The eagle-eyed of you out there may have noticed that since the AGM the District team have been sporting a brand-new neckerchief and some Gravesham Scouts branded clothing. This is because we decided it was about time the District, once again, had its own identity!
Once again?? Yes… Graveshams District necker hasn’t always been the UK necker that the team has been wearing for a number of years now and over time we lost a little bit of Gravesham by moving to the generic Navy, Red and White combo with a Union Flag on the back design. However that is no longer the case, we now have our very own brown neckerchief with red and white edging and a glorious shrimp on the back.
So, we know the question on so many lips is… Why the brown?
The simple answer is ‘history’. If I was to take you in a time machine (Fraser let us briefly have one on the District budget) back to the 19th century and Bawley Bay down on the riverfront in Gravesend, I could show you some Shrimpers (fishermen of sorts). These Shrimpers would be out on their Bawley Boats in the Thames catching Brown Shrimp, which they would then cook (normally boil) before returning to shore and bringing their haul to Gravesend Market or one of the various, family run, shrimp merchants (yes they were a thing) to sell to the townsfolk of Gravesend.
The Bawley boats were moored in Gravesend up until the 1950’s and brown shrimps were seen as something of a delicacy too. At one point there were more than 100 of these Bawley Boats operating out of Gravesend.
The iconic nature of the industry the brown shrimp brought to the town, lived on in one of the local breweries - Russell’s Gravesend Brewery, in West Street, as it was once the producer of ‘Shrimp Brand Beer’ and old fashions signs around the town on various buildings that once were public houses the brand can still be seen.
The ‘brown’ is part of our heritage as a town, linking back to the great industry that Gravesend used to be famous for in days gone by as a fisherman's town. And this isn’t the first time we have had a brown necker either. So, the new design moves us forward with links to the county (the red and white) but also respecting our history in the brown and with the shrimp… that is why the brown.
As for the District clothing you have seen the team wearing, keep watching this space as we will be looking to make this available on a wider basis to members of the District in due course.
Dave Norris
Programme Team Lead
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