Thanks to Avril Williams – Group Scout Leader 30th Abingdon – for this report …
The 30th Abingdon Beavers based at Abingdon Baptist Church have recently visited Downing Street to share their project on Clean Water and Sanitation to MPs interested in social issues.
The Beavers worked hard taking part in “A Million Hands”, a Scout Association social action project which aims to get over 500,000 Scouts involved over a 4 year time period in social issues such as dementia, disability, mental well-being and clean water for all.
The whole of the 30th Abingdon Beavers were involved, after choosing which social issue to explore, the Beavers then decided to collect number 1s and 2s (pennies), to fund a new toilet in Kisima, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Beavers teamed up with the Abingdon School Science Partnership and visited Abingdon School science labs to carry out some experiments on water purification. The Beavers enjoyed a visit from Wateraid who helped the Beavers understand the importance of having access to clean water and toilets. Finally, as part of raising awareness, the Beavers made a story board and a video describing what they had learned, this helped the Beavers to learn about presenting their fund raising efforts to a wider audience.
During the visit to Downing Street the Beavers took it in turns to explain their work to several MPs. They also got the opportunity to try out a virtual reality headset of natural disasters and then, like true Beavers, proceeded to help everyone else use the headsets. It was a very long day for the Beavers and tired but successful, they headed home, after a few photo calls outside number 10 and 11.
To date, more than 96,512 hours have been volunteered nationally to help raise awareness and to support initiatives designed to improve the lives of those affected by the four social issues selected.
Adult Scouts volunteers work more than 364 million hours each year in their local communities, but they are looking for more volunteers to help support the young people hoping to join. Thames Ridge Scouts ยป Volunteer
