A TEAM of four Danbury Scouts completed a 16-mile litter pick in an effort to raise money for a children's mental health charity.

Over last weekend four Scouts, Joe, Michael, Fergus and Joseph from St Cleres troop Danbury completed the practical part of their Expedition Challenge Award with the litter pick - and have raised £240 for their chosen charity.

During lockdown the Scouts spent time on Zoom planning and organising their two-day expedition including route planning and kit and meal preparation.

Covid restrictions forced a few modifications and luckily due to changing guidelines they were able to modify their expedition to camp for one night outside of the Danbury Scout Hut.

Additionally the boys decided to include fundraising as part of their expedition to help Young Minds, a charity who give incredible support to young people and children who struggle with their mental health.

This is also when they decided to do a litter pick on the expedition.

With an early start on what was one of the hottest weekends of the year the boys walked from Maldon High Street down Market Hill and started the navigation by the canal going towards Little Baddow.

They walked the planned route and met people with words of encouragement and wildlife including dragonflies and a rare sighting of a Kingfisher.

By 4.30pm after a lunch-break and refreshments the scouts arrived back at the Scout Hut clocking up 8 miles.

After pitching their tents, having dinner and a well-deserved sleep they set out for another day of hiking on the Sunday morning.

It was another hot day and plenty of water was needed.

They made their way across the woods and paths to Paper Mill Lock and then along the canal towards Chelmsford.

Their route was slightly longer than anticipated after the only navigational error of the weekend, but the scouts continued hiking and litter-picking in great spirits.

They arrived at Chelmsford Bus Station and waited for the bus to return them to Danbury Scout Hut as they had completed their final 8-mile trek.

Joe, one of the scouts in the team, said: "I am pleased to have had this experience, which was a highlight of my year."

And their scout leaders are incredibly proud of them.

Christine, their mentor and scout leader said to the boys: “Clive and I were impressed once more with the maturity as a group and the good natured way that you managed to deal with challenges of the expedition…it is not often that we have five scouts who are prepared for this challenge so you should be proud of yourselves.”

A spokeswoman said: "The scouts showed the skills they have gained through their time in scouting and were a credit to their leaders making every meeting and camp worth the effort."

To support their fundraiser for Young Minds go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/danbury-gold-litter-pick