Dear parents, friends and families,

As promised, I am pleased to share your monthly update.

Since September 23rd, we’ve been working tirelessly to secure a brighter future for

our group. This journey is complex, with significant funds to raise, navigating the

planning process and ensuring flood-resilience so we remain insurable.

Fundraising Progress

The total estimated cost of the rebuild is just under £250,000. Thanks to generous

donations, grants, pledged amounts, and donated work, we have raised £179,010,

which brings us to 72% of our target. We still have just under £70,000 left to raise.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to our supporters, including: Howdens Insurance,

Xerox UK Ltd (via Benevity payment), Church of the Good Shepherd, Howdens Joinery, Ward

Councillors, two Freemason lodges, public donations from the gofundme site, Megan

from Beavers for her fantastic mince pie sales, two anonymous donors and the elves

and Santa partnership with the Rotary Club.

As well as coordinating donations, we’ve been busy applying for grants, in fact we’ve

considered 115 grant organisations. Of those, 50 application windows were closed or

we were rejected as being out-of-scope of their grant guidelines, 24 applications are

on hold while we're awaiting response or a new window to open, 17 applications are

still in progress, 23 applications have been submitted and one has resulted in funds

being pledged (hopefully some more to come!).

We still have a long way to go raising funds before we can break ground. Your

continued support is invaluable, and we would greatly appreciate any help you can

offer. We only have a couple of people coordinating the fundraising efforts and

although we’re making progress we really want to move faster. If you have a few

hours a week to spare, please consider joining our fundraising team—we’d love to

have you on board!

The Build

We’re optimistic about sourcing an architect to work with us at cost. Additionally,

we’ve received quotes from several pre-fab building companies, which will allow us

to finalise costs and line up contractors in preparation for reaching our fundraising goal.

How You Can Help

Thank you for your incredible support so far. If you’re able to assist further whether

through corporate partnerships, in-kind contributions, or any other means—please

don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can reach us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Together, we can make this vision a reality!

Best regards,

Paul Casey

Chair of Trustees

Church Riverside Scout Group

January 2025