As always at 1st Hexham, we work as a team. This may be the section leaders, it may be the committee, or it may be our ocasional volunteers, One thing is for certain, the success we have at 1st Hexham & continue to have in providing the very best Scouting possible for our young members all stems from teamwork. We have an amazing committee ,who always back the leadership financially with various projects . This has included over the last few years a £30,000 extension to the Centre. Jack's shelter in memory of one of our much loved ex Scouts whose loss is still felt deeply by many. Our new Pizza shack inspired by Stuart & now Tandoor terrace which is nearly completed & features 3 tandoor ovens, We have also created a new flat area of land which we plan to transform into an amazing Fire pit area & to top it all off, £8000 worth of new decking which is currently being installed & will add two tiers of decking space with picnic tables.

It is not just the adults who have been doing all this work either. Our fantastic Scouts have been helping with the spade work and have done an amazing amount of work in creating the fire pit area, as well as helping to build Tandoor Terrace. Their enthusiasm for the project is inspiring and they will take a pride in it knowing they were involved.

These photos show what can be done with teamwork. A few short years ago all the land at the rear of the Centre was ovegrown and very unsightly. Step by step, trees were cut down, bushes removed, overgrowth strimmed back & all leading to a manageable grass slope which will be regularly strimmed in the coming summer months.

Our vision for the rear of the centre is to maximise as much of our land as possible & turn it into a useful outdoor space. we havent quite got the hot tub planned lol but there are still plenty ideas we wish to explore & there is also a large raised outdoor chess board to be installed in the next few weeks . We hope you like the photos of the work carried out as well as showing work currently in progress.

The new Tandoor ovens were fired up for the first time tonight at Scouts & were a huge success & we already have the PL's & APL's asking when they can come back and do some more work on the project. Its truly a great all round team effort.   

We welcomed our Patrol Leaders & Assistant Patrol Leaders back to Scouts today as we organised a work party to start building our new Tandoor Terrace to accompany the Pizza shack. The Scouts did a fantastic job, not only with the Tandoor area but also our planned new raised fire pit area. A huge amount of earth was moved by the team using old tyres to backfill and to gradually level an area of land. This will eventually be gravelled with a raised circular fire pit in the centre. Seating will then also be organised and a path to the area from the new decking area installed. Two new levels of decking are shortly to be installed next to Jack's shelter and will lead out onto the bankside. Once all this is completed an outdoor large raised Chess board is to be installed , more picnic tables & the pathway from the side of the Lookwide Centre regravelled up to Jacks shelter. Its an exciting time for our very pro active Group and committee as we are also in the early stages of redesigning the kitchen in the Lookwide Centre as well. This will include a fire protected roller shutter servery hatch into the main hall, the relocation of the cooker & new kitchen units. In the mean time the leaders would like to congratulate all the Scouts who attended today who did an amazing job & they can be proud when all the work is finished that they will have contributed to the success of the project. The next stage is to finish the Tandoor fencing, add a hand rail up to it from the Pizza Shack, put down a membrane and then lay the gravel & install the Ovens. With the fire pit this is work in progress & once we have the land levelling finished we will be discussing the next stage. We are sure our Group members are going to love these new facilities when completed .

In line with our Groups commitment to continually improve our facilities, as well as our commitment to health & safety, we have commissioned Firepoint to install a new two zone Fire alarm system in the Lookwide Centre. This installation will be carried out this week & is expected to take two days to install. As part of the system we have had drawn up a layout of the building which will be needed by Firepoint & the final layoiut will be on display in the building following completion.

While we wait for this awful virus to die down and for life and indeed Scouting to return to normality, now seems the perfect opportunity to further expand the Group website. We are looking for ideas , activities & features that we can add to the site during the coming months. We have links on the site to important websites like Northumberland Scouts and we are open to further suggestions for links as well. If any of our members have ideas to help us expand the website then please do get in touch with us.

we look forward to welcoming our young members back to the fun of Scouting as soon as possible.

The Northumberland Lottery is an excellent way for parents to support the Scout Group and with a far greater chance to win prizes than the National Lottery. Tickets cost just £1.00 per week and 50p from every ticket sold goes directly to the Scout Group. There is a weekly jackpot prize of £25,000 available with prizes for matching two numbers or more.

We have now registered with the Lottery & you can purchase tickets directly from our lottery page at 

https://www.northumberlandlottery.co.uk/support/1st-hexham-scout-group

The Lottery will help us to continue our work on reclaiming & putting to good use the land at the rear of the Scout Centre. We are planning to install more decking, a camp fire circle area and fire pit to add to the brilliant facilities we already have with Jack's shelter, the Pizza shack and the imminent giant chess board and Tandoor cooking area. This all adds to the great experiences your child can have with us and will help us provide safe outdoor scouting during the current situation. Jack's shelter & the Pizza shack have proved to be invaluable in enabling us to return to face to face Scouting. 

Please consider supporting the Group through the Lottery

1st Hexham Scout Group Executive committee.