Guides need another £500,000 to rebuild their HQ

A Girlguiding association has started a campaign to raise £500,000 to rebuild an activity centre that was damaged in a fire.

The Birk Crag Centre, just outside Harrogate, is used by Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers from the North Yorkshire West region.

The building has been the association's headquarters since 1994, but suffered a fire in the 1960s and its condition deteriorated.

Assistant county commissioner Caroline Bentham said everyone had “their fingers crossed” they could reach their target.

She said: “In 2018, we had to knock the centre down because it wasn’t fit for purpose; it was just a wooden hut.

"If you’re of my age group, you will remember spending so much time having sleepovers in that building, but it was not fit for purpose."

Renovation work began in 2020, but was then delayed by Covid and increasing materials costs.

Ms Bentham said the price of plasterboard had more than doubled, leaving the Girlguiding members having to generate more money for the project.

The association has held a number of events and activities to try and reach the amount needed.

Ms Bentham said: “We are on it, as we are fundraising and have got lottery application grants in.

"We have done sponsored walks, cake stalls, raffles and even pushed an electric cable drum around Studley Royal Park to represent how much electric cable we need.

“That was an amazing night, as we had about 150 Brownies and Guides there pushing and pulling it down the hill. It was fantastic.

“We need another £500,000 to get the centre to open, but we’re getting there.

“We’ve recently done a raffle that has raised more than £7,000 and there are also lots of different groups raising lots of different little things for us, with more options of how people can help us on our website.”

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