Cash confiscated from criminals has helped a Scout group from Deeside to rise from the ashes after their headquarters was destroyed by a fire.
The members of the Saltney Ferry Scout and Guide Group were heartbroken after their building was devastated by the blaze two years ago.
Among those who came to the rescue was North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Winston Roddick CB QC.
The group were successful in bidding for £3,000 to equip their brand new HQ that’s bigger and better than the old one and is home to 130 Scouts, Cubs and Beavers.
The money came via the Your Community, Your Choice initiative – otherwise known as the Participatory Budgeting Grant Scheme – that was set up by Mr Roddick, North Wales Police and the North Wales Police and Community Trust.
The pilot scheme was designed to give members of the public the opportunity to vote which projects to support.
It’s been partly funded by the money recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act using cash seized from offenders.
Mr Roddick paid a visit to see how the money was spent and was joined by civic leaders including Cllr Alan Evans, the Mayor of Saltney Ferry, along with several Police Community Support Officers.
The Commissioner was welcomed by Group Scout Leader Rob Benyon who took over the reins from his father, Bob Benyon, who had joined the group not long after it was founded in 1930.
Mr Benyon said: “The Scouts are important because it’s one of the few groups that give kids a variety of things to do.
“The Commissioner is seeing just a selection of activities today but they’ve just been camping in Scotland where they were doing raft building, climbing, hiking, orienteering, all those kinds of things, as well going shopping.
“We’ve got 130 children aged from five to 17 and it’s just grown, even since the fire.
“I was woken up at 2am in the morning by one of the neighbours who said the headquarters was on fire and I had to come down and watch the old place pretty well burn down, bearing in mind that it was all my family history in the building. It was very sad for me.
“We lost an awful lot of things but as a building, this is far better than what we had before.
“It was a difficult couple of years, really difficult and we’ve done an awful lot of fundraising.
“It cost £110.000 overall just to get set up here. We got some from insurance but there was still about £40.000 we had to raise so it was a lot of work.
“We had about £3,000 from the vote set up by the Commissioner and we actually replaced stuff like the ropes. We also replaced the tents because a lot of the tents were damaged.
Explorer Libby Kent, 14, from Saltney Ferry, has been attending since she was eight years old and loves every second of it.
She said: “We get to do lots of great activities. Before I started Scouts I’d never gone kayaking before and I went and did it and I got my One Star qualification as well.”
Mr Roddick was “mightily impressed” by what he saw and heard.
He said: “It was sheer enjoyment to have been here and to see such good use being made of the money that they received from my office. The value of these places is that it draws young people into them and gets the very best out of young people.
“Imagine this neighbourhood without a place of this kind and the children being out on the streets without much to do or just staying in and watching television or playing with their machines and here they’re making real constructive use of their time and developing their imaginations.
“With the wonderful adults who are dedicated to caring for them and bringing them on, it’s a model of its kind. It was such a pleasure to have experience it.
These are our citizens of the future and that’s what we’re doing with places like this. We’re investing in our own future by bringing up children of this kind to be good and worthy citizens.
“Appropriately, part of the money is coming from the proceeds of crime. Isn’t it wonderful to think that criminals don’t profit from crime if we can get our hands on the money and that we can turn it to good use in the community. The laugh’s on the criminal and the pleasure is all with us.”
It was a sentiment echoed by PCSO Dan Hughes who said: “The group provides a brilliant resource really because over 130 people attend just this scout group, the Brownies, the Beavers, the Explorers and the Cubs as well.”
Cllr Alan Evans, Mayor of Saltney, explained the Town Council had also supported the group following the fire and had put in the planning application on their behalf to build the new HQ.
He said: “The rules allow it so we did it and we’re only too pleased to see them progressing now. They’ve risen from the ashes.
“I am over the moon that part of the money group has received is from seized the proceeds of crime. Hit them where it hurts, in the pocket.”
