Scout challenge memorial to Ben

GROUP LEADER, 22 WROTE LETTER TO EXPLAIN STRUGGLES

A SCOUT group has created a challenge in memory of one of its members.

Ben Brown, who died on April 27, was an architectural engineering student at the Loughborough University. He was 22.

He was found dead after writing a letter to his mum, Helen HarteryBrown, explaining that he struggled mentally “when he wasn’t on the go”.

Helen said Ben, who had attended Welbeck College to do his A-levels, had been living with university housemates during lockdown and communicating with his family.

“The lockdown had a massive impact on him,” Helen said.

“Ben had not spoken to anyone about how he was feeling. He found it all too overwhelming.”

He was a leader of the Quantum

Potatoes Explorer unit of The 2nd Loughborough Scouts, which has launched the Great Froggo Challenge for its 70 members.

Fellow Explorer Scout and Beaver leader Claudia Sayer said it is also raising money for the Papyrus charity for prevention of young suicide.

Ben found frogs and all manner of amphibians cute, hence the name of the challenge, which is made up of three sections.

Claudia said the first was learning about frogs and also craft based, such as making hand-warmers and frog-shaped robots.

She said the middle section looked at mindfulness, and mental health.

“Our Scouts, Cubs and Beavers are all learning how to talk about their feelings,” she said.

“It’s okay to talk about feelings with people and who they might go to if they had problems. Because Ben was really great to talk to about your feelings. He was somebody who lit up the room. He always took the time to talk to people.

“Our Explorers are so fond of the memories of sitting in the kitchen before the sessions, talking to him.

“There was a whole manner of things they could talk about with him and he always had advice for them and if he didn’t have advice he’d front up with them and say ‘Look, I don’t know the answer to that, but let’s work out a solution together’ – that kind of thing.”

Claudia said the third part of the challenge included activities Ben did with the Explorers or was going to do.

Ben Reynolds, 14, designed the badge for the challenge. Its website was coded by Jonathan Leeming, 15.

The challenge has been praised as “fantastic” by Tim Kidd, UK Chief Commissioner for The Scouts.