Maintaining our 85 year old Scout Hall is one of our main priorities of the group because it allows us to deliver excellent programmes to our Meerkats, Cubs and Scouts, and also contributes a popular facility to our community and keeps up the appearance of our neighbourhood. Over the years we have often struggled with security, especially during the years when the old bowling club property next door was vacant and derelict and during the Covid lockdown, and if you look closely you’ll see that all of our boundary walls and fences are “new and improved” in relatively recent years, so this has been a big focus of our spending.
In January we were finally able to secure the front garden of the hall by replacing the low fence with a new 1.8m security fence, thanks to a generous sponsorship by Storm Fencing.
We have also added an electric fence on top of our 1.8m boundary fence, and we hope that these improvements will resolve many of our recent security problems. These have included petty crimes like vagrancy, dumping, theft of outside lights, theft of bicycles during a meeting, and a hall burglary. The safety of our members is paramount, including the leaders who open and close the hall and run activities there, often at night.
We still have our existing low gateposts and metal pedestrian gates (with fleurs-de-lis) in front of the hall on Bowwood Road, as these are part of our heritage, but they are now behind a much more secure boundary. This should keep us – and our Scout heritage – safe for years to come. Thank you Storm Fencing. We are very grateful for your sponsorship.
