New Scout Hut Leighton Linslade District

2025 Jan News and Events

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Scout Hut Flooding September 2024

 

See the local News report   The Observer

 

 Also one of our Cub Pack made this appeal too   YouTube Scout Hut Flooded

 

 

The Trustees and Leadership Team have decided the best option for our old worn out building is a brand new replacement.

 

So we're starting a Project to see to that.

Watch this space... Read More

 

To help with Fundraising for our New Hut

 

 

Thanks to the local Scouting Community, we are still able to provide Scouting to our members

but at a different Scout Groups Headquarters The Buzzards

New Scout Hut January Communication

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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Together, we can make this vision a reality!

 

Best regards,

Paul Casey

Chair of Trustees

Church Riverside Scout Group

 

January 2025

2025 Feb News and Events copied

 

A New Scout Hut

A New Scout Hut  A Brighter Future for Church Riverside

The background - On September 23rd, 2024, heavy storms caused Clipstone Brook to overflow, flooding and significantly damaging our wooden Scout hut. The hut is currently unusable with scouts using nearby huts and schools. Following advice from structural engineers, our unit leaders and trustees agreed that rebuilding our already aged hut is the best way to ensure we can continue providing a vital space for young people in our community to learn, grow, and connect for generations to come. 

1. Our Target

The total cost of the rebuild will be £250,000. With the insurance settlement, generous donations and pledges we've received, we've raised £172,400 so far. We still need to raise £77,600 to complete this project.

2. Key Dates

Over the next few months, we'll work closely with architects, planners, builders and our beavers, cubs and scouts to design a new hut that will suit our needs. Construction is set to begin this spring, and we aim to open the doors to our brand-new facility on Sunday, 1st June.

3. How You Can Help

Your support is crucial to make this vision a reality. Here's how you can contribute:

Donate: Every penny counts! Share our GoFundMe page with friends,  family and on socials: Go FundMe 

Corporate Partnerships: Please talk to your employer about supporting our cause through their CSR initiatives. View our full proposal here:    add the doc and make a link to it...

 

Leverage Your Network: Connect us with local or national businesses that might be interested in sponsoring our project.

Work In-Kind: If you have contacts in the trades (architects, designers, planners, builders, electricians, plumbers etc) that might offer their time for free, this could significantly reduce the amount we need to fundraise.

Anyone who contributes will be recognised in a permanent appreciation board/fixture in the lobby of the new hut. For larger donations we can also arrange suitable media publicity.

We'll aim to provide monthly updates on our progress. In the meantime, please reach out to your unit leader or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions. Here is a link to my December Video Update. Thank you for your continued support!

Together, we can build a brighter future for our scouting members and generations to come.

 

Thank you,


Paul Casey

Chairperson

Church Riverside Scout Group

Links

GoFundMe Donations Link

Project Proposal Link

December Video Update Link: Video Update

 

December 2024

2025 Mar News and Events

 

New Scout Hut February Update

Dear Parents, Friends, and Families,


I’m Paul Casey, Chair of Trustees for Church Riverside Scout Group and I’m thrilled
to share this third end-of-month update with you, giving details about the hut flood
and subsequent rebuild project. Firstly, and most importantly, I’d like to express my
heartfelt gratitude for all your help and support with the rebuild of our Scout Hut.
 
Grants and Donations:

The project team has been busy applying for more grants. In total, we’ve targeted
116 different funding bodies. We’re starting to receive responses now; sadly, the
vast majority have advised that we don’t fit their funding criteria. However, we have
had a few positive outcomes. Here is a summary of the main activities:

Following our meeting with the District Scout Trustee Board, they have generously
pledged £10,000 towards our project once we break ground, with an additional
£5,000 upon reaching our initial fundraising target of £200,000. They said that
they were truly impressed by the progress we've made so far.

We also successfully secured a £5,000 grant from the Foyle Foundation. The Foyle
Foundation was formed to implement the will of the late Christina Foyle. She was
the daughter of William Foyle who, with his brother, founded the former family-
owned bookshop Foyles in Charing Cross Road, London. We are very lucky to have
been accepted by the Foyle Foundation for this grant.

We are incredibly fortunate to have the backing of our local ward councilors and
thanks to the efforts of Cllr Emma Holland-Lindsey, who has led the charge, we
have now secured financial support from seven other local ward councilors (Cllr
David Bligh, Cllr Nigel Carnell, Cllr Russ Goodchild, Cllr Chris Leaman, Cllr Kevin
Pughe, Cllr Shaun Roberts and Cllr John Baker) with the grants totaling £7,350.
Our thanks go out to all of our ward councilors for their support.
 
In December a few of the team spent an evening with Santa, fundraising for the
Rotary Club. They have just awarded us £350 towards our goal, so thank you
Santa for that donation!
 
Additionally, the County Scout Association Trustees will be reviewing our request
for assistance this coming weekend. Sadly, we have not made it through to DIY
SOS and | will be chasing up support from both Barratt and Bellway Homes.
 
Fingers crossed for even more positive news in next month’s update!
 
Fundraising:

We are now entering the fundraising phase, kicking off with a bucket shake at the
Leighton Linslade Football Club on Saturday, 1s: March. We hope to follow this
with a similar event at Asda in Dunstable. We're also reaching out to local
businesses and all of the Leighton Buzzard supermarkets for their support.

Furthermore, please scan the QR link, it will raise free donations for Church
Riverside Scout Group every time you shop online. Over 8,000 retailers, including
big names like Sainsbury's, M&S, Argos, and Just Eat, are ready to donate at no
extra cost to you. Every donation helps us immensely! If you have any fundraising
ideas, please drop me a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
 
The Project:

We have now commissioned an architect, Graham Rosser from RM Architectural
Consultants Ltd. Graham was a former Church Riverside cub and has kindly agreed
to work at cost. This month we’ve initiated soil surveys and a flood risk assessment;
these are reports that are required by the local authority planning department to
ensure the new hut will be flood-resilient. We have shortlisted three suppliers for
the building and expect to make a final decision shortly once they have submitted
final quotes based on the architect’s plans.
 
The project team also attended the flood meeting held by the Environment Agency
at Astral Park to see if there was any further support we could get from those
organisations. Although there was a lot of useful information, there was no offer of
compensation or financial support.
 
Our key date for opening the doors to the new hut remains 1st June 2025 and we
will continue to strive towards that target date
 
Target:

With all the generous donations, grants, fundraising activities and pledges we have
now raised £197,057. This leaves us with £52,943 left to raise to reach our target
of £250,000. In my end-of-January update, I mentioned we were at 72% of the
target. I’m pleased to confirm we are now 79%. Thank you so much for your
continued help and support.

As you can see from the update above, we have made huge strides in the past few
months towards our target and | strongly believe it is no longer a dream, it is
achievable! Please, if you can help in any way, let one of the project team or me
know, we would love to have you on board.
 
 
 
Paul Casey
Chair of Trustees
Church Riverside Scout Group 
 
28th February 2025

202504 Aprils News

 

Welcome to your end of month - March update!

It's been an eventful month, and I’m excited to share some of the highlights with you:

Fundraising:


We have now raised a whooping £208,749, leaving us with £41,251
to reach our target of £250,000. This means that we’re 83.5% there!

We had the fantastic opportunity to collect donations at Leighton
Buzzard Football Club during a match, raising an impressive £517
Thanks to a generous contribution from Howdens Insurance, who
matched this amount, the total figure is £1,033.


• Our bucket collection at Asda Dunstable was another success,
bringing in an additional £513. This event was especially rewarding as
it gave us the chance to connect with the local(ish) community.


• A heartfelt thank you to everyone who volunteered their time,
especially our amazing Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts—your efforts were
truly outstanding!


• 60 Something’s – There is lots of activity around our sponsored
event, as a reminder this involves getting sponsor for doing 60
‘somethings’ of your choice. Ethan has already raised an incredible
£160 by completing a sponsored silence for 60 minutes. Well done,
Ethan, and thank you for your dedication! If you need a sponsorship
form please download one by clicking here or scanning the QR code.


We raised £33.52 in February through EasyFundraising with even
more already raised in March. Sign up and raise donations through
everyday spends at no extra cost by clicking here or scan the QR code.


Looking ahead, we’ll be bucket shaking at some more local
supermarkets in Leighton Buzzard in April (exact date tbc) and we’ve
also been offered a stall by the Rotary Club at the May Day Fayre
(Monday 5th May 9am – 3pm) to sell teas, coffees, and cakes. We’re
still in need of volunteers for both events, so if you’re able to lend a
hand, please get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Remember you can donate and share the GoFundMe link (now
includes an option for Gift Aid). Click here or scan the QR code.

 

Grants:


• In addition to the £15,000 pledged by District, we are excited to
announce that County has generously committed £10,000 to our
project. They’ve expressed great admiration for the progress we’ve
made so far.


• We’re still awaiting responses to several other grant applications,
and we hope to hear back soon.


Building:


We are thrilled to announce that we are moving into the next phase of
our project: the Building Phase!


• Unit leaders & Trustees have approved the designs for the new hut.


• The results of the soil test are in, and Graham Rosser from RMAC
Design is ready to submit our plans for planning approval.


• We’ve selected SD Carpentry as our construction partner, and we’re
excited to work with them. Both Steve from SD Carpentry and Graham
have been incredibly supportive, dedicating their time and expertise to
help bring our vision to life. A huge thank you to both!


The new hut will feature a slightly larger hall with storage space at
the rear. To prevent future flooding, the building will be elevated
above ground level and will include an access ramp at the front. I will
have printed copies of the plans available at the next few meetings for
anyone who would like to take a closer look or has any questions. A
massive thank you to the project team for all their hard work, your
dedication is turning this vision into reality.


As we are increasing the footprint of the hut (to incorporate storage),
we will now have to apply for planning permission. This means that as
well as having to commission soil and flood risk assessments, we do
need to have planning approval. Unfortunately, this adds 8-10 weeks
to the timeframes. With this in mind, we are hoping that we can open
the door to the new hut from the start of October ’25.


Thank you all again for your continued support. Your contributions,
time, and dedication are making a huge impact and driving this project
forward. Let’s keep the momentum going!

 

Best regards,

 


Paul Casey
Chair of Trustee
Church Riverside Scout Group

 

31st March 2025

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