Award from Royal British Legion

1st Consett Scout Group have received an award recognising their contribution selling poppies in the Consett area.
Three Cub Scouts and two leaders were invited to the Royal British Legion Youth Poppy Awards which was held at Gateshead Civic Centre. 1st Consett Scout Group had been nominated to receive an award by Mrs Vera Parnaby for the amount raised by the Group. 
The certificate was presented by the Lord Lieutenant for County Durham Mrs Sue Snowden.

Scouts Recipe for Adventure

Consett Scouts have recently created their own recipe for adventure. On Saturday 23rd February the Scout Troop took part in a day of activities at Whickham Thorns Centre, including orienteering, climbing and skiing.

After the skiing, the Scouts cooked a four course meal for their parents for their Chef badge. The meal included home made vegetable soup, chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon and home made apple pie.

Another Giant Leap Forward towards our New Headquarters

It has been an absolutely amazing week for 1st Consett and 1st Blackhill Scout Groups, with two grants totalling £50,000 received this week.
We received £20,000 from the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation at the beginning of the week, which was followed with £30,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation on Wednesday. Although there is still a way to go, we are now approaching the final straight, and our goal of completing the new headquarters by September is now looking very likely.
The groups are continuing to apply for grants, and we hope with a last push from parents and supporters at fund raising events we can achieve our goal.

Cubs win District 5-a-side Competition

Congratulations to 1st Consett Cubs whose team won the Derwentside District Scout 5-a-side competition. The competition, which is held at the Louisa Centre in Stanley, is open to all Cub packs in the district. 

Consett's team did not lose any of the games they played, and scored a magnificent 23 goals during the tournament.

Old Scout Hut comes down

After fifty years of service, and many happy memories, 1st Consett said goodbye to its old wooden hut. 
Beaver Scous, Cubs and Scouts from 1st Consett and 1st Blackhill came along to say goodbye, and mark the start of a new era for both groups.

The old hut has now been removed and work on the new £315,000 headquarters will start in the next couple of weeks. The building, designed by Milbank Architects from Consett, is being built by Absolute Civil Engineering (ACE), also based in Consett.

The now empty site

The two groups have raised enough money to complete the shell of the building, but still need to raise a further £150,000 to complete. 

As work progresses we will up date our site with photographs, so we can watch as the building rises from the site on Constance Street.

Donation from Councillors gets New Headquarters underway

A generous donation from two local Councillors has kick started 1st Consett's and 1st Blackhill's construction of a new headquarters for the two groups.
Durham County Councillors Owen Temple and Clive Robson each donated £30,000 from their Neighbourhood budgets. Combined with the £90,000 the groups have already raised, they now have enough to start construction of the building shell.
The building will be on the site of 1st Consett's old wooden hut, on Constance Street in Consett.
There have been Scouts in Consett for over 100 years. The new building will secure the future of Scouting in Consett hopefully for another 100 years.
There is still along way to go, however, with a further £150,000 needed to complete the headquarters, which the groups hope will come from grants and donations. 
At a time when Scouting is more popular than ever, with numbers increasing at record rates the headquarters will provide state of the art facilities and space for both groups to grow.
Work is due to commence demolishing the old hut, which was donated by Consett Iron Company in the 1960's, in early February 2013.

Fantastic Fund Raising Weekend raises £4000

Consett and Blackhill Scout Groups took part in a weekend of fund raising activities last Saturday and Sunday, raising around £4000 towards the new headquarters.
On Saturday they spent a day bag packing and selling raffle tickets at Morrisons in Consett, and then on Sunday Beavers, Cubs and Scouts were joined by parents for a joint sponsored walk.
The ten mile walk took in a circular route from the site where the new headquarters will be built in Constance Street, via Allensford picnic area, and back along the Waskerley Way. Although a bit wet underfoot the weather was great, and despite some sore feet everyone finished.
Thank you to everyone who made this such a successful weekend.