If you are local to Shefford you may have wondered where our Scout group has gone as our signage was removed from our Scout hut, and a new business has taken up residence. The short answer is we are still here, still successful, we’ve just had some challenges and changes.
Our amazing volunteers continued to run Scouting all throughout lockdown, providing much needed stability for our young people at such a difficult time, getting back outside at the earliest opportunity. Our sections continue to provide fun, learning and adventurous experiences both indoors and outdoors.
Relocating
Due to numerous reasons, remaining in the old Scout hut became an unsustainable option for us. Despite wanting to stay and renovate the building to make it a great environment for our young people, and to offer it for community use, we were left with little choice but to leave. So after many years we reluctantly had to part ways. However, we are still very much alive and kicking, with Scouting in Shefford being as popular as ever (see later!).
We have found “temporary” homes with Beavers, Blue pack cubs, Scouts and Explorers using the Baptist church, and Red pack cubs using the HQ at Boyd campsite in Henlow. While we miss the Scout Hut smell and our own dedicated space, we are very grateful to be able to use these venues, as they have allowed us to continue our exciting programmes.
Finding a new permanent home, and one that will meet our needs both today for for the future to allow us to grow, is a top priority for us, but will not be an easy task!
Waiting List
However, the size of the venues, particularly the Baptist church, does mean we are limited to the number of young people we are comfortable having in each section. This together with a lack of adult volunteers does mean that we are running at capacity, with a very long waiting list.
That waiting list grew to 98 young people earlier in the year and we took the decision to pause adding anyone else as we felt it was not fair to add anyone else in the knowledge they would be unlikely to get a place.
Community Visibility
Due to the energy our volunteers had to expend during our move away from the old Scout hut over the past 2 years, we had very little spare to be able to focus on community events, instead choosing to use it on providing the young people with adventurous activities.
This will change. In the coming year you will see more from us as we reconnect with the community. We want to grow so we are looking forward and looking for new premises, and always on the lookout for more adult volunteers.
We are also looking at our social media presence and looking at how we can sustainably and safely share some of the cool stuff our young people are doing.
So, how are we doing right now?
We currently have just under 100 young people across 5 sections: Beavers (6-8), Cubs (8-10.5) x 2, Scouts (10.5-14), Explorers (14-18), run by 16 volunteer adults, with another 4 volunteers behind the scenes on our board of trustees.
We recognise the high demand for Scouting in the local area, and would love to be able to make more spaces available, but until we can increase the size of our sections (bigger premises), and add sections (more adults), we are limited to what we have.
