A local Girlguiding group is on track to reach its £1.7 million goal to fund the renovations of its new centre.

North Yorkshire West Girlguiding has raised and spent nearly £1.2 million since the fundraising began in 2019, when the old site was demolished. Since then, fundraising efforts have included cake stalls, virtual balloon races, and live performances.

The Birk Crag Centre, on Cornwall Road in Harrogate, will be home to Harrogate’s Girlguiding division, but will be accessible to all groups in the North Yorkshire West area – including Ripon, Boroughbridge, Skipton, and Settle.

The space will host Guide sleepovers, as well as overnight stays for Brownie and Rainbow groups, and will also offer residential training for volunteers.

Outdoor and camping equipment will also be stored at the premises, as well as a uniform and badge shop.

Caroline Bentham, Guide guider and assistant county commissioner, said:

“One of the most important parts of Guiding is giving girls the chance to have a sleepover away from home that is affordable.

“Guiders are all volunteers and give their time for free, this means we can keep the costs down.

“There is nothing better than seeing a nervous young lady arrive at a sleepover and watch her come into her own, even if it is as the noisy one after lights out!”

Mrs Bentham explained the “pandemic affected us like many other charities” and claims the delay in raising the money is due to “jobs priced at £20,000 now cost us £60,000”. The Girlguiding group has also applied for various grants to help raise the money.

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Around a further £500,000 is required to complete all building work and renovations.

The next fundraising event will take place at Studley Royal. The Ripon Girlguiding division will hold a sponsored walk, during which they will push a 5ft cable drum around the grounds to represent the £6,000 required for electrical cabling at the new building.

The walk will take place on June, 19 and 20.

To find out more about sponsorship of events or to help the fundraising efforts, visit the Birk Crag Centre website.

A former prison governor from Harrogate has raised almost £5,000 for charity by giving speeches about her 35 years in the prison service.

Veronica Bird, a Harrogate resident of over 20 years, worked with some of the most notorious criminals in the country, including Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, and Charles Bronson, a man labelled ‘the most violent prisoner in the country’.

Proceeds from Ms Bird’s speaking engagements will be handed to nine local and national charities at an event on Tuesday. The event, which will be held in a garden on Cornwall Close, will be opened by Brackenfield school choir.

Ms Bird, who received an OBE for her work in the prison service, said:

“I came from a big family, a lot of poverty, and so I know what it is to be without food, without clothes.

“My school motto was ‘not for oneself, but for all’ and that is what I try to follow. Without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

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She has chosen local charities Saint Michael’s Hospice and Girlguiding’s Birk Crag Centre. Cheques will also go to Jacqui’s Million, Barnsley Hospice, St Leonard’s Hospice, and Mind, alongside the MS Society UK, Royal British Legion, and the NSPCC.

The event begins at noon, at 100 Cornwall Close, Harrogate, on Tuesday 2nd November.

The Girl Guides Association has resumed fundraising for its new site at Birk Crag with a series of forthcoming events.

The foundations of the building have been ready for several months, but funds were short to fit out the inside, and fundraising had to be paused due to the national lockdown.

So far more than £1.5 million has been invested into the site, with £400,000 left to be raised for its completion.

The ambitious site will be open to the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers for weekly meetings and residential trips for members nationwide.

It will have a meeting hall, kitchen and dining room, a campfire area and a residential accommodation to fit 40.

It replaces the old centre in the same spot, which had become dilapidated.

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Members of the Girlguiding association have been working hard to raise the last stretch of the money needed, including setting up a bake sale on the first Saturday of every month (excluding August).

On Saturday July 3 there will be a fundraising fete at Burley Avenue Community Centre hosting stalls from The Body Shop, Painting Pots Knaresborough and others, which will all be donating a percentage of profits towards the site.

The sale will also include a raffle, refreshments and a cake stall.

Sam Jennings, division commissioner for the group, said;

“The project has gone on a long time and now we can see a finish point it is getting exciting; everyone just wants to get it finished.”

People can also leave individual donations here.

Girlguiding North Yorkshire West has launched an online auction to help raise funds to complete the build of its new residential centre.

The building of the Birk Crag Centre on the outskirts of Harrogate is in its final phase but needs an additional £30,000 to finish.

The new centre will include a hall seating 120 people, activity and meeting rooms, a dining room and kitchen, as well as residential accommodation sleeping 40.

An online auction was launched on Saturday and will remain open until August 8. People can bid on a range of items and experiences including a Grantley Hall spa day experience, family tickets to local attractions such as Harewood House and the Jorvik Viking Centre, as well as a two-hour career coaching session from Sea Light Development.

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County commissioner Angie Lockwood said:

“We’ve come so far in our journey to build Birk Crag Centre, but there’s a real risk we won’t get this last phase of the build completed. We need to raise an additional £30,000 for doors, internal walls, staircase and fire alarm, and the auction marks the start of our activity to achieve this.”

Artist’s impression of the new Birk Crag Centre.

The new centre will be used by girlguides from across the district as well as members of the local community. For more information and to make a bid visit https://www.jumblebee.co.uk/auction/detail/auction_id/4517/. 

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