{"alias":"newsItem","byline":"Words: Aimee-lee Abraham | Pictures: Gavin Roberts and Francessca Jones","standfirst":"Exploring the world on four wheels is easier than you might think. Here, Finn Eyles talks about the small changes that made a big difference to their Scout experience, and explain why we need to encourage more people to have adventures on their own terms.","content":{"layouts":[{"type":"mediaBlock","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"gridImageBlock","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass","image":"/media/1976/finn-eyles-of-the-8th-winchester-scout-group.jpeg","width":800,"height":1198,"altText":"Finn Eyles pictured in the woodland","caption":"","link":null}]}],"config":null},{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlthough he was born with a genetic condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Type 2) and uses a wheelchair to get around, he\u2019s one of the most active Scouts in the District. Finn Eyles excels in precisely the sorts of things that you might not necessarily expect in a person with a disability, from archery to bivvy-building to firelighting.\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHis mum and dad, Lou and Andy Eyles, initially joined the Scouts to give him some extra support. But, they say, they immediately \u2018got hooked\u2019 themselves and soon became joint Assistant Scout Leaders. They\u2019ve now been taking part in the Scouts as a family for two years.\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDoes having Spinal Muscular Atrophy affect you much as a Scout? Is there anything you have to think about or do a bit differently?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0Finn is pretty independent and plays a big role in the Group, but if he\u2019s doing something where some strength is needed, that\u2019s when he needs some extra help.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFinn:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0Yeah, that\u2019s when I need more support, but I can do nearly all of the activities on offer and I have a lot of hobbies. It\u2019s only occasionally I\u2019ll need to avoid something at Scouts. If there\u2019s a hike at nighttime when there\u2019s low visibility, for example \u2013 that would be more difficult for me than it is for other people. But I can really do a lot!\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null},{"type":"mediaBlock","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"gridImageBlock","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass","image":"/media/1978/finn-eyles-and-friends.jpg","width":3543,"height":2365,"altText":"Finn Eyles with two friends","caption":"","link":null}]}],"config":null},{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou\u2019re all still relatively new to Scouts. What drew you to join?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0It was a bit unexpected. A leap of faith, really. Finn\u2019s Dad and I were sat up late one night, reminiscing about camping and other outdoor activities we enjoyed as kids. At first, we weren\u2019t sure whether Scouts was going to be beneficial for Finn. We didn\u2019t want to set him up for disappointment. We didn\u2019t want to introduce him to all these new and fun things that ultimately he might not be able to do. We decided to try it and see.\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFinn:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0Yeah, we just decided to give it a go one day and we really liked it. I really like all of the survival skills; the camping and the firelighting. That\u2019s what kept me doing it. It\u2019s stuff I wouldn\u2019t get to do at school.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat sort of adjustments do you have to make, as a family and as a Scout Group?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0Whenever the Group goes on camps, we let them get their more challenging day-long hikes out of the way, and join in from the next day onwards. That usually works out well. Overall, we\u2019ve found that some people can naturally adapt activities, while others need more help understanding how something can be tweaked.\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null},{"type":"fullWidth","areas":[{"items":[{"quoteText":"I\u0027m working towards my Chief Scout\u0027s Gold Award, and I\u2019ve only got one more Challenge Award to complete for it.","attribution":"Finn Eyles","gridType":"quote","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null},{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECan you think of any specific examples, where an activity you previously couldn\u2019t do has been made more accessible?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou:\u003C/strong\u003E When Finn signed up to do archery at the Scout Activity Centre in Pinsent, he hadn\u2019t been at Scouts for long and we weren\u2019t sure what to expect. We really wanted him to take part, but there was just no way he could pull a bow string back, due to difficulty with his core strength. I visited the centre to let them know about the situation and, unbeknownst to us, the team took it upon themselves to make Finn a bow stand from scratch. It was made out of bits of scaffolding and scrap materials, and it completely opened up a new sport to Finn. By the end of our sessions, he\u2019d gained his Master at Arms Badge, and now he loves archery, which he would never have tried otherwise. It was a simple gesture, really, but it was so kind. It\u2019s always worth firing off a quick email to whoever is in charge of an activity or camp. As Finn has said, there\u2019s usually a solution, and if people know what they might need to do differently, they can be better prepared.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFinn:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0I loved doing the archery! I\u2019m working towards my Chief Scout\u2019s Gold Award, and I\u2019ve only got one more Challenge Award to complete for it. I really like the survival badge, too.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0The survival stuff has been so much fun to\u00A0\u003Cbr\u003Ecomplete. Another great memory for me is when we went on one of the County survival weekends. Do you remember that, Finn?\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFinn:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0Yeah, that was great.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0Everyone had to sleep outside in a bivvy. The other Scouts had these tiny, low-hanging shelters, but we had to work together in extreme weather to build a giant one for Finn, to accommodate the height of his wheelchair. I remember sitting there, watching him having a brilliant time, and thinking, \u2018this is exactly the sort of thing you don\u2019t expect a disabled person to do\u2019. He was just absolutely roughing it and having the best time. You make so many memories through the Scouts.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFinn:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0It\u2019s the sort of thing you never normally do, apart from when you\u2019re at Scouts. We went on a hike near Gloucester last year. That was one of my favourite things we\u2019ve tried, because we got to look over at the Black Mountains in Wales when we reached the top. We had lots of fun and all the young leaders were helping to manually push me when it got hard.\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0The team really rally together.\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null},{"type":"mediaBlock","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"gridImageBlock","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass","image":"/media/2094/5323-min.jpg","width":1199,"height":816,"altText":"Finn Eyles","caption":"","link":null}]}],"config":null},{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E8th Winchester seems like a really tight-knit Group. Could you tell us a bit more about the fundraising you have been doing recently?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFinn:\u00A0\u003C/strong\u003EThis year, we\u2019ve been raising money as a Group so that I can hopefully get a new wheelchair. My current chair has been great, but we do lots of different activities as a family and at Scouts, and we\u2019ve really pushed it to its limits by taking it to places that this type of wheelchair wouldn\u2019t normally go. The new model has wheels that can be easily swapped and changed, so Mum won\u2019t be constantly chasing after me, worried that I\u2019ll topple over when I go too fast!\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0The chair we\u2019d love to trial for Finn is the Magic Mobility Frontier V6. It\u2019s easy to manoeuvre in tight spaces at school but robust, stable and powerful enough to cope with regular trips through the woods and on uneven terrain. Unfortunately, the chair is very expensive so, back in July, five of our leaders undertook a sponsored hike to walk 55 miles from Oxford to Winchester. When the walk was planned, they weren\u2019t anticipating that an intense heatwave would hit the UK, sending temperatures over 30 degrees! But despite this, they managed to cover 30 miles on the first day and 25 on the second. They\u2019ve raised over \u00A35,000 for Finn so far.\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFinn:\u003C/strong\u003E\u00A0The leaders and young leaders have been amazing! And the other Scouts have been brilliant, too. As well as the big hike, we\u2019ve done lots of smaller fundraisers. One of them did an ice cream sale and the other did a cake sale. Everyone has joined in, which is really nice. Joining Scouts is the best thing we\u2019ve done.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor\u2019s note:\u003C/strong\u003E A few months after this story was published in Scouting magazine, Finn completed his Chief Scout\u2019s Gold Award \u2013 the highest award you can earn in the Scout section. Thanks to the support of his fellow Scouts and leaders, he was also able to reach his fundraising target and is currently waiting for his new chair to arrive. \u003Ca rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.gofundme.com/f/finnsfund2018\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022Go Fund Me Finn\u0027s funds\u0022\u003EYou can read more about his story on GoFundMe\u003C/a\u003E.\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null}]},"searchDescription":null,"pageType":null,"location":null,"versionDate":"30 April 2019","reviewDate":null,"furtherReading":[],"relatedLinks":[],"id":48465,"nodeName":"Finn\u2019s story","title":"Finn\u2019s story","type":"newsItem","image":{"url":"/media/2130/finn-eyles-of-the-8th-winchester-scout-group-min.jpg?rxy=0.59040590405904059,0.39778325123152708\u0026width=800\u0026height=800\u0026v=1d9becd2ddef5a0","caption":"finn-eyles-of-the-8th-winchester-scout-group-MIN.jpg","type":"jpg","size":98742,"width":800,"height":1198,"altText":""},"assets":null,"headerOptions":{"headerTitle":"Finn\u2019s story","headerSubTitle":null,"headerCta":null,"headerCtaText":null,"headerCtaLink":null,"headerBackgroundColour":null,"showSEOImage":false,"headerBackgroundImage":null,"quickLinks":null},"subHeader":"Exploring the world on four wheels is easier than you might think. 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