Final push needed to help the new Birk Crag Girlguiding Centre

Birk Crag Centre is a training, activity and residential centre owned by Girlguiding North Yorkshire West, it is located on Birk Crag, Cornwall Road. That’s on the edge of the Duchy Area, on the road heading towards the Army Foundation College.

The centre provides a base for Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers, Young Leaders, Leaders and Helpers on both a a weekly basis as well as residential facilities for unit holidays, sleepovers, weekend and day events together with evening and weekend training courses.

Since 2018, the facility has been closed and is part-way through a mayor rebuild project.

The previous, 1960’s, centre, was demolished in September 2018
The centre will also be fully accessible and available for hire by local groups and charities

Angie Lockwood, County Commissioner said:

We knocked the previous centre down a few years as it wasn’t fit for purpose any more, it was only a single-storey building.

The land was gifted to us, and we decided to be very aspirational and put a building up that was future-proof.

We spent a lot of time asking girls and leaders what they wanted. They said they wanted a really open space, but still with access to outside for camping and cooking.

They wanted smaller rooms, not the big-long rooms as we had before, we have en-suite rooms sleeping 4 to 6 , sleeping 40 overall – we have really listened to what they wanted.

All girguilding is run by volunteers, we have had good project management advice, companies have given generous donations, meaning we have done a lot already.

The building has been designed around the need of girlguiding, but it will also be available as an events space to other community groups. It’s outside of the town centre, and there is plenty of parking.

But now we are in the final push to get it finished, and to do that we need donations.

See the Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/girl-guiding-north-yorkshire-west/birkcragcentre

The new centre

120 seat meeting area
Residential accommodation
Woodland trail
Sensory garden
Campfire area
Training facilities
Smaller meeting rooms
Providing a great local resource for other organisations and community groups

1. Artists impression of the new Birk Crag Building — Artists impression of the new Birk Crag Building

The centre is now part-way through the rebuild. The main structure is up, and it is water tight. It is however a shell, as can be seen from the images below.