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10
Dec 2024
A local Girlguiding group has been given a significant funding boost in its long-running bid to rebuild its Harrogate base.
Girlguiding North Yorkshire West County has been awarded £391,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund towards its Birk Crag Centre, which will be home to the Harrogate division.
Fundraising for the project started in 2019, but progress has been delayed by covid and rising costs of building supplies and labour.
However, the group today said the lottery funding will ensure the ground floor and basement at the site are completed and back in use by spring next year.
County commissioner Carly Halls said:
This wonderful news is just what we have been hoping for and we are very grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for sharing our vision and helping bring the dream to reality.
Now, thanks to national lottery players we will be able to complete the work on the ground floor and basement of the Birk Crag Centre. This is important because it will enable us to welcome everyone back into the centre again.
The rebuild process inside the Birk Crag Centre.
Forty people will be able to fit in the upstairs area of the site, which will include two accessible bedrooms and a lounge area, for residential stays.
There will also be a new kitchen, a basement area and a new lift installed.
The group today said fundraising efforts to pay for the upstairs area will continue.
Girlguiding NYW has 2,500 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers and Leaders. The local group today said all members have played a part in raising the £1.3 million generated for the project so far.
According to its website, Girlguiding NYW hopes the Birk Crag Centre will reopen in spring 2025.
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