YOUR LAST CHANCE! BERKSWELL NEW SCOUT HOUSE APPEAL REMEMBER A SCOUT, A LOVED ONE, OR AN ORGANISATION Thanks to many of you, your clubs, your councils, your societies, your activities, your businesses and the 53rd Coventry Berkswell Scout Group, we have almost reached our goal of £400.000. As you can see we have now started work and the building is going up fast. However we still need those last thousands to fit out the new Scout House. The Brick Sponsorship Campaign has already raised over £13,000. This Appeal is now drawing to a close, so if you would like to sponsor bricks or further bricks to help the Scouts in Berkswell please purchase them now as our appeal must close on the 31st January 2018. Your engraved brick will be shown for all to see in a public area of the building. If you have been delaying till the last moment, this is it. Please Help. Application may be made through the sponsorship organiser Deirdre Vernon, at 27, Hodgetts Lane, Burton Green, Download a Brick form here In September 2014, as you know, the Berkswell ( 53rd Coventry) Scout Group launched a campaign to raise funds for the development of a new Scout House to replace the current run-down 1960s Scout House. The voluntary fundraising team have held a number of events, approached local businesses and charitable trusts and have raised over £300,000 of the £400,000 appeal target. The build is due to start this summer but we still help to raise the £100K shortfall. Very recently a cheque for £2,900 was presented to the Group Scout Leader, Bob Tabb, together with a letter from the Treasurer of the Solihull Rotary Club. The cheque was given to us because a local couple, who were supporters of the Scout Group recommended our Appeal to the Solihull Rotary Club’s charitable trust committee. It was agreed that we should be one of the beneficiaries. Bob Tabb, Group Scout Leader, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of local people and businesses. The funding already received means that we can get the basic structure built this summer. However, we still need to continue with our fundraising efforts in order to ensure that we can complete the project including the internal fixtures and fittings.” Please help the Berkswell ( 53rd Coventry) Scout Group reach their fundraising target. You can contribute towards this exciting project for the young people in Coventry and Warwickshire by visiting our fundraising page on our website and pledging your support. Thank you In 2013, the Scout Group Executive undertook to raise funds to replace its ageing Scout House in Berkswell village centre. It is over 50 years old, expensive to maintain, too small, does not meet disabled regulations and is not fit for purpose. An architect, who is also a Scout in the group, designed the new building in consultation with others and building permission in the Conservation Area was granted by Solihull MBC in October 2014. In September 2014, an Appeals Committee under the chairmanship of Dr David Stableforth and having Jenny Thompson, accountant, as the treasurer was formed with 5 other members, later increasing to 11 members and this voluntary committee has met monthly ever since. The committee produced a project brochure and launched at a coffee morning in March 2015. The Berkswell Charities pledged £200,000 at an early stage towards the currently projected cost of £415,000 and our first donation of £500 was received from the Berkswell Trefoil Guild in March 2015. Our sponsored Brick Appeal, offering an engraved tile to donors in the new Scout House, launched in May 2015 and continues. The Scout Group has earmarked substantially all new funds raised since we launched and continues to make regular contributions from jumble sales, the annual barbecue and duck and frog races. In addition, Scout Group leaders, individual scouts and their parents have organised a Snowdon climb, a sponsored walk and a quiz at the local Brickmakers’ Arms. From April 2014 the Scouts alone have raised £16,783. In November 2015, a talented organiser helped us raise £6,787 clear profit from our Scout House Winter Ball at the Birmingham Motorcycle Museum, hosted by BBC TV presenter Joanne Malin. The Appeals Committee have organised a programme of corporate giving by local businesses since December 2015 and through this we continue to receive substantial donations. We have received donations from local parish councils and other local organisations, as well as generous individuals. The main source of income at present is from charitable trusts and foundations who have generously given donations and pledges. We are fortunate, to have acquired the services of a professional fundraiser who is helping us on a ‘pro bono’ basis. With her help, we have recently sent applications out to over 65 charitable trusts and will continue with this work in the coming months. Our Building Committee was formed in 2014 and has an architect, quantity surveyor and project manager amongst its members. This group has sent the plans out to tender and we hope to commence building in the summer 2017. The itemised list of materials, fixtures and fittings provide opportunities for giving ‘in kind’ and we have already received generous offers of goods and services. We regularly meet with the Berkswell Charities Trust Committee who are committed to our project, to review our project income leading up to the proposed building commencement in the summer 2017. Finally, the following will give an idea of progress to date. The sums we have acquired as at 31st May 2016 are:
If you know of local businesses who might be able to help reach our fundraising target of £415,000 then please ask them to get in touch. Thank you Dr David Stableforth Appeals Committee Chairman July 2016 |
AuthorThis blog post is updated by members of the voluntary fundraising committee. Archives
November 2017
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