Since the decision was taken in February 2015 to buy the Methodist Church for the continued use of the 63rd Derby Scout Group and the village, we have been thinking about the best ways to raise the money for this ambitious project. Let us tell you about our fund-raising campaign, and some ways in which you can help us achieve our goal…
Over the coming years we will be holding a large number of events, including our Annual Field Day on Dean’s Field. These will be publicised in the local press and radio and at our events and also on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Derby63rdScoutGroupDarleyAbbey/
Appeal for Donations
We originally started our Appeal for Donations through our fund-raising site with MyDonate but BT closed their site down in 2019 and so we can no longer accept donations using this platform.
I am pleased to tell you that in place of this we have set up a Crowdfunder on Go Fund Me and you can have a preview now before the full campaign is launched. If you wish to donate please go to the Go Fund Me web-site and look for Help Darley Abbey Scouts Save Their Hall.
https://www.gofundme.com/help-darley-abbey-scouts-save-their-hall?pc=em_dn_contacts_r&rcid=r01-157689369857-b5cd7b2f0e13491b&member=3395450
Thank you to all our supporters and donors; we are really grateful for your help and continued support in saving Darley Abbey Scout Hall.
Fund-raising Blog
For those of you who want to follow us more closely, we have a ‘blog’ on this website http://www.63derbyscouts.co.uk/news/ to record and report our achievements more widely.
Our local supporters
Many local residents have said they were Cubs or Scouts (or even Leaders) some years ago and would be pleased to help us save the Scouts Hall. As one of the longest-running local groups in the area, we hope we will have a strong and supportive body of alumni to draw upon. To find our alumni, we hope to run appeals through the social history centrefold “Bygones” in The Derby Telegraph and on Radio Derby… if you or someone in your family was a member of the 63rd Derby and you would like to help us, please get in touch by e-mail at 63rdderbyscoutshall@gmail.com
We have made contact with other local (community) groups who have promised their support and we hope to gain the support of local businesses too. For example, we received a generous donation from the Darley Abbey Society, who are championing our cause and are helping to raise the profile of our campaign.
Our local primary school (Walter Evans C of E Aided Primary School ) have run several Non-uniform Days in aid of our appeal with great success. The Old Vicarage School also held a non-uniform day in November 2018 to benefit both the Scout Hall Fund and Children in Need. Thank you to both schools.
The Village Stores, Headlines by Julie and Friargate Frames & Design have shown their support by displaying our posters and by donating raffle prizes. Sarah and Martin have been selling tickets for some of our fund-raising events. We are very grateful for all their support.
At the end of 2019, Sarah (Village Stores) made a decision to charge 5p (recently increased to 10p) for plastic bags to try to reduce the amount of plastic being used and is very kindly donating all monies raised in this way to our Scout Hall Fund. She also started selling second-hand books with the proceeds also going to the Scout Hall Fund. With your support, we are pleased to announce that in August 2021, the Village Stores have just raised over £1,000! Very well done to all concerned. We thank you!
Thanks also go to the Rev. Peter Barham who has very kindly allowed us to use our parish church, St. Matthew’s, to hold two Christmas concerts (one in 2015 and one in 2019).
Our newly re-elected MP (Amanda Solloway) was involved with the Guides for many years and remains a keen supporter of both Guides and Scouts. She is giving us her full support and opened our Field Day in June 2016. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK6Z-FrYCUI&feature=youtu.be)
Last, but not least, our grateful thanks go to Colin Mitchell and Richard Mackney, of Fish Media, who set up this web-site for us. ( http://www.fish-media.net/)
Wider Scouting supporters
We have excellent support from the Scouts at the District, County and National level. We are encouraged by the success of our colleagues at 161st Derby (Hilton ) Scout Group, who recently raised money to build their Scout Hall and by the very supportive discussions we have had with neighbouring Scout Groups, in particular the 1st Horsley and Kilburn Scout Group (http://1sthandk.ukscouts.org.uk/).
Grants and other fund-raising opportunities
We anticipate that applying for grants and other schemes will be a major part of our plan, although some grants are only available for renovations, refurbishments and improvements to existing premises, for example, The National Lottery Fund.
We continue to write to local companies for their support and research national companies to see what funding opportunities are available there.
When our Scout Group was a Co-op Local Cause in the Community in 2017/2018, the customers of the Co-ops at Park Farm Centre and on Duffield Road raised £6,251.10 for refurbishing the kitchen and the toilets. As a result, the Hall has been updated and with improved facilities is in demand as a venue for various classes, meetings and parties, thereby raising more money to Save the Hall (see below).
In 2020, with grateful thanks, we received £2,000 from the Severn Trent Covid Recovery Fund.
However, we recognise there are very many other grant-in-aid schemes to whom we may apply for support but we cannot know them all. So, if you have any suggestions of grants that we may apply for or want to share your experience of applying for grants, then please get in touch by e-mailing us at 63rdderbyscoutshall@gmail.com
Using the Hall to raise money
As well as using the Hall for our meetings and for running fund-raising events, we hope to use it to its full potential to contribute to our Scouts Hall Fund…
Parties and Events: The Scouts Hall is available for hire for parties and other social functions in the evenings and at weekends, during the times it is not being used by the Scout Group. The Hall has its own kitchen and a fully functional stage and we have been told by one of the local Dance Clubs that the hall has an excellent wooden floor for dancing.
If you would like to hire the hall for an event please see our Hall Hire pages for further details
Other regular users: The Hall is not just used by the Scout Group. It is a valuable resource to Darley Abbey and the surrounding villages. Hall usage is currently at 80% to 85% of capacity and the revenue from this goes towards purchasing and maintaining the Hall. Just a few of the groups that currently benefit from using the Hall are:
- Community Links – a Social Enterprise Company who use the Hall during the day Mondays – Fridays
- Diabetes Support Group
- Juggling Class
- Local families who use the Hall for celebrations, parties and get togethers
We would be delighted to hear from any other local groups who may wish to rent the Hall for their activities contact-us
So how can you help?
We welcome any help you can give, such as:
- volunteering as Committee members
- running events in aid of the Scouts Hall Fund
- any ideas for events from people who need help to run them or alternatively will help the 63rd Derby run them
- offers of help from people who can help out occasionally and are willing to be put on a list for occasional requests for help at events/ cooking for events
- undertaking research into funding opportunities and /or writing letters
- offers of time to put out leaflets around the village to publicise our events
- ideas for new funding sources and/ or share experience of applying for grants
- anything-else which might help us with our fund-raising campaign
If you think you can help us with our fund-raising please do get in touch with our fund-raising team at 63rdderbyscoutshall@gmail.com we would love to hear from you!
