BLOOMING MARVELOUS

Doing it for Manchester! Those blooming marvellous 20th Oldham Scouts have rescued some waste land and turned into a community garden to be enjoyed by all.

20th Oldham Scout Group based in Saddleworth village has cleared a piece of waste land on Smithy Lane just off the High Street in Uppermill, of rubbish and debris, in order to make way for a garden to be used by the local community and the Scouts.

The green fingered group were thrilled when Saddleworth Council, said that they could develop the land for the community and as an added bonus the council gave them £100 for plants and bulbs to landscape the area.

The 22-strong group has voluntarily given their time to create the community garden and they’ve used their gardening and DIY skills, learnt at Scout meetings, to make the gardening a place of enjoyment for people.

The budding group were also nominated for a Pride in Oldham award; they did not win the accolade but received a mention for their efforts.

Although, 20th Oldham Scout Group, are being taught by a fantastic gardener. Scout leader, Eddie Butterworth, who is a member of Saddleworth Gardening Club, has won the Saddleworth in Bloom award for the best small garden, for three years running.

Eddie said: “It is fantastic news that our Scout Group is in the running to win the £500. Our Scouts love maintaining the garden and ensuring that is a nice place to go for residents in the area to be.

“The council have been very generous by letting us have the land to work with and it’s an excellent showcase of our skills as a group.”

Another fantastic entry.

Don’t forget the WD-40 though guys, to clean your tools and preserve them for future use!

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”

DOING IT FOR YOURSELF FOR OTHERS

We were thrilled to hear from 68th St Mary’s Wyke Scout Group, firstly, after hearing they’re doing the WD-40 Scout DIY badge and secondly, they’re putting those skills to good use by helping the community.

Members of the Scout group in Bradford are doing their DIY badge that will see them learn skills such as how to fix a leaky tap, hang a door and fix a lock or make a tool box.

The handy group is going to use its newly learnt skills to mend and improve the local church’s benches that are in a poor and unsafe condition.

The Scout group is going to split into four patrols and each take on a decaying bench and restore them to their former glory.

68th St. Mary’s Wyke Scout Group will start by removing the existing rotten planks and clean up the metal by using a wire brush (don’t forget guys, WD-40, can be used to clean different metal surface and can remove rust).

The following week will see the group prepare the new planks of wood by drilling new holes and bolting them onto the bench frames, finishing them off with a new coat of varnish.

We’re pleased that this hands on group will get plenty of use from our online resource and hope they will use WD-40 to clean their brushes and equipment after restoring the benches.

Scout leader, Phil Chadwick said: “Our Scout group loves any hands on activity and it is great that we can help the local church by restoring the benches for visitors.

“The Scout WD-40 DIY badge has provided us with lots of tips and teaches our Scouts valuable life skills.

“The Scouts’ work will enable the local toddler and tots group to use the benches in the summer and also the elderly people that attend the befriending service of New Horizons.”

However, 68th St Mary’s Wyke Scout Group’s good work doesn’t stop there. Once the benches have been restored, the group is going to clean up ‘Val's Garden’, a plot of garden adopted in memory of a much loved cub leader.

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.

THE SCOUT GROUP THAT SAYS CAN DO...

In the words of 1st Bridlington Scouts they are “the group that says can do”.

We’re proud to include 1st Bridlington Scouts as part of our clean-up competition. These dedicated Scouts have committed themselves to various projects across the area and even cleaned up during their six week holidays!

Where do we start? This group has worked with the Salvation Army preparing and cooking meals, helping those in need; organising a dog show from start to finish for the local community and has 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, after vandalism had occured. This group’s on-going effort really is outstanding. 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.

Scout leader, David Butland said: “We are an incredibly community focused group and enjoy undertaking new challenges, especially those which benefit the local community.

“All of our Scouts love to help and are constantly completing activities in their spare time."

David concluded, “1st Bridlington Scouts put a lot of time and effort into the community and the community is very grateful but if we could win the £500 from WD-40, that would be a real boost to our Scout group.”

DO IT YOURSELF IS BEST

Members of North Ayrshire Scout troop, 1st Ardrossan, have proved that they are next generation of DIY experts and have also earned their WD-40 DIY Scout badge.


The handy group has refurbished its Scout hall, which will not just benefit them but also the local community groups who use the hall including the Judo Club, the Stamp Collecting Club and the Amateur Dramatics Club.


1st Ardrossan Scout Troop with the help of its Scout leaders, none of which are tradesmen, has installed a new kitchen and WC facilities.


The group raised the money for the work by participating in fund raising activities such as bag packing in their local supermarket, in addition to funding support from Hunterston Power Station.

Originally, the group was going to use a contractor but funds were insufficient to pay for the time and labour.


Therefore 1st Ardrossan Scouts took on the challenge themselves and local companies have supported them by donating specialist tools such as jigs and routers.

The project saw them demonstrate a range of DIY skills including stripping out old fixtures and installing new ones, decorating the wall, doors and ceilings and installing new pipes.



However, safety always comes first so electrical work was carried out by a qualified Electrical Engineer for safety reasons.


The whole refurbishment project demonstrated key DIY skills that the WD-40 Scout badge includes, in fact this project led to them earning the badge.


Scout leader, Craig Mulholland (who also proved he had what it took to earn the badge!) said: “The project required a huge amount of hard work and effort.


“Along the way we have learnt new DIY skills and built on existing ones. By combining the refurbishment project with the WD-40 badge, provided great motivation for the Scouts and rewarded them for their hard work.”




Great to see the photos of the Scouts receiving their badges-well done guys!