St Matthews Scout Troop
My Name is Jack Bresslaw and I am very proud to the be the Scout Leader of the 8th Hornchurch St Matthew’s Troop which I believe is the best Troop around.
We meet every Monday at the 8th Hornchurch Scout HQ Chelmsford Drive between 19-30 and 21-30.
Our Troop
Like all Scout troops, ours is for adolescents who are at least 10 ½ to 14 years old, have a strong desire to have fun, learn new skills, and have an adventurous spirit.
We take pride in making Scouting enjoyable for both adults and scouts. We do this by engaging them in a wide range of activities that will quench their curiosity and teach them life skills.
In addition to weekly meetings and regular camping trips, we emphasise top awards, such as the Chief Scout's Gold Award, which helps the Scouts acquire the skill set required to accomplish the Duke of Edinburgh Award after Scouts.
We aim to offer at least six camps annually and provide the chance to earn and award at least three badges per term in addition to the top Chief Scout Gold Award.
The dates of our upcoming camps can be found in our online calendar for more details please see the Program and Events Calendar section of this document or on the Scout Website **calendar web link**.
Please speak to a leader on a Troop night if you are a current scout and you are not on the Whatsapp group or Facebook group.
Troop Nights
We try very hard to arrange a fun and varied range of troop nights across the term. There will always be a theme for the term and our programs will be new and exciting with lots of fun activities. On occations there will some presentations/training to complete some Chief Scout Challenge badge requirements however these are kept to a minimum. You find more details of future and past programs in the Program and Events Calendar section of this document or on the Scout Website **calendar web link**.
At the end of each term or start of the following term we hold an review and awards night where there is a slide show of photos from the term and we award all the badges awarded throughout the term. Our latest slide show is below and a history of slides can be found at *web page*
Our troop is run entirely by volunteers. Invariably this is more than the 2 hours a week meeting they are always rewarded with fun and achievement and the odd cup of tea.
For more information about me and my assistants in the in the Leaders section of this document or on the group webpage www.8thhornchurch.org.uk/stgeorges/LeadersDetails.
If you would like to help out even in a small way please speak to a leader about volunteering. I promise you that we will not put any pressure to do any more than you want to and a Scout never breaks a promise!
We expect the Scouts to be respectful to everyone and try and follow the Scout Promise and Law as much as possible, please see the Promise and Law Section of this document or our Scout Law Webpage **webpage**. In addition to the Scout Promise and Law we have a code of Conduct which we ask the Scouts to follow and these can be found in Code of Conduct section ** web page**
Camps and other Events
As a leader team we believe that for Scout to be proper Scouts and learn the most they need to be out on the open air camping as much as possible.
Our camps are normally run in conjunction with our sister Troops (St Andrews Troop and St Georges).
We typically camp outside in tents and camp all year round in the UK and on occasions abroad. We believe that camps appeals to the Scouts sense of adventure and foster a fantastic team spirit and sense of an achievement. It is very important that the Scouts are properly equipped for camps and therefore we have a enclosed in the this document in section camping and equipment advice also found on the Troop web sites *** camping advice ***.
You find more details of future and past camp in the Program and Events Calendar section of this document or on the Scout Website **calendar web link**.
We are church sponsored group and therefore request Scout attend Church parades at St Andrews Church https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/6433/ on the 4th Sunday of most month (January, March, May, June, July, September, October, November, December) from 10:00 to 11:15. In February we meet at our HQ for a group Scouts own. In April we go to the District St Georges Day Parade. In addition, some Scouts attend the Hornchurch Remembrance Day Parade.
I hope you enjoy finding out our about our troop and hope you found this document / web page informative. If you have any questions please speak to a leader on a Troop night.
Yours in Scouting
Jack Bresslaw
