A WHOPPING £10k grant will help an east Swindon scout group take to the water – and sleep easier at night.

The 1st Dorcan Scout Group, who meet in the Liden Community Centre, were handed the £9,999.44 cash grant by the BIG Lottery Fund.

Part of the money will go on new paddleboards for the group, which includes scout, cub and beaver sections. The boards, which are similar in shape to surfboards, are designed to be paddled while standing upright.

And some of the cash has already been spent on new tents, enabling scouts to sleep out on their own and younger members of the beaver troop to doze under the stars with a friend.

Theresa Polden, one of the group’s leaders, said: “Straightaway it’s made a difference. Currently, the Scout Association are trying to get the little ones out on meets, which is very difficult. We were the first group in the whole of the UK to get our beaver group out camping.”

The intrepid youngsters ventured out during the cold first week of April – not, perhaps, the best introduction to camping.

Theresa said the tents mean more beavers will be able to try camping at an earlier age, better preparing them for the tougher week-long camps they might be asked to attend as they get older.

She said that the camps, “teach them life skills, team skills, they learn to cook”.

The cash will also go on new paddleboards, with different sizes suitable for the pack’s members, who range in age from six to their late teens.

Oliver Leech, 13, from South Marston, said: “I’ve never tried paddle boarding before, but I have seen some people do it at Coate and it looks really fun.”

He said the best thing about being in the Scouts was trying out new activities with friends.

The 1st Dorcan is one of the best-supplied scout groups in Swindon. A number of successful grant applications and off-the-wall fundraising ideas, like a sponsored abseil down the wall of town centre hotel Jury’s Inn, has helped them subsidise a succession of camps for the youngsters.

Teaching assistant Theresa, who has volunteered them for more than 25 years, said she had been surprised by the speed with which the grant had been approved – the second £10k grant given to the group by the lottery charity.

“I couldn’t believe it when I got it the second time,” she said. “I got told we had been successful three weeks on from putting the application in. I was extremely grateful.”