The author of this post is David Overton, Chair of the Executive Board, Chandler’s Ford 15th Scouts.
The Rotary Club of Chandler’s Ford and Itchen Valley recently raised £3,000 for the 15h Chandler’s Ford Scout Group.
At the recent Fryern Funtasia on the May Bank Holiday (6th of May 2019), President of Rotary Ed Burt handed over the cheque for £3000 raised by Rotary for Chandler’s Ford 15th, this year’s President’s charity.
The Chandler’s Ford 15th Scouts became community members of Rotary following a presentation by John Leeks and myself in Autumn last year. We demonstrated the important work that Scout leaders and the Scouting community do in making good citizens of our children. We were able to highlight the Scouts that now occupy the tops of so many professions.
Hampshire is the strongest Scouting County in Great Britain. Within Hampshire, Chandler’s Ford has the greatest number of Scouts. It’s an amazing success story. Come to the 15th and you’ll see a multi-generational community, regularly fund-raising through hugely popular Jumble sales and events.
Here is a photo taken during the presentation of the donation: (from left to right)
Ed Burt (President of Rotary), David Overton (Chair of the Chandler’s Ford Parents Executive Committee), Susan Deeks (Group Scout Leader for the 15th), Denise Nowell (Beaver Leader for the 15th), Leslie (Cubs leader 15th), Asda’s Community support officer, and John Leeks (District Commissioner Chandler’s Ford).
As the President’s Charity this year we benefitted from funds raised at some key Rotary events. The cheque for £3000 came from these events so far.
- Rotary Rocks – an amazing evening of big band entertainment in the heart of Chandler’s Ford.
- Golf days – the Rotary organise a number of these and they are very popular with local golfers with great prizes and focus on making everyone feel included.
- Quiz nights
Further events have taken place and are planned for the remainder of the year and we expect to raise more than £7,000 by the end of the year.
The money is being ring-fenced for new projects to:-
- Demolish an old shed that’s rotted and contains asbestos.
- Replace the shed with a new storage facility that will hold essential camping and event equipment. Much if this is shared with other groups.
- Create a Workshop area, equipped with wood and metal working tools so we can teach more practical skills in Scouting.
- Upgrade the grounds to be more appealing for community users (the Scout HQ is used for Tai Chi, Art, martial Arts, and Woodturning classes as well as community elections and local community events such as building consultations).
Leave a Reply