River stewards in the making

The First Rochdale Scout Group is getting involved in a new project working alongside Suzanne Walton, Groundwork’s Education & Communities Manager, to become Junior River Stewards and to work towards their Environment Partnership Award.

Each section of the group, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers, has received an activity session where they discussed the risks of flooding, looked at maps of the local flood zone and discussed what to do in the case of a flood.

The next stage of the Award is for each group to adopt a section of the River Roch to monitor any issues and report them to the Environment Agency. On Monday 12 May the Scouts will be shown the stretch of river they will be monitoring and will be identifying any potential problems.

Sarah Parkington, Rochdale’s Community Flood Resilience Officer said, “This project identifies Rochdale’s active young citizens and will provide them with the skills to support their local community.”

Suzanne Walton, Groundwork’s Education & Communities Manager stated, “Each member of the Scout group has been interested to learn about the local flood risks and are keen to become Junior River Stewards.”