View our archive photo’s/press cuttings from the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s or more recent photo’s from 2000 to date.

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The 5th Dartford Scout Troop was founded on the 4th December 1916 for boys aged between 11 and 16 years of age. Skipper Leigh was the Scoutmaster and weekly meetings were held in the Congregational Church Hall.  This first scout group later became known as the “Earley Troop”, so named after one of it’s former 1940’s members, Tich Earley.  

In 1922 Mr Willie Phillips became involved in the Scouts as an administrator and later as the Group Scout Master. From his own pocket he purchased a piece of land (an old chalk quarry) and a wooden hut which is still held in trust for the 5th Dartford.  

Willie Phillips continued in his role as Group Scout Master until 1951. During this time a senior section was added for lads aged between 16 and 18 years and also a Rover crew for 18 years and over. (Throughout the war years the group continued).  

In 1952 Mr Ernie Johnston took over as Group Scout Master and in 1953 a Cub Pack “Leigh Pack” was added to the group. By this time the wooden hut was in a sorry state and so fund raising was entered into with a view to building our hall. It took 3 years to raise the money for this project and building started in 1959. Our New Headquaters took 2 years to build and many hours of voluntary work was undertaken by parents and friends of the group.  

The years went by and the group had its ups and downs (membership was approximately 100 lads and leaders) until 1966 when the advanced party report came into being. Out went short trousers for Scouts and the Dib Dib Dobs for Cubs. Senior Scouts and Rover Scouts were disbanded and replaced by Venture Scouts aged between 16 and 20 years. Unfortunately we were not in a position at the time to form a Venture Unit.  

In 1972 another Cub pack “Collins Pack” was formed, closely followed by a third one “Phillips Pack” in 1975. These additions increased the group membership to approximately 120 lads and leaders.  

In 1975 Ernie Johnston our Group Scout Master vacated this post and moved on to become the District Commissioner. Mr Ron Peacock took on the task of the Group Scout Leader (1975-1983). During this time a male Venture Scout Unit was formed. This coupled with an expanding Scout Troop took our membership to 150 lads and leaders.  

In 1983 Richard (Dick) Medcalf took over as Group Scout Leader. January 1985 saw our male Venture Scout Unit granted permission to go mixed, which more than doubled its members. A new section was also formed – Beavers for lads aged between 6 and 8 years.  This first colony was named “Peacock Colony”, which proved so successful that a second Beaver Scout Colony “Philpot Colony” was formed in September 1985 closely followed by a second Scout Troop “Burne Troop” in January 1986.

In 2003, Venture Scouts were disbanded and replaced with Explorer Scouts for 14-18yr olds and Scout Network for 18-25’s.  Our newly formed Explorer Scout section later became known as the “Johnston Explorers” in memory of past Leader Ernie Johnston.

Sadly Ernie Johnston passed away on 21 May 2005 after 75 years continious scouting, broken only by his war service.

In 2009, after 16 years as GSL, Richard Medcalf sadly passed away after batteling ill health for a long time.  Richard was suceeded as GSL by Paul Boreham, who like Dick before him is a very active GSL and leads by example rather than behind a desk to motivate the leaders and young people alike.  As with most management roles, it’s difficult to focus on all areas without help and therefore Lyn Medcalf was apointed AGSL to oversee the cubs and younger members, leaving Paul to focus on the older sections.

Like many scout troops, we like to go camping as freequently as possible and irrespective of weather, we battle the elements and go out with a smile on our faces.  The one camp which everyone looksforward to however is the summer scout camp, where there are generally in excess of 50 in the party.  Below is a list of where we’ve been for the last few years and pictures can be seen in our photo archives:

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View our archive photo’s/press cuttings from the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s or recent photo’s from 2000 to date.

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