A group of kind-hearted cub scouts brought joy to care home residents when they paid a surprise visit to deliver handmade Easter cards to them.
The youngsters representing the 1st Penycae troop, stopped off at Pendine Park care organisation in Wrexham, before going on to attend their regular weekly meeting.
They were joined by local youth celebrity Lilly-Anne Sullivan Gibson 17, of Rhos, who is the current Miss Teen Powys.
Lilly-Anne volunteers with the scouts and came up with the idea of creating the Easter greetings for Pendine Park residents.
Lilly-Anne was also Miss Teen Wrexham last year. She is a former pupil of Ysgol Grango, and now a student at Yale College, Wrexham. The Miss Teen competition is a platform to celebrate young people through their achievements and it involves them undertaking a number of charity fundraising activities and volunteering projects.
Lilly-Anne has always been community spirited and has done volunteer work at Pendine Park on previous occasions. Last year she loved helping organise an outdoor egg hunt for residents. She said she has forged some wonderful friendships among the Pendine Park community.
She said: “I really believe the social care sector needs as much support from local people as possible given the challenging times we’ve all faced over the last two years. So, with Easter approaching I thought it would be great for the cub scouts to visit and bring some early spring cheer.
Pendine Park Artist in Residence Sarah Edwards was hugely impressed with the egg shaped greetings cards made by the cubs and promised to include them in a colourful display of artwork which will decorate the walls over Easter.
She said: “The cards are really fantastic, so colourful, fun and cheerful, and the visit by the cubs is a wonderful pick-me-up for our residents.”
The 1st Penycae troop has about 20 cubs in its ranks and they all made an individual card, then the whole batch was delivered by five of the troop – Harri Jones, Iestyn Jones, Harvey Webster, Isla Webster, and Elizabeth Blackwell.
They were joined by Lilly-Anne, plus cub scout leaders Lindsey Jones and Lynsey Northall, and young leader Lottie Taylor, 15, who is an Explorer Scout and currently working towards gaining a Duke of Edinburgh award.
Lindsey said: “We were all very excited to come to Pendine Park and say Happy Easter to the residents. We especially met up an hour earlier than we would usually do so that we could come here first before our regular cub scouts meeting.”
The youngsters were thrilled to receive cards from the residents in return, along with a drink, cakes and biscuits.
Although they could not go inside the home due to ongoing Covid health and safety protocols, they delighted in waving to residents through the window in the pretty garden area behind the Seren lounge. They took souvenir photographs from outside by the open garden patio doors.
Resident Tony Ithell smiled widely as he shouted Happy Easter to the youngsters and pretended to touch hands through the glass window pane.
He said: “It is so nice to see the children and to know they have put such effort into making these cards specially for us.”
Tony and fellow residents including Mark Cartwright and George Ullmann, donned colourful straw boater style hats as they waved at the cubs.
Sarah explained that a future crafts session would involve the residents decorating their hats in the style of beaming bright multi-coloured bonnets to celebrate the Easter festival.
Residents were impressed that many of the cubs wore uniforms adorned with the activities badges which they have achieved over recent months.
Cub Scout Harri Jones, 11, moves on to the more senior Scouts troop after Easter.
He said: “This is one of the most enjoyable activities we have done this year and a great way to round off my final few days in the cub scouts. We’ve all really enjoyed our visit. Even though the weather was a bit cold, the residents’ smiles were really warm!”
Leader Lynsey Northall said that after the Pendine Park visit they were going back to the scout hut where the evening’s activities would involve further opportunities to warm up with a session learning how to light a wood fire.
She laughed: “And as a special treat we’ll be melting marshmallows to sandwich between digestive biscuits and top with chocolate. Yum!”
The troop has more than 30 Scouts and Explorer Scouts in its pack, and about 20 members in the Beavers – the pre-Cubs age group.
