Dear parents, friends and families,
As promised, I am pleased to share your monthly update.
Since September 23rd, we’ve been working tirelessly to secure a brighter future for
our group. This journey is complex, with significant funds to raise, navigating the
planning process and ensuring flood-resilience so we remain insurable.
Fundraising Progress
The total estimated cost of the rebuild is just under £250,000. Thanks to generous
donations, grants, pledged amounts, and donated work, we have raised £179,010,
which brings us to 72% of our target. We still have just under £70,000 left to raise.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to our supporters, including: Howdens Insurance,
Xerox UK Ltd (via Benevity payment), Church of the Good Shepherd, Howdens Joinery, Ward
Councillors, two Freemason lodges, public donations from the gofundme site, Megan
from Beavers for her fantastic mince pie sales, two anonymous donors and the elves
and Santa partnership with the Rotary Club.
As well as coordinating donations, we’ve been busy applying for grants, in fact we’ve
considered 115 grant organisations. Of those, 50 application windows were closed or
we were rejected as being out-of-scope of their grant guidelines, 24 applications are
on hold while we're awaiting response or a new window to open, 17 applications are
still in progress, 23 applications have been submitted and one has resulted in funds
being pledged (hopefully some more to come!).
We still have a long way to go raising funds before we can break ground. Your
continued support is invaluable, and we would greatly appreciate any help you can
offer. We only have a couple of people coordinating the fundraising efforts and
although we’re making progress we really want to move faster. If you have a few
hours a week to spare, please consider joining our fundraising team—we’d love to
have you on board!
The Build
We’re optimistic about sourcing an architect to work with us at cost. Additionally,
we’ve received quotes from several pre-fab building companies, which will allow us
to finalise costs and line up contractors in preparation for reaching our fundraising goal.
How You Can Help
Thank you for your incredible support so far. If you’re able to assist further whether
through corporate partnerships, in-kind contributions, or any other means—please
don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can reach us at
Together, we can make this vision a reality!
Best regards,
Paul Casey
Chair of Trustees
Church Riverside Scout Group
January 2025