The Earley-Troop, originally simply named the 5th Dartford Scout Troop, was established in 1916 and renamed in 1986 in honor of one of the great 5th Dartford characters and contributors – Tich Earley, (See if you can find him in our History pages).
We would like to think of ourselves as a lively, robust and competative troop and have a lot of fun being land Scouts and benefit from leaders with many years of scouting experience, with many activity permits and qualifications.
Some of our regular activities include, but not limited to Climbing, Abseiling, Boldering, Rifle & Pistol Target Shooting, Archery, Pioneering, Expeditions, Games, Cooking, Fire lighting, Axe & Saw, Gilwell Winter Camp, Bisley National Target Shooting Weekend, Back Woods Easter Camp, Group Summer Camp and 
more recently, the National Scout Archery Tournament/Camp.
Membership is welcomed from boys & girls aged between 10.5 & 14, but Cub Scouts may start to link to us a few weeks earlier. We mainly have our folk join / link to us from the Leigh Cub Pack or Phillips Cub Pack, however we also have others who join directly, having never been Cubs or Scouts before. Upon reaching the age of 14 we look to complete any outstanding badge work and then transition their move to the next section – Johnston Explorers.
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Earley Troop Leadership Team:
Jason O’Brien (Scout Leader): Jason@5thdartfordscouts.org.uk Tel: 07712 820 037
Louise Topliffe (Assistant Scout Leader):
Alternativly, for esculation:
Paul Boreham (GSL): Paul@5thdartfordscouts.org.uk
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Upcomming Events:
What have we done recently?:
- 2013-06-01 – County Gold Awards
Tonight Matt & James of the Earley-Troop attended a County presentation for the the Chief Scout Gold Award at Maling School, Maidstone. The VIP guest on this occasion was Tim Kidd, Chief Commissioner of England and the presentations were assisted by Dean Harding ACC Scouts. As always, Des Harris added some humor to the proceedings and James got the laugh of the evening when he volleyed one of Des’ jokes. 
Whilst at the presentation, James was also formally presented with his Kent Scout’s gold volunteer award, which recognises 100+ hrs of voluntary service to the community.
The following album captures a few highlights from the evening.
- 2013-05-31 – Chief Scout Gold Tonight 3 members of the 5th Dartford Scout Group’s Earley-Troop received their Chief Scout Gold Award. Matthew, James and Tom were presented with their awards by DC Paul Abel & DSL Wayne Tompkinson. This award is the highest attainable in the Scout section and represents a significant effort – very well done lads.
- 2013-05-11 – Archery Competition
National Archery Competition 2013 – Phasels Wood
For the second consecutive year 5th Dartford Scouts took part in the Scout National Archery competition at Phasels Wood Activity Centre, however with growing interest we doubled last entrance: 12 Scouts, 1 Explorer and 5 Leaders. This year saw the largest participant field of 397 competitors in the 20yard Target, Clout and Field competitions. During the times were waiting to compete the Scouts were able to use the excellent camp site facilities: Climbing, Zip-wire, Crate Staking, Trampolines as well as the assault course. Although not brilliant sunshine all the time, the weather was relatively kind to us enabling us to compete in the sun and have a dry pack away.The seven weeks training that we provided on a Tuesday evening before the event paid dividends with comments made by the Field Captains that all our participants were “knowledgeable, knew what they were doing and were excellent participants”. I am pleased to report that as well as everyone thoroughly enjoying the three different archery disciplines; James achieved 2nd Place u14 Fields Targets, Matthew achieved 2nd Place Clout u14, 1st Place 20yds Target u14 as well as highest scoring u14 in the category of ‘Supplied Equipment’ and won a compound bow for the group.
Many thanks to Gary, Lynn, Jim, Maggie and Jason for volunteering their time running the practice sessions coaching the scouts, Tim for being our first-aider and camp lead whilst at the competition.
Also a special mention to Kevin Wells, John and Pauline Butler who helped us set up camp on Friday evening and to Colin Hart helping us to unload and pack away the equipment on our return on Sunday. This was greatly appreciated by all of the leaders making it a whole lot easier for us to take the scouts camping and attending these sort of competitions.
I will look to post the final results of all our competitors once they have been released. If you have any photographs of the weekend please forward them to Paul@5thDartfordScouts.org.uk so that we collate them in to a presentation.
Paul Boreham
- 2013-05-03 – Volunteer Gold for James
Tonight, the Earley-Troop’s James was presented with is Kent Scout’s Gold Volunteer Award. This award, issued by Kent County, recognizes Scouts who have committed to volunteering in excess of 100 hours and James is the first of the 5th’s Scouts to achieve this. Well done James!
Any Scouts who have not yet started volunteering your time, please click here to see the requirements for the awards and to download the log sheet.
- 2013-05-04 – Community Challenge
Today, 4 members of the Earley-Troop completed their Community Challenge award, by doing some garden work for local resident Mrs. Hershfield. The lads were only too happy to spend their Saturday morning digging over the vegetable patch and pressure washing the drive clear of unsightly moss. A good deed done and a badge well earned.
Anti-bullying Policy, Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures
All members of the Earley Troop are expected to have respect for themselves and for other people. We have listed below the policy and codes that we have agreed with the scouts in one of our sessions. Parents or carers of our members are required to support these policies and to support the group, its officers and leaders in their implementation. The application of these policies and rules helps to ensure that everyone get the full benefit and enjoyment from membership of the Scout Association.
What we like and what we expect from our Leaders.
- We expect our Leaders to share what they know and provide a balanced and exciting programme.
- We want to do activities including Camping, Shooting, Climbing, Abseiling, Back Woods Cooking, Archery, Light Fires, Use Axes and Saws.
- We want to Make Friends, Gain Experience, Learn Skills, be part of a TEAM and do all this in a safe and fun environment.
- We understand and accept that in order to have the above, that we must agree to abide by our Code of Conduct.
Anti-bullying Policy
- We DO have respect for everyone as individuals, whatever their differences.
- We DO take bullying seriously, it’s not “just a bit of fun.”
- We DON’T accept any bullying behaviour including, but not limited to:
- Name-calling
- Physical violence
- Threats
- Being Left Out
- Spreading nasty rumours either in person, text, email or on Social Networking sites.
- Stealing, damaging or hiding other people’s possessions.
- Any other way of making people feel bad.
- We DO report any bullying we see, whoever it’s aimed at. It should be reported to a Leader or to someone else we trust like our Patrol Leader or a Young Leader.
- We DO take someone seriously if they tell us they’re being bullied, and we also don’t watch others being bullied without doing something about it.
- We DON’T just put up with bullying. We DO make sure something is done about it.
Code of Conduct
- We DO follow the Group’s Anti-bullying Policy.
- We DO have respect for ourselves, all other members of the Group and people who come to visit us.
- We DO come to Troop Meetings regularly.
- We DO wear our uniform respectfully, with pride and correctly for appropriate events such as flag break.
- We DO keep our Scout Promise and abide by the Scout Laws.
- We DO keep quiet if a Leader or Instructor is speaking to us and we DO listen to what he or she is saying.
- When at a flag break we DO stand still facing inwards to the circle.
- We DO remain quiet.
- We DO stand at Alert or PROPERLY at Ease and without leaning against the wall etc.
- We DO raise our hand and wait our turn if we wish to speak to the Leader in charge.
- We NEVER shout out, giggle or talk amongst ourselves.
- We DO keep our hands and feet to ourselves.
- We DO NOT push, pull, punch, kick, scratch, bite or physically abuse anyone else.
- We DO NOT throw objects at anyone or anything else unless it is part of an authorised activity.
- We DO listen carefully when rules of an activity are being explained.
- We DO NOT lie or cheat.
- We DO NOT deliberately cause damage or mess to property or equipment
- We NEVER spit or swear.
Disciplinary Procedures
1. If a Scout is being disruptive or not following the Rules of Conduct he will be given an official warning by a Leader.
2. If unacceptable behaviour continues in the same meeting, a Leader will give the Scout a second official warning.
3. If the unacceptable behaviour continues in the same meeting, the Scout will be excluded from participation for the remainder of the meeting and his parents will be informed of the behaviour at the end of the meeting. If the young person is unrepentant, a suspension from the following meeting may be issued.
4. A serious single incident (e.g. violence or threatening the personal safety of members) may also lead to an immediate suspension for the rest of that session and the next session.
5. A Leader will always notify a parent/guardian, informing them of the suspension.
6. On the occasion of the 3rd suspension of a Scout in any one term, the leader will consult with the Group Scout Leader (GSL) and request the young person be excluded from the Troop or indeed the 5th Dartford Scout Group.