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Essex Experience AnnouncementTo Whom it May Concern 2 February 2009 It is with sadness and regret that Essex County Scout Council announces the closure of the Essex Experience Project, which supports non-Scout young people through offering participation in residential activity weekend camps. The project has been running since 1996 and during this time has supported close to 4,000 non-Scout young people. It has also trained about 450 volunteers, many of which have gone through life changing experiences, who mentored the non-Scout young people. Each year approximately 200 volunteers have supported the event, many of which have been Essex Scouts. As like many charities which support Community Development Projects, the recession has reduced the financial support that can be offered by external sources to a point which makes these projects unsustainable. Financially, the Essex Experience Project has been completely funded from external sources. Community Development projects, which are focused on non-Scout young people, cannot be funded from local Scout funds, which are primarily derived from subscriptions and used to support conventional Scouting activities. It would be inappropriate to fund the project from member’s subscriptions. Whilst every effort has been made to make the project sustainable, the ultimate reason for closure remains the lack of external funding from our usual sources, resulting from the recession. Regrettably, the above also means that we have had to make our part-time employee, Claire Fielder, redundant. Claire, who has made a major contribution to the development of the project, is aware of this situation and as usual is being most professional about the process. Our best wishes for the future are extended to Claire and her family. We would also like to thank all the young people, volunteers, sponsors & partners who have supported the project over the years and wish everyone good luck in their future endeavours. Yours sincerely, Paul J Stennett |
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