For me scouting was absolutely fundamental to my growth in my formative years and set me on the right path for future careers in actually not that dissimilar organisations (the military) where 'Being Prepared' was always a good thing.

Obviously, the pandemic has greatly disrupted the delivery of scouting activity, to date it has all been online, which whilst new and interesting, will never replace good old face to face activities and campfires etc.

As lockdown continues to end, we can tentatively look forward to resuming face to face scouting and I am trying to raise money to assist the Group with that process. All money raised will go towards the welfare of our scouting family on all fronts be it assisting those without internet access, increased transport costs due to social distance requirements, PPE purchase, correct signage for our scout rooms to ensure safety etc. The list and costs as usual appears endless, but it is not. 90% of money raised will be used by the Group for this purpose. In what has been a disruptive time in everyone's lives we are aiming to again provide a safe environment for youth in Bootle to learn, develop, grow and have some much needed activity outside of the home.

So then, in order to raise these funds there will be a cost...and one I'm hopefully going to give it a good go at paying! !!

Although not strictly 'old' I am a year off fifty, so no spring chicken. On 16 Aug 2020 I will be attempting an 'Ironman' Triathlon as part of the UK Ultimate Triathlon series.

This consists of swimming 2.2 Miles (equivalent to swimming to New Brighton and back from Seaforth), then cycling 112 miles (equivalent to riding from Liverpool to just past Birmingham) before then running a full 26 mile marathon (equivalent to running from Bootle to Preston); all in under 17 hours.

I have been preparing for this on and off for months as we were never sure at first if the event would take place, now we know it is. So I have sweated a lot in preparation for this event (usually about 20 hours physical training a week), which is unusual when most of it is in your front room up until about 4 weeks ago which was when I was first actually able to swim in water, up until then press ups had to suffice!

These events are very long and extremely arduous by anyone's standards, but I say that only so you know that each pound you kindly donate will have been paid for in literally blood, sweat and tears (I only cry if I have a puncture). Many thanks for reading and I hope all stay safe & well.

Andrew.

Finally as Scouts one of the promises we make is to think of others before ourselves, so in that spirit, 10% will be donated to Compass Counselling in Liverpool. They provide counselling to those in need and have been understandably inundated during the pandemic, For more details and to view this excellent service please visit https://www.thelivewelldirectory.com/Services/303/COMPASS-Counselling