Scouts across our area have been busy doing good deeds and taking part in expeditions in Scotland and Swaziland this month.

The Comet: The British and Swazi scouts on site with the Swaziliand Scouting International Commissioner.The British and Swazi scouts on site with the Swaziliand Scouting International Commissioner. (Image: Archant)

Scouts across our area have been busy doing good deeds and taking part in expeditions in Scotland and Swaziland this month.

Scouts from Hitchin spent two weeks this month completing adventure activities in the Invertrossachs area of Scotland. More than 40 adult volunteers and 66 scouts aged between 10 and 18 stayed at the Lochearnhead Scout Station to the north of Glasgow. The intrepid youngsters took part in mountain climbing, cycling, sailing, kayaking, boudlering and white water rafting.

Peter Woolston from the scouts said: “It was a fabulous expedition allowing the young people to learn new skills.”

The train line to the station was closed in 1951, when the track was removed and the buildings and land fell into disrepair, before assistant commissioner for Herts Scouts at the time, Melville Balsillie, rediscovered the station in 1961 and opened it for scouts.

The Comet: The scouts get set to leave Letchworth for Swaziland.The scouts get set to leave Letchworth for Swaziland. (Image: Archant)

Since then thousands of young people have used it as a base for exploring the Highlands with each scouting district in Herts having the opportunity to use the station every four years.

A different set of scouts from Baldock, Hitchin and Letchworth headed further afield to Swaziland in southern Africa for three weeks, joining 10 Swazi Rover Scouts to work on building a community youth centre in a place called Malibeni.

Nearly 40 scouts finished digging the foundations for the building with the aim to have the project complete by summer 2018, which will include a kitchen, a classroom, a computer room and a library. Scouts from Hitchin spent two weeks this month completing adventure activities in the Invertrossachs area of Scotland. More than 40 adult volunteers and 66 scouts aged between 10 and 18 stayed at the Lochearnhead Scout Station to the north of Glasgow. The intrepid youngsters took part in mountain climbing, cycling, sailing, kayaking, boudlering and white water rafting.

Peter Woolston from the scouts said: “It was a fabulous expedition allowing the young people to learn new skills.”

The train line to the station was closed in 1951, when the track was removed and the buildings and land fell into disrepair, before assistant commissioner for Herts Scouts at the time, Melville Balsillie, rediscovered the station in 1961 and opened it for scouts.

Since then thousands of young people have used it as a base for exploring the Highlands with each scouting district in Herts having the opportunity to use the station every four years.

A different set of scouts from Baldock, Hitchin and Letchworth headed further afield to Swaziland in southern Africa for three weeks, joining 10 Swazi Rover Scouts to work on building a community youth centre in a place called Malibeni.

Nearly 40 scouts finished digging the foundations for the building with the aim to have the project complete by summer 2018, which will include a kitchen, a classroom, a computer room and a library.

The scouts partnership with the project and the Swazi Rover Scouts is a long-running one and volunteers from Herts are already planning their next visit to the project.

Letchworth and Baldock district secretary Apryl Goodwin said: “They’re very happy people with what they’ve got. This was a very poor area of Swaziland.

“They love the British. Their King and our Queen are best friends.”

The scouts partnership with the project and the Swazi Rover Scouts is a long-running one and volunteers from Herts are already planning their next visit to the project.

Letchworth and Baldock district secretary Apryl Goodwin said: “They’re very happy people with what they’ve got. This was a very poor area of Swaziland.

“They love the British. Their King and our Queen are best friends.”