IT WAS the end of an era at Buckmore Park at Blue Bell Hill near Chatham at the weekend when hundreds of Scouts turned up for their final camp fire.

After more than 50 years at the centre the Scouts have had to move out.

It was a weekend of memories and sadness for the Scouts, families and friends who gathered around the camp fire for a final sing-song.

The crisis-hit £20m site, which includes the Buckmore Park Leisure Centre, will no longer be used by thousands of Scouts as years of legal wrangling over unpaid rent comes to an end.

Buckmore Park has been an exciting retreat for Scouts, Cubs and Beavers for half a century, but now the lengthy legal battle has come to an end after the Rochester Bridge Trust, which owns Buckmore Park, reached agreement with Scout leaders over clawing back the lease of 200-acre site. The Scouts will officially leave on Thursday this week.

Members of the public have not been able to use the sports centre for more than two years due to the legal squabbling.

The Scout movement has now been told to pack its bags and leave the site. The trust has offered them a 20-acre site nearby as an alternative.

Rosalinde Rafferty, who helps the Scouts at Buckmore Park, said: "We are absolutely devastated and we can't understand how it has come to this. We've been here for more than 50 years and it has always been used for Scouting.

"There have been huge complications and we have been pushed out the door. We had a huge camp fire on Saturday night as a farewell gesture. Our new site is totally unsuitable as it's just derelict."

The Rochester Bridge Trust is planning to work with commercial partners to re-open the leisure centre to the public.