2nd East London Scouts hunt out books for Mongolia for the Bookbridge project

Youngsters from the 2nd East London Scout Group have been collecting children’s books to help build libraries in some of the world’s poorest countries.

The last day of their public appeal is today (Thurs) for fiction or non-fiction books to be dropped into their collection centre at Poplar’s Trussler Hall in Grundy Street.

The scouts from Poplar and the Isle of Dogs were working with Bookbridge social enterprise to sort the children’s books which are being sent to 19 learning centres in Mongolia, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.

“We’ve collected 25,000 books for schools and libraries,” scout leader Dermot O’Brien said. “This project for young people puts civic responsibilities into practice that they learn in scouting.”

A troupe of 14 Explorer scouts travels to Mongolia soon to see the impact their collections have made.

The books are being stored by Poplar Harca Housing association which has given them space in a basement so they can collect books all year round to help the Bookbridge project.