2011-06-27 – 777 Marathon Dates Published

Today, the 5th Dartford Scout Group’s Malcolm and Alex Medcalf released the dates for the start of their 777 marathon challenge and they’ve brought the challenge forward!!! The dates for all 7 stages are listed below, but the bar has now been raised with training intensified and the fundraising mill on full steam, but we still need all your support with raising funds, generating contacts and spreading the word.


Day 0 16th October 2011 Travel to Prague, Czech Republic
Day 1 17th October 2011 Prgue Marathon, Czech Republic
Day 2 18th October 2011 Bratislavia Marathon, Slovakia
Day 3 19th October 2011 Vienna Marathon, Austria
Day 4 20th October 2011 Nuremberg Marathon, Germany
Day 5 21st October 2011 Luxemberg Marathon
Day 6 22nd October 2011 Gravelines Marathon, France
Day 7 23rd October 2011 London to Dartford Marathon, UK


Who amongst you would like the oppertunity to run back to the hall with our champions on the last leg of the challenge?


Watch this space for more info……….

Raise Funds through Matched Giving

Many corporate firms offer employees the oppertunity to raise additional funds for their chosen charities through “Matched Giving” schemes. One such employer is Lloyds TSB and when Karen Hannah aproached them, they were happy to contribute. Karen said “I have applied for £1000 today from work – £500 for time spent fundraising and £500 matched giving as a result of the money raised on Family Camp. I know this is something that Paul has had success with from BT and I’m sure there are many parents and leaders across the Scout Group who could help; Just think – if we had 50 – that would put us up to nearly £100,000 !!!!”

2011-06-18 – Scout Triathlon

Today 6 members of the 5th Dartford Scout Group’s Earley troop competed in the district Scout Triathlon. The first leg of the event was the 2.5 mile run from Central Park out to the recycling point on Hawley Road and back, then 4 laps of the park by bicycle and finally 5 lengths of Fairfield pool.  Joey and James competed in the under 12 individual event doing all three legs and Kyle did the same in the over 12’s category.  In the team under 12’s, where each member takes on one leg of the event, William, Angus and Matthew joined forces.  Each of our participants did their very best and represented the 5th proudly.  The results have now been published and are as follows……..

Sunday 19th June – AGM/Activity Day

Sunday 19th June is the 5th Dartford Scout Group’s AGM  and Activity Day.  All invites and flyers have been handed out and we expect a wonderful turn out with the District representative, Mayor, leader of the council and other dignitaries all confirming their attendance. 

Burgers and refreshments will be on sale at very reasonable prices, so go easy on the breakfast and treat yourself 😉

May we remind all our members that we expect you to attend to help out and join in with the all the activities, which start at 11:00. 

We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Fundraising with BT Donate

BT’s My Donate now signed up to collect donations for the New Hall fund.  With BT’s My Donate facility, even more of your Gift Aided donation will reach our fund so please take a look and Thank you for your support.

2011-06-11 – District Scout Carnival

For the 5th Dartford Scout Group, Saturday’s District Carnival began at 08:00 with our trusty van the first on field, laden with all the poles, ropes and pulleys required to build the pioneering adventures for the young folk at Carnival.

All of our Beavers and Cubs sections took part in the parade, which was billed as “Musical Films” and we chose Bugsy Malone. Making excellent efforts to dress up as gangsters and boxers, our younger members paraded from the bandstand and through Dartford before returning to the park for the activities to begin.

Aside from a light lunchtime shower, the weather held out and was for the most part, a pleasant day with many hundreds of young adventures climbing our obstacles.  Our contribution to the carnival was further bolstered by our sales of sweets and pots of strawberries & cream, which sold out.

Our Five-a-Side football team played well throughout the afternoon and reached the semifinals, but sadly had to relinquish the title of district champions held since last year.

This was an excellent event to publicise Scouting within the community, so that everyone could see and, for a short time, take part in our adventure and for Scouts across the district to get together and network, whilst doing what we enjoy.

Here are a few pictures from our day, but if you have more………… please email media@5thdartfordscouts.org.uk

2011-06-05 – Power Kiting

Scouts and Leaders from the 5th Dartford Scout Group participated in a Power Kiting session run by the Kent Scouts Air Activities Team. The weather started off perfectly, with a good cloud cover and moderate winds and for the majority who had not tried this Adventurous activity before, the conditions were ideal and we were all keen to get stuck in.

The team of knowledgeable instructors were excellent and within a very short time had our novice flyers at a competent and confident level and after lunch the more experienced flyers took the oppertunity to try out the buggy’s too.  Alas the weather turned to rain and the wind speed dropped and it became impossible to keep the kites up so the decision was taken to finish an hour early, but everyone had a great session and then there’s always another time, which I suspect will be as well attended as today’s session.

Below are a few pictures, which show clearly how much fun was had by all on this excellent activity.

2011-06-03 – Chief Scout’s Gold Award

Today the 5th Dartford Scout Group’s Earley Troop celebrated as Jack Hannah and Dom Monteith were presented with their Chief Scout Gold Award at a ceremony held at the Mid Kent College, Gillingham, which was attended by other high achieving scouts from the County.  The awards were presented by David Hatcher, Former Police Chief Superintendent and presenter or BBCtv’s Crimewatch UK.  Jack and Dom were accompanied on the evening by their proud parents and enjoyed the entertainment and attention their achievement has brought them.

Scout leader Jason O’Brien said “I’m immensely proud of what these two fine scouts have achieved, they are role models for our younger scouts and a tribute to all that we hold dear in the Earley Troop – Well done lads.

2011-05-27/30 – Family Camp

Family Camp 2011 – Broadstone Warren.

This year we wanted to do something different compared to the last two family camps. Our aim was to demonstrate a different type of camping and to offer a wider set of activities. As a result we chose Broadstone Warren in the Ashdown Forrest, which allowed us to camp in amongst the trees and offered a set of activities never done before on a family camp.

Friday

The advanced party arrived in the morning to set up camp.  The area we were to camp on consisted of 3 individual clearings in the trees which were in close proximity to each other. Waiting at the corner of the main clearing were our four friendly Potraloos. More about them later!  The tranquil scene reminded me of Robin Hood a film with everyone diligently beavering away with the various tasks involved in setting up the camp. Although I am sure Robin never heard the dulcet sounds of his merry men saying. “That part of the floor of the clearing seems to be moving.” Then on closer inspection. “ Have you seen the size of those wood ants!”  Later followed by a phone call including the words “Dave, make that as much ant powder as you can lay your hands on”

Setting up camp went smoothly. There has always been a tradition in 5th Dartford Scouting to forget something for camp. This time it was a side of a party tent ,which was not much of a problem compared previous years. For my own part, to keep up the custom, I forgot my towel and hat!

Later around 6pm parents began arriving and setting up their tents. Most parents had a much better journey compared to the previous camp last year, when many were parked on the M25 for hours. Unfortunately one family broke down and had to wait for the AA. However, they did make it to camp. Quite a few people celebrated setting up the camp with fish and chips from the local chip shop.  You should have seen the queue caused by Stu and Dan with their “small order” for people from the camp. Well the 5th Dartford always like to make an impression.

The evening finished with the golden ticket draw for the activities over the next two day. For those who did not go to camp we had two types of activities gold and silver. (If you follow the links you can find out more information about the activities)

Abseiling climbing Silver
Aeroball   Gold
Air Rifles air rifles Silver
Archery archery Silver
Climbing climbing Silver
Crate Stacking crate_stacking Gold
Cube Course cube Gold
Gladiator Duel gladiator_duel Gold
Grass Sledging grass Gold
Human Table Football football Silver
Low Ropes low ropes Gold
Pot Holes pot holes Gold
Pushball   Gold
Rafting rafting Gold
Sumo Wrestling sumo Gold
Swimming swimming Silver
The Rack’ the rack Gold
Traverse Wall traverse Gold

 

For silver anyone could turn up and have ago. However, for gold we were limited so we came up with a lottery scheme which gave everyone a chance to go on two gold activities. This is the most activities we have ever tried to run on a family camp but as said before we wanted this camp to be different. I wanted people to try things they have never done on a camp before.

By the time we had worked out all the names it had gone 12:30 am. Quite a few people stayed up to the early hours of the morning exchanging stories over camp fires, just as scouting should be.

Saturday

One thing with any camp you are never sure how it will turn out is the weather. So as I opened the tent zip at 7:00 am to look out I was not sure what I would see. I am glad to say it was not raining. Instead I was confronted by the lovely aroma of bacon.  You see as part of the fundraising for the hall, bacon and sausage rolls were being sold in the main marquee. There was rather a brisk trade when I went in the Marquee, with quite a few families and leaders sampling the culinary delights served up by Karen and Maggie. Some people who will remain nameless cooked their own breakfast and then sneaked into to buy a bacon roll!

There were quite a few activities due to take place on Saturday. The first activity was the cube course which, started at 8:30 am. There seemed to be a lot of apprehension in some peoples face as they left to do the course. However, I can safely say “I counted them all out and I counted them all back”. Well okay I borrowed the phrase from Brain Hanrahan, but everyone said they had good time.

During the rest of the day the activities ran very smoothly. The climbing, abseiling and Archery ran by the Group leaders went really well, with lots of people taking part on these activities. At the traverse wall activity, we had lots of different ages trying to crisscross the wall. Best traverse climber has to go to little Gemma, who really showed up the Dads with superb her climbing skills. The afternoon saw potholing, swimming and human table football. I was amazed how many adults squeezed through the potholes, but I have to say the funniest activity of the day has to be the human table football.

The evening meal was spaghetti and pasta followed by apple pie and custard. It is no mean feat cooking for so many on camp, so well done Maggie, Liz and the rest. Following the evening meal Paul Boreham organised a wide game, whilst Ted and Hillary did a Quiz Evening for the Adults. For those who have never done a Ted Quiz the modern way to describe Ted’s questions are “Random”.

Sunday

Sunday was another action packed day of activities. This included sumo wrestling, grass sledging and the rack.

The rack is best described as a person becoming a Thunderbird puppet. They are lifted in the air by four people operating ropes. Although I have never heard a Thunderbird puppet complaining to its puppeteer about being stretched! Grass sledging went down really well. Well actually it was the adults who went down really well. Some of the speeds they notched up were truly amazing . Thank goodness for the gravel landing area.

The main activity of the day and also the most eagerly anticipated was the cardboard canoe race. This is a traditional 5th Dartford activity that we have been doing for quite a few years. I did chuckle to myself when on explaining to the site we would be doing this activity the following question was asked. “What are the cardboard canoes made of?” “Cardboard of course,” I replied. This year there were 19 entries, which was a new record. The winner of the race is the canoe which does the most laps of the lake. We also had a prize for the best decorated.

Following the cardboard canoe race we had a fantastic barbeque, followed by cake. What a great way to finish the evening.

Monday

Monday is always the saddest part of a family camp as this is the last day of the camp. The weather forecast gave rain for lunchtime so our aim was to be packed before the heavens opened. Everyone helped with breaking camp. This was a real help. We then finished with a flag break and that was it, camp over until the next time.

A camp like this takes a lot of planning and co-ordination once the camp is underway. This cannot be done by one person alone, so I would like the opportunity to thank everyone who helped. Without this help we could not of had such a brilliant camp.

GSL’s Footnote…….

What a super weekend, a great campsite, so many activities, so many people actively getting involved, offering help and assistance. I believe a great weekend where parents and children got involved and working as a group enjoying the great outdoors as Scouts.

I am sure you will all join me in thanking Tim for organising an excellent family camp, as well as showing our appreciation to all the leaders that made the well laid plans come to life. A special mention needs to go to Maggie heading up the catering team that provided excellent evening meals as well as Karen and the 777 fundraising for the new hall with breakfast rolls. See more 777 New hall fundraising details  on http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/777 or https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/5thdartfordscouts

It was great to hear all the interest and enthusiasms from parents asking when the next family camp will be, and whether that we can hold them twice a year, unfortunately not that soon. We (5th Dartford Scouts) run a pretty full programme and camp at least six times a year already, with the Dartford District Jamboree being scheduled for next year we are proposing the next family camp to be at Gilwell Park, Chingford on the Spring Bank Holiday 24-27th May 2013. However please don’t feel that you need to wait until then to get involved, please speak to myself or any of the leaders of how you can get involved with all the great activities we are involved with now.

Yours in Scouting

Paul Boreham

Group Scout Leader – 5th Dartford Scouts

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