As you may be aware we have been busy improving ‘The Mafeking Hall’ our hut, we made these improvements to increase the usable space and to create a store for all our camping equipment.

Our Scout groups, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers have been going from strength to strength and growing in group size and have grown over recent years and there are now 130 young people, both boys & girls, aged 6 to 18 years old coming through our doors each week.

The hall is also used by non-scouting community groups, such as the Women’s Institute, Gardening club, line dancing, bingo, children’s parties & church coffee mornings, but availability was again being limited by the building.

The group has undertaken significant fundraising for the project to fund the land purchase. In January last year we applied for a Biffa Award grant to fund the build and were delighted to receive notification in May 2013 that our project had been conditionally approved. A few months of frantic effort ensued, getting planning permission etc before the grant was formalized in September 2013.

We also had many people come along and help us with the build, including a local carpenter, plumber and builder.

We thank everyone that has helped us with this project.

If you’d like to come and see the improvements yourself, we are holding an open day on Saturday 20^th September from 10am to 4pm, and you’d be most welcome to pop in for a cup of tea and look around.

www.biffa-award.org

Dear Strong folk out there I have already sent out a request for help tomorrow, but now have a special request.

Some of the reclaimed stone we
are keeping for the build is currently being stored in front of the defibrillator.

We need to move the stone with some urgency so that the defibrillator is available to the community should it be needed.

So if you can spare time to help I would really appreciate it, please pass the message on.

Thank you.

Hi we are having another working party this Saturday, 15th February 2014 at the Mafeking Hall if you can spare any time that would be great, weather permitting!

We are fortunate to own our own building, Mafeking Hall, but now with 130 young people aged 6 to 17 year coming through our doors each week, the hall is too small. In order to remove these space limitations, we launched a building development project to: –

• Add a mezzanine in the main hall, with a separate entrance, and
• Build a small extension to house camping & activity gear, on a small plot of land purchased from our neighbour, and to
• Release the existing store room to be turned into an additional meeting room.

The estimated total costs is £40,000 including purchase of the land, creating  the mezzanine and putting up the new extension.

The Executive Committee are  thrilled that the Biffa Award has provided a significant grant towards the completion of the project. Further details of the Biffa Award scheme can be found using the attached link www.biffa-award.org