New scout group at Wixams boosted by donation from development company

Twenty-one youngsters aged 10-and-a-half to 14 have joined the 1st Wixams Scouts Group which meets at Lakeview School every Monday night.

Twenty-four Beavers aged six-to-eight and 24 cubs from eight-to-ten-and-a-half years-old are also learning skills for life at Lakeview Village Hall on Friday evenings as the residents of the new 4,750 homes village create their own community.

The three groups have been launched with the help of a £1,000 donation from Gallagher Estates who were the master planners and designers of Wixams.

Dave Stallion, Craig Baker and Georgina Kindred are the three volunteer leaders of the 1st Wixams Scouts Group, who all live in Wixams.

Dave said the four-figure sum of money from Gallagher Estates had enabled them to buy vital equipment to get the groups up-and-running.

He said: “Since we were forming new groups for scouts, beavers and cubs, we started with nothing so the £1,000 has helped towards buying the equipment we needed.

“We have bought the flags for the three groups such as the Union Jack, camping equipment, compasses, maps, head torches, cups and water carriers for a hike we are planning with the scouts as well as stationery items including pens, pencils and notebooks.

“Wixams is a great development and it is starting to generate a community feeling as more and more people move in.

“There weren’t any community groups for boys and girls and this is a great way to keep children entertained and beavers, cubs and scouts are the perfect way of learning skills for when you get older.

“A message was posted on social media asking for adult volunteers. I thought ‘why not?’ because I was a cub and scout when I was younger and signed up.

“We were delighted that 12 youngsters came along to our first scouts meeting and in the future, we would like to build our own scout hut.

“We really appreciate the support from Gallagher Estates as a major land company and it is great to see they are keen to put back into the local community.”

Gregg Wilkinson, managing director of Gallagher Estates, said the success of Wixams was partly due to the community feel which had already been generated.

He said: “Gallagher Estates has been the master developer for the entire Wixams site and it is a really bustling, thriving community now.

“It has been great to watch the site come to life over the years and it shows how far we have come that community groups are being set-up.

“We built Lakeview Village Hall for the community and we are really pleased that it is busy every night of the week with a whole range of activities, and the scouts is taking place at Lakeview School since they needed a bigger space.

“It is great that our donation is make a significant difference to the community activities and I hope the youngers have a great time learning new skills and making new friends.”

Wixams is the single largest development in Bedfordshire and once complete, will consist of 4,750 homes and over 250,000 sqm of employment and retail uses.