1st Bridlington Scouts-The winners of our Community Clean Up competition

All’s well that ends well!

We were thrilled to handover £500 to 1st Bridlington Scout Group, the winning group of our Scout Community Clean Up competition. We were even more pleased to also hear that the group completed our WD-40 Scout Badge and passed with flying colours too!

WD-40, multi-use, product named the Bridlington Scout troop the winners following a nationwide search of Scout Groups who had used their DIY and Scouting skills to help clean up their community.

The competition was launched to celebrate WD-40 multi-use product’s sponsorship of the DIY Scout Activity Badge and online interactive resource that teaches DIY, safety skills and tips on how to clean and protect your tools following projects.

1st Bridlington Scout Group’s use of DIY, scouting skills and their long term commitment to local community projects and groups in the area is what has won them the award.

The dedicated group works with the Salvation Army preparing and cooking meals and helping those in need.

They’ve organised a dog show from start to finish for their community and made pancakes for their local Allotment Association and the church. The Scout Group’s work with Hilderthorpe Allotment Association saw them revive a plot of derelict land and make high quality signs following vandalism.

They’ve managed a charity shop, whilst staff were taking a much needed break and even built a wildlife pond for the local people to enjoy.

In addition, 1st Bridlington Scout Group has a long term commitment to cleaning projects across Bridlington, to make the area a nicer a place to live and visit.

WD-40 Multi-use Product’s brand manager Amy Long said: “We were very impressed with the amount of projects 1st Bridlington Scouts are involved in.

“It is brilliant to see the younger generation learning DIY skills and using those skills to help the community.

“Our motto is WD-40 takes care of it and these Scouts fully encompass our beliefs.”

1st Bridlington Scout Group leader, Gary Trowbridge, said: “It is an honour to be awarded £500 from WD-40 for winning the competition.

“All of our Scouts love helping the community and for them to be rewarded for this is brilliant

“We are putting the money to one side for next year’s Scout camp and it will be used to fund our activities, it will be a great reward for all our hard work.”

We hope the group has a fantastic camp next year and enjoy taking care of themselves for a change!

THE SCOUTING MESSAGE

Those Scouts in the Bradford area are a tenacious group, this is our second entry from the area and we couldn’t be happier.

18th Bradford South in Queensbury has being taking the Scouting message to the masses, in their local town, to promote scouting to the community.

They have invited all members of the public to come down to their Scout hut and to try new activities such as archery, shooting and climbing, all free of charge.

The fun-loving Scouts also ran a treasure trail to highlight the adventurous nature of scouting and the good times that can be enjoyed.

Scout leader, Roger Hyde said: “This initiative from our Scout Group is to show our local community how scouting has kept abreast of activities and promoting self-discipline whilst having fun.

“This Scout group has been in Queensbury for 84 years and we think this initiative will attract not only youngsters in the community but adults also as support to the group in many areas”

CLEANING UP THE TOWN

1st Heworth Scouts has being cleaning up the town to put them in the running to win £500.

The highly organised group took on a cleaning challenge in the local town, to improve the area for the community and the Hempland Lane Allotments.

The group of 20 Scouts’ participated in a litter pick taking place from Melrosgate end of beck, going over to Heworth Holme and up via the Hempland Lane Allotments and though to Stray Road play park.


The litter pick saw the areas cleared of rubbish and people's discarded items, from tyres, to bottles, to even a TV ariel! Of course the ‘green’ group made sure everything that could be recycled was. The end result was that they only had one bin full of general rubbish, everything else was recycled.

Scout leader, David Clayton said: “When we saw the article, about the WD-40 competition, in our local newspaper, it provided us with a great reason to do something to help our local community and the chance put us in the running to win £500 to boost facilities at our Scout HQ.

“Our litter pick has resulted in us having great relationships with Heworth Holme Group, the allotment association and of course the local community.

“I’m sure the Scouts’ efforts will make the areas a pleasanter place to be.”

WORKING PARTY WEEKENDS WORK!

1st Culvertone and Vigo Scout Troop based in Vigo village in Kent is another great entry in our Scout hunt to find a hardworking and community focused Scout group to give £500 to.

The imaginative group created ‘working party’ weekends to boost team morale amongst hard working volunteers that joined 1st Culvertone and Vigo Scout group, to rejuvenate the appearance of their Scout hut. Several working parties later has resulted in the Scout Hut looking brand new after modernising the toilet facilities, installing new lighting and painting and decorating the walls.

There working party weekends also included fund raising, which has resulted in the deserving troop having a new floor installed this summer.

Another working party saw them take on the exterior of the Scout hut, which had been left to run wild. The community hearted group enlisted the help of a friend of the group, who was a tree surgeon, to trim back the leaves and branches, to allow them access to start their clean-up operation.

To keep the hut’s surrounding grounds safe the group helped skilled volunteers, level the ground, install a new fire pit and lay a new path.

Scout leader, John Richards said: “Our Scout group is very involved in the local community and we are pleased we can make our hut more welcoming for our regular Scouts and vistors.

“We are pleased that WD-40 has recognised our hard and positive work.”

1st Culvertone and Vigo Scout Troop’s DIY work is on-going as the hut is made of wood but their fund raising efforts are still underway.

The hands on group plan on using the funds for metal cladding, to match the other side, to protect the Scout hut from the elements.

The group plan on enjoying the cleared garden area this summer by having overnight camps.

Some great work guys! We hope that you are able to utilise our online resource that has plenty of DIY tips.

SELFLESS SCOUTS CLEAN UP

A selfless Scout group from Godalming is helping in clearing up White Beaches Campsite, a partially neglected district site, to make it a haven for all of the local Godalming district scouts and all other Surrey Scout groups and the local community.

Some parts of the site had become so over-grown and unusable that fewer and fewer Scout, Cub and Beaver groups were using it, but thanks to the 4th Godalming Scout Group, the site is now becoming a usable and a enjoyable area for all.

4th Godalming Scout Group has even invested time in building a new Scout hut made completely out of reclaimed materials.

Assistant Scout Leader, Simon Fishlock, said: “The only thing it has cost us to build the new Scout hut and clear the area is time, effort and boxes of screws.

"All the Scouts from the 4th Godalming group love to make things better for others, and their hard work, time and effort will certainly do that.”

The improved area will now be open to all Explorers, Scout, Beavers and Cubs in Surrey, in addition to being a resource for the community.

The next stage of the project will see them clear the surrounding woodland, to open the area up and make it an even bigger area to explore. This will also include coppicing of the woodland, and the group making our own charcoal on site.

The group also plans to make the area a better place to live for the wild life by erecting wildlife boxes to attract different species of birds and mammals.

They are also going to be looking at different ways of power generation, the first to be a wind turbine, which will hopefully allow them to have 12 volt lighting in their hut.

Spring clean for 1st Bulkington Scout Troop

Great news! Members of 1st Bulkington Scout Troop will complete WD-40’s DIY badge this month and put their new found skills to the test, by improving their headquarters in Warwickshire.

The troop based at Barnacle Lane in Bulkington, has cleaned and re-painted the walls of the Scout hut and improved the look of noticeboards by painting the edging in ‘Scout’ purple paint.

We hope our interactive resource gave them all the advice they needed to do the job well and that they used WD-40 to clean their brushes!

Their clean-up project saw them sand, clean and touch up the window frames as well as fill in holes.

In addition Scout Leader, Darren Keach and his team of leaders taught the 1st Bulkington Scouts how to change a light bulb safely and re-wire a plug.

Darren said: “The WD-40 DIY Scouts badge has helped teach our group to recognise safety symbols and signs. The Scouts and I have also learned what other uses WD-40 has when doing DIY jobs- including cleaning!”

Bristol Scout group helps Council clean up

A Scout group near Bristol is being acknowledged for its positive clean-up work.

145th St Christopher Scout Troop in Brislington answered WD-40’s call in their local newspaper, The Bristol Evening Post, to find Scout groups who had helped clean up their local community.

A group of 20 Scouts from 145th St Christopher Scout Group worked with Bath and North Somerset Council to clear the River Whitchurch.

For two hours, Scouts cleared the river of litter and people's discarded items, which included a motorbike and shopping trolleys.

Cub Scout leader, Derek Hawes said: “All our Scouts love to help the community. The clean-up of the River Whitchurch, allowed them to showcase their skills and make a positive difference."

Congratulations to our first clean up entry!

A Scout group from Bathampton are WD-40's first clean up entrant, in the running to win £500 for their group.

28th Bathampton Scout Group has cleared a garden behind their HQ, that was formally unusable.

With adult supervision the whole Scout group worked together to clear the overgrown garden and remove dangerous pieces of metal.

The Scout Group from Bath cleared the back border of old fence, trees and shrubs and hopes to have a new fence fitted in the near future.

28th Bathampton Scout Group said, they will coppice the remaining trees in order to encourage new growth and may plant new trees along the bank.

The group are in the process of clearing another border, which is made of a large earth bank and shrubs, and intend to plant daffodils in its replacement.

This hard working group is hoping to erect bat boxes and bird tables on a few of the older trees.

Great work guys!

WD-40 HELPS SCOUTS DO IT THEMSELVES

Milton Keynes based WD-40 launched its sponsorship of the Scouts DIY Activity Badge last night with a group of Northamptonshire Scouts becoming the first in the country to gain the accreditation.

As part of the sponsorship, WD-40 has created a new interactive resource for Scout leaders and members to access the information needed to achieve the badge.

The web-based educational tool teaches Scouts basic DIY tasks and safety considerations when carrying out DIY.

It includes tips and suggestions for ways in which WD-40 can help round the home including cleaning paintbrushes, removing crayon from walls, lubricating ironing boards and preventing corrosion on DIY tools.

Also featured in the resource is a step by step guide to creating your own toolbox and features a game where Scouts must put each action in the correct order against the clock.

WD-40’s senior brand manager, Neil Gow, says: “With membership numbers soaring to 500,000, and 65,000 teenagers involved in the Association, the future of the country rests in the hands of the Scouts.

“Recent research by WD-40 found that people would rather call in a professional than tackle simple DIY tasks by themselves, but we believe by sponsoring the Scouts DIY Activity Badge and providing this interactive resource we can educate the DIY experts of the future.”

WD-40’s Nick Abrams is involved in running the 17th Kettering (St Andrews) Scout group in Kettering. He says: “The Scouts movement is very important for young people. The skills they learn whilst working towards their badges will stay with them for a lifetime.

“I’m delighted that WD-40 has been able to support the Scouts with this sponsorship and make all of the information readily available in the interactive resource.”

Nikki Mason, head of corporate partnerships at The Scout Association, says: “The involvement of companies such as WD-40 can give Scouts a real boost, providing new resources and exciting ways to pass their badges. The family brand values of WD-40 tie in superbly with the Scouts movement and we’re delighted with the joint venture.”

WD-40, the multi-use product, has also launched a new communications campaign to educate consumers on the wonders of WD-40 for cleaning. Neil Gow adds: “WD-40 is well known for its ability to fix a squeaking door or lubricate an engine, but not many people know its powers stretch much further and it can be used to clean a whole host of things from tools and power tools to alloy wheels and even removing sticky labels.”

For more information on the WD-40, including 2,000 DIY, cleaning and other application ideas log on to www.wd40.co.uk. For information on Scouting including badges, your nearest group and how to join, visit www.scouts.org.uk.