Scouts' £350,000 hut

CUBS and Scouts are rolling up their sleeves this week to clean and decorate their new home which has cost more than £350,000 to build. The recently-completed centre for the 10th Harpenden Scout Group and District Explorer Scouts replaces the former Scout

CUBS and Scouts are rolling up their sleeves this week to clean and decorate their new home which has cost more than £350,000 to build.

The recently-completed centre for the 10th Harpenden Scout Group and District Explorer Scouts replaces the former Scout huts built in 1979 which had fallen into disrepair and had limited facilities.

Funding for the project in Waldegrave Park came from several sources and included £85,000 awarded through the Lafarge Landfill Communities Fund, Biffaward and the Veolia Environmental Trust.

Other funders included Harpenden Building Society and the Harpenden Trust Fund and the Scouts raised £50,000 themselves through organising a series of events.

There are 160 members of the Scout group which makes it the largest in the town and their new centre has facilities including a large main meeting room, a smaller meeting room and a kitchen along with storage areas for camping equipment and props for the Gang Show.

The Scout group will be putting the finishing touches to their new hut today (Thursday). Scout leader and project manager Jonathan Finch said: "It is great that we will soon have a new home. It will be a centre the Cubs and Scouts can be proud of and events like this give them the chance to contribute to the project."

Judy Whyman, group Scout leader, said: "This is the result of an enormous amount of hard work and dedication.