A TAMAR Valley scout group is appealing for land and new leaders after the land they were using was sold during the pandemic.

Group scout leader, Louise Morton from 1st Tamar Valley Cubs & Scouts Group based in Harrowbarrow said: ‘It would be nice to have a regular spot we can use. Ideally a mixed terrain with some open space and a bit of woodland. ‘Also we are looking for leaders as we have got the bare minimum of leaders, only one for each group’

The Tamar Valley group are appealing for land with an area of woodland and good accessibility for parents dropping off and picking up their children.

‘We used to have a plot over at Cox Park that somebody let us use for free that was in woodland on the side of a hill, with a stream running through it and that was lovely for the children to explore and do camps and things like that, but unfortunately during covid it got sold’, said Louise.

‘But that’s really the sort of thing we are looking for. An outdoor open space that nobody else really uses, but it does need to have access for parents to drop-off so it’s safe for the children.

‘Part of the issue around here is access generally isn’t great. We have been asking locally but it is trying to find something suitable.’ Although the group have access to a field that belongs to one of the parents at the scout group, the group are looking for an outdoor space that can be used on a more regular basis.

‘We have a field that one of the parents has which we can use when there isn’t livestock in there, and they’ve been kind to give us that for the last 12 months, but it would be great to have a space that we could use all the time where we could put a compost toilet in if need be and maybe build a wooden shelter of some sort.’

Alongside their appeal for land, the group are also wanting to recruit new leaders. Currently there is only one scout leader and one cub leader and the group wish to recruit more adult leaders to provide back-up assistance.

‘We’re not understaffed, but we have got the bare minimum’, said Louise.

‘We’ve got one leader for each section, so we couldn’t operate with less then that.

‘As in any voluntary organisation you need volunteers and we are always trying to recruit leaders.’

Currently the group, which meets at Harrowbarrow and Metherell Village Hall, relies on assistance from parents of children in the scout group to support the running of the sessions, but welcomes volunteers that don’t necessarily have children in the group.

‘At the moment we use parents on a rota to help out but it would be nice to have at least two leaders per group to share the planning and running of sessions’, said Louise.

‘At the moment if one of the leaders was to move or leave then we would need more’, explained Louise.

‘It would also be nice to up our numbers of children then we get volunteers from the parents.’

Tim Wilkinson, one of the members of the 1st Tamar Valley Scouts committee echoed Louise’s views and said: ‘Covid hit us quite hard and we lost a lot of momentum and interest. But it’s slowly building up.’