Hemel Hempstead Scouts raise hundreds for charity during lockdown

Scouts from Hemel Hempstead, and their families, tool part in two lockdown family quiz nights to raise money for two local charities.

Hemel Hempstead Scout Leaders Russ Dyble and Jan Maddern came up with the idea to put on a fun event on VE Day, the money raised was split between homeless charity DENS and the Hemel Hempstead Scouts Adventure Fund.

Jan is currently writing daily quizzes that she posts on Facebook, weekly lockdown quiz nights for friends, and has a regular slot on BBC Three Counties doing a weekly quiz question with Justin Dealey, so this seemed a relatively easy way to raise money during lockdown.

Jan said: “There is a commitment in Scouting to support the community, so we decided to raise funds jointly for Hemel Hempstead Scouts Adventure Fund and local homeless charity DENS.

"Our Adventure Fund is a hardship fund that enables our members to take part in activities they couldn’t otherwise afford.

"Local Scout groups already have an affiliation with DENS, as we often volunteer at the foodbank and take part in sleepouts to raise money for the charity, so to raise money for both seemed an obvious choice."

The events were advertised on social media; in order to join, people were invited to donate via a Paypal link, which generated an email address to send the Zoom invite out.

There was no fixed amount, so families could give whatever they felt comfortable with.

The quiz nights were run, like most current Scouting activities, via a Zoom meeting. Russ hosted the event and Jan was the Quiz Master.

Families gathered around their laptops and the rounds were put up by Powerpoint, including a music round and a ‘World According to Lego’ round in each quiz.

When the answers were given out the families were asked to hold up how many fingers to show how many they had got right.

After the first, hugely successful ‘VE Day 75 Family Quiz Night’, Russ and Jan decided to do it all again for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend.

Between the two events they raised £1,006, £503 will be sent to DENS to continue their vital work in the community, and the remaining money will be used to support members of Hemel Scouts.

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