Essex

Scouts Sausage Sizzle Cooks Up £1,100

A group of local sea scouts enjoyed a sizzling Saturday recently thanks to a terrific charity donation from leading transport operator, FirstGroup.

1st Canvey Island Sea Scouts held a ‘Sausage Sizzle at Canvey Heights Country Park on Saturday 3 October to mark a donation of £1,100 from Firsts Charities and Sponsorship Committee.

The monies will be used to replace the scouts much-used tent equipment, which is now over 20 years old and has become unserviceable. In honour of the funding to replace the equipment, the new tents will be named after FirstGroup Chief Executive Sir Moir Lockhead; Nicola Shaw Managing Director Bus UK, Ireland and Germany; and Leon Daniels, Customer Service and Communications Director for UK Bus.

The new tents will make a big difference for 1st Canvey Island Sea Scout troop, which was first formed in 1926 and became a Sea Scout troop in 1983. Over the years, the group has continued to grow and includes Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and is now around 70 strong.

The three tents purchased with Firsts funding will be put to use straight away for upcoming camping trips including the fun camp situated in Phassels Wood just outside Hemel Hempstead, District competition night hike and the famous Scouts camping trip to mark the celebrations of the local camp site at Belchamps, Hockley which will be 75 years old in 2011.

And the scouts couldnt be more pleased with the new tents.

"It will be nice to use the new tents to keep us safe and dry from the weather', said Cub Luke aged 10.

"The sides of these tents can be raised each day and the ground sheet rolled back, which means the grass can breathe. These are a lot more environmentally-friendly than the nylon tents with the sewn in ground sheets, added Scout Charlotte aged 11.

Skip Richard Lotz, Group Scout Leader said: "We as a group are most grateful for the donation from First. It has enabled us finally to replace tents that have been around for years. The old tents have served us extremely well and the new tents are sure to do the same. We have had a busy few years fundraising for the group and the tents are our latest success following the extension of our storage building and also the purchase of a new mess tent which was used at our Family camp this year. It kept everybody dry in the storm we had and these new tents are sure to be up to a similar job!'


Chris McCormick, Area Operations Director of Firsts local bus operating company, First East England said: "I am very pleased our Charities and Sponsorship Committee was able to donate £1,100 to the troops of 1st Canvey Island Sea Scouts, which is another terrific example of how we work with our local communities. I am sure the tents will be very useful throughout the year and will ensure the boys and girls of the troop get the chance to experience some terrific camping trips. I hope they all have a great time.'