Save our Scout, Guide & Community Hall
We urgently need your help please
Do you want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money in aid of Gang Warily Scout & Guide HQ.
During lockdown we had to shut our HQ. As a result, our very old HQ was not used and has deteriorated even further. To make matters worse we have been targeted by vandals’ numerous times. We have endured broken windows, guttering pulled off, tampered cctv cameras and due to the frail state of our building, they have also smashed through the walls and got into our building. They have made a huge mess, routed through our stuff and stolen from us. We have caught some images on our cctv, which we have passed to the police but it does not appear to have deterred the vandals, they have even pulled some of our cameras off of the walls.
Prior to lockdown our HQ was used by about 140 local children every week, as we ran weekly Rainbow, Beaver, Brownie, Cub, Guide, Scout & Ranger sessions. Our sessions are run by our volunteer leaders and helpers. We teach our children new life skills, they get to make new friends, they learn about the world we live in, they go camping, they earn badges, we take part in community events, we run our own events for the whole local community and so much more. Last Xmas (2020) we opened our HQ and helped run the Waterside Christmas Appeal, where we helped to provide Christmas gifts for over 300 children in our local community (https://www.facebook.com/groups/393559842014092). Our groups have been running for over 40 years and we do not want to have to close. We would like to carry on serving our local children & community for many more years to come.
Our existing HQ is a temporary wooden modular building. The building was donated to us about 40 years ago and is approx. 70+ years old. The building desperately needs to be replaced, so in 2018 we started a campaign to raise funds to build a new HQ. To date we have raised just over £40k, however lockdown and Covid have put a holt to that. We had to shut our HQ and have therefore not been able to run our fundraising events.
We are trying to purchase the land that we lease from our local Council and have The Guide Association surveyor and legal team helping us with that. Once that goes through, we will be able to put a proper security fence around our boundary to protect not only our children but also our HQ building. We have had some drawings completed that we need to finalise and then we can apply for planning permission.
However, we need help in raising the funds, as our HQ is not going to last much longer, especially if it keeps getting vandalised. Can you help us please? Every donation will count no matter how large or small it is.
Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.
You can follow us on Twitter @GWscoutguideHq and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/gwscoutguidehq
