WOKING District’s Maverick Explorer Scout unit spent a Saturday morning building a bespoke bridge across a stream at Shey Copse, replacing a previous bridge that had fallen into disrepair. 

As the country eased out of Covid lockdown restrictions in 2020 and 2021, the Maverick unit regularly used Shey Copse as a meeting place.

Assistant Explorer Scout leader Ivor Morgan said: “Shey Copse enabled us to meet following social distancing guidelines and we wanted to give something back to the site.

“We talked to the people who run it and they asked if we could help make the bridge safe across the stream. 

“Scouting is all about enabling young people to build bridges with others as they mature into young adults, and it was especially good to literally build bridges with Shey Copse.

“We designed the bridge and made some of the sections off-site before meeting first thing on the Saturday and assembling it. The Explorers were involved in cutting wood, squaring angles, drilling and assembling it. 

“Finally, they got to test that it would hold the weight of several people crossing at once.”