Friday 4^th March saw the unveiling of a new wildlife garden for the 1^st Beetley Scouts Group which has transformed an overgrown site into something for the Scouts, Cubs and Beavers to enjoy and explore.

The exciting and educational garden has been completed by a team of impressive young adults on a 12-week personal youth development programme run by the Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service in partnership with the Prince’s Trust. Part of their programme is to carry out a Team challenge to help others in the community and they’ve certainly done that here.

Each member of the Team, Aaron, Alex, Becky, Em, Ethan, Katie, Mason and Zak got stuck in, clearing the over-grown site before the work could begin. They started by interrogating the scout leaders about how they wanted to use the land – and, armed with this knowledge, set about creating a garden design and a project plan, taking turns to be the lead.

They raised funds with a 12km sponsored walk to buy materials and plants and then set to work to create new flower beds, benches, bird boxes, bug hotels and hedgehog houses.

The Group Scout Leader, Lee Anderton, thanked them for all their hard work saying the Scouts Group can now spend more time outdoors giving them the opportunity to earn new badges.

The Team has been led by Chantelle Williams and Scott Rudling who both recognise the team challenge and the programme itself has instilled a level of confidence in these young adults as well as teaching them new skills.

Aaron, commenting on his experience said: “It’s been a great job, we did lots of planning before actually starting the garden. Everybody loved doing it and we’re all pleased it’s turned out so well.”

Everybody gets an accredited qualification, a Prince’s Trust Certificate in Employment, Teamwork and Community Skills, a HSE approved First Aid Certificate as well as learning new skills, work experience, a big boost to personal soft skills.