This Sheffield scout group have raised over £700 for two city-based charities

The 25th Sheffield (Ecclesfield) Scout Group have raised £500 for Sheffield-based charity Roundabout, which supports young people aged 16 to 25 who are at risk of homelessness throughout South Yorkshire.

The group have raised the money by doing a sponsored sleep out, and they made the challenge even harder for themselves by not using tents.

The charity event also earned the group, who are aged between six and 14, their fundraiser scout badges.

Scout Leader Bryony Hemming said: “Helping others is always something the scouts get really passionate about, with the list of charities the young people want to support being as long as the list of scouts themselves.

“The hardest thing for the group is deciding which events and charities they are able to support.”

The event in aid of Roundabout is the latest in a range of activities the group have completed for good causes. They have also been busy raising money for other city-based charities in the last few months.

Back, in October, they also chose not to have a Halloween Party and instead they took part in a ‘trick or eat’ event where, as an alternative to trick or treating, they spent their Halloween evening collecting food for St Saviours food bank based in High Green.

This followed on from planning and running a ‘Time for Tea’ party for parents and family members earlier in the year which raised £250 for Weston Park Cancer Charity.

Bryony added: “This is all part of a balanced programme which looks to ensure the scouts develop skills for life and have fun, as well as helping others.”

The group, which increased in size due to the merger of the groups’ two troops, are now planning additional activities for the coming year.

They aim to learn to read train timetables to be able to plan an independent trip to Leeds and Castleton as part of their Expedition Challenge, build their own go-carts for the district’s annual soap box derby and learn to cook South American meals on an open fire for the outdoor cooking competition.

Bryony said: “Ecclesfield Scout Group had a difficult end to 2019, with the sudden resignation of the Group Scout Leader in October.

“The group were forced to make the difficult decision to merge the group’s two scout troops. Due to a shortage of adult leaders this was the only way to continue to keep the scout section running but this, thankfully, resulted in majority of the scouts remaining within the group.

“This created its own challenges, however, as both the scouts and the leaders got used to the increased numbers on a troop night. Now, new group dynamics and friendships are being formed and the patrols having to be re-organised.

“Despite the changes that had to be made to the programme, the scouts have shown a continued commitment to support their local community.”

The Ecclesfield Scout Group, which has around 100 young people as members, are looking for additional adult volunteers to join them to ensure they can keep the scout troop running.

Their aim and hope is that, in the long term, their second troop will have enough support to be able to be re-opened.

The group representative said: “In the meantime, the scouts are looking forward to the new decade of scouting where they will continue to learn new skills and find new ways to support their local community.”

The group is over 100-years-old, and celebrated their centenary in 2012. To mark the milestone, the group organised a number of special events, including attending Ecclesfield St Mary's Church where the church bells rang out for forty minutes.

The group is self funded. Typically, funding is provided by the subscriptions paid on behalf of the group members.

If you are interested in becoming an adult volunteer for the group, please e-mail [email protected].

If you would like to raise funds for the group, you can do this by using the Easy Fundraising website when you do any shopping online.

Instead of going directly to the shopping site of choice, you first go to easyfundraising.org.uk and then click through to where you want to go. It costs you nothing extra, but raises money for the charity. Visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/25thecclesfield.

For more information, visit the official website at www.ecclesfieldscouts.org.uk.