building, being over a century old, was in need of many repairs. Half the lottery grant was used to purchase the property and the remainder, plus many other grants, were used to renovate the building.

The building had been many things in its life, in the 30's and 50's it was a dance hall, after the war it became the towns first cinema, and then in its later years it was used as a warehouse for a local photography company - Kenyons Photography. It is now a Scout Headquarters and is also available for community use. The Group own the property and the land outright and therefore should be in situ for some time to come.