1st Forres Scouts raise more than £1700 via duck race down Mosset Burn
AN annual event at ‘the Brig’ between Orchard Road and St Catherine’s Road raised more than £1700 for local children.
The 1st Forres Scouts duck race on Friday, June 14 actually made closer to £2000 for the group but proceeds were used for prizes to those who correctly guessed the first yellow racers over the line on the Mosset Burn at Bridge Street.
Scout leader John Innes confirmed entrants had a choice of 1700 to choose from.
He said: “We got off to a good start selling ducks at Mackenzie and Cruickshanks at Easter and our stall at the recent Toun Mercat where we ran ‘hook a duck’ and guess the square on the duck map games.
“We’re hoping that the funds raised this year will help replace some of the camping equipment that we’ve had for 30 years!”
The Scout’s duck race and Christmas post are the group’s biggest annual fundraisers.
“We’ve done them for around 30 years,” said John. “The ducks are launched from Scottie’s Brigg on Orchard Road. The race doesn’t take long, particularly with high water levels. This time it was all over in ten minutes!”
The scouts set up a net at the other bridge to catch the plastic ducks.
“It’s usually the same folk that support the event,” said John. “Mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles, grandparents and friends!
“We got a break in the weather as it lashed down while we were setting up.”
1st Forres Scouts will be kayaking and rafting at Blair’s Loch during the summer.
They have recently entertained Forres Brownies as well as other district scout groups.
“We’ve other groups to take out during the holidays,” said John, “including German scouts from Vienenburg who are visiting in a month.”
Scout duck race
We just got a break in the weather it lashed down at 7 pm setting up
The duck race took part last Friday evening 14th of June
The duck race is our second biggest fundraiser for the summer along with the Christmas post to raise funds for the group we’ve done this now for around 30 years
There were seventeen hundred odd ducks that were launched from Scottie’s brigg orchard road
The race itself doesn’t take that long with the water levels high this time it was all over within 10 minutes
We set up a net at the other bridge to catch the plastic ducks this usually takes about a half hr to put up and take down as we’ve pretty well mastered it now after all the years we’ve been doing it now
We managed to raise about seventeen hundred pounds clear after taking off the prize monies of 2 hundred pounds
We got off to a good start selling ducks at Mackenzie and Cruickshanks at Easter and the town market
Other bits on the stall at the town market were
Hook a duck
Guess the square on the duck map
It’s usually the same window of people that support the scouts the mothers and fathers aunties and uncles grandparents and friends
We are hoping that with the funds we have raised this year to replace some of our aging camping equipment that we’ve had for 30 years it’s lasted really well
Other events we’ve been doing are kayaking and rafting up at Blair’s loch during the summer for our own group which include cubs x 2 scout troop and explorer scouts
We’ve also had the brownies from forres out and various district scout groups out for a taster session and we’ve other groups to take out over the summer including out German scouts from vienenburg who are visiting in 4 weeks time
Hope this helps
Cheers
