Cub scouts and their parents helped elderly residents in Harpenden and Redbourn save over £1,300 last weekend by delivering their Christmas mail free of charge.

Seventy cubs and their parents from all the cub packs in the area collected, sorted and delivered nearly 3000 cards from Crabtree Fields Scout Centre.

The effort started on Saturday (December 15) and was completed on Sunday (December 16), after the wrongly or partly addressed cards were delivered successfully.

Prior to the deliveries, collection boxes were set up in elderly residential homes and social clubs for three weeks.

The collection and delivery scheme has been running every Christmas for the past 29 years and was set up by current County Commissioner for Hertfordshire Scouts, Richard Harrington, who said: "I think it was appreciated even more this year because of an increase in postage.

"People always sound very pleased with the help, a major factor for us though was the fact that it is great to see the cubs interacting with elderly residents."