SCORES of young children's dreams of becoming the Scouts will never be realised unless more adult helpers come forward in Taunton Deane.

As things stand, youngsters are unlikely to be accepted into the Beavers or Cubs unless their names are put down on a waiting list by the time they are three-years-old.

Blackdown Scouts district commissioner Pam Gaines, whose patch covers Taunton Deane and part of South Somerset, has issued an appeal for people to come forward to help run more packs.

Somerset County Gazette:

"Last year it was announced that there were 50,000 young people on waiting lists across the country," said Mrs Gaines.

"We've got young people who will, unless other people move away from this area, never scout because there aren't enough adults to support them," said Mrs Gaines, whose involvement in scouting goes back to when her elder son joined the Beavers in 1994.

"Most of the groups in Taunton Deane have closed waiting lists for Beavers and Cubs.

"If you don't put your child's name down by the time they're three, they don't get in.

"It's a crying shame and it doesn't make it any easier that more housing is going up in and around Taunton and Wellington.

"All we need is some people to volunteer."

Mrs Gaines is keen to attract helpers in a variety of positions, ranging from section leaders, who would need to be able to work with young people on a weekly basis, to more flexible roles.

She added: "If people are only available on a flexible role, we could work around it.

"There are other things they could do to support scouting such as working at Huish Woods camp site, IT jobs or fundraising. There are lots of ways they can support us.

"If we don't get more volunteers, a lot of young people are going to miss out on the adventure."

Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Mrs Gaines via e-mail at dc.blackdown@gmail.com in the first instance ahead of talking over the options and their skills set.

Appropriate training will be given and all applicants will need to be DBS police checked.