10th Mansfield Scouts budding entrepreneurs help local community

At this year's AGM for 10th Mansfield Scouts Group, based at the Landmark Centre Pleasley, eight young members of the Cub Scout section were recognised for their outstanding work in community support. As part of their skills development, their Akela (Roger) asked then at June half-term all to come up with a business plan to raise some money. The profits would then be donated to a local good cause.

"It was a pretty simple premise" said Roger. "The young person had to find someone willing to invest £5 into their business enterprise. They would then use that money to set up their business, buy materials and start trading. At an appropriate time, they would then have to pay that money back to the initial investor. Hopefully they would then have made enough to further invest and develop. They had eight weeks to carry this out."

The Cubs identified the local community group, Pleasley SOS Appeal, as the group they would like to help. Last year, Storm Babet wrecked the lives of many residents of the village, with families having to move out of their homes due to the floods and subsequent damage to property and posessions. Nine months on, residents are only just beginning to return to their homes.

"Being part of the community is at the heart of what we are trying to do in Pleasley, where we moved to two years ago" said Roger. "In many ways it is like the old tradition of bob-a-job. Learning money skills is a vital tool for any young person and we are embedding in them skills for life whilst supporting a great cause."

What nobody at the group was prepared for was the total raised. Young members Ava, Archie, Robyn, Logan, Zack, Jason, Ralph and Noah raised an incredible £780 between the 8 of them. They have been selling cakes, washing cars, making bracelets and keyrings, and holding raffles.

"Everyone was totally blown away. We were expecting a couple of hundred pounds, but this far exceeded any thing we could have imagined" said Roger. "Not only could we donate £500 to the SOS fund, our young members were also able to support one of the Cub adult volunteers in their fundraising efforts to go to Portugal next year for Scout Moot 2025."

Local councillor Sharron Hartshorn was invited to the meeting to accept the money from the group. "The funding received will be place into The Pleasley SOS Appeal until the residents request the support," said Sharron. "Good news, one family has returned to their home and another is now ready to be redecorated."

Meanwhile, the work to try and ensure situations like Storm Babet do not happen again continue. Pleasley Flood Resilience Group have just won a Flood and Coast Excellence Award and continue to work with local bodies to minimise future possibly damage.

10th Mansfield Scouts meet at Pleasley Landmark Thursday nights