New Colne scout group saves on travel (From Lancashire Telegraph)

New Colne scout group saves on travel

8:00pm Thursday 27th December 2012 in Pendle By Tyrone Marshall, Reporter

A GROUP of volunteers have started a new scouts group in Colne to stop children having to travel out of town.

All previous scout groups in Colne had closed down and youngsters who wanted to take part were being forced to travel to Trawden or Barnoldswick.

But the four volunteers, two men and two women, who all have children, decided to take action and started their own group.

Laura O’Callaghan, 35, said: “We thought it was unfair that children aged between 10 and a half and 14 were having to travel to take part in the scouts.

“We all have young children who have done things like cubs and beavers before the scouts, so we decided to start our own group.

“None of us have done anything like this before so it is a completely new experience, but it has been brilliant so far.”

The 16th Pendle Sacred Heart Scouts have seven children involved so far, having been going only two months.

They have already been on a camp visit to the Lake District, taken part in the Remembrance Sunday parades and visited Jodrell Bank.

The four volunteers, Laura, Warren Manley, John Clayton and Kirsty Swierkowski are now undergoing training to become full scout leaders.

Laura said: “We have had lots of help from Howard Mitchell, who is scout group leader at St Matthew with Holy Trinity scout group in Burnley, and he has helped us learn the ropes and take sessions.

“As a group we started from scratch and have very little equipment so far, we’ve not had a chance to do any fundraising or anything like that.

“But the most important thing is that there is a scout group in Colne again for young people to attend.”

Anybody interested in getting involved with 16th Pendle Sacred Heart Scouts should call Laura on 07938 179439, Warren on 07803 086090 or John on 07971 378550.