Copthorne Scout and Guide hut in Shrewsbury serves around 150 children through its doors but the building is in much need of repair. Can you help?
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00:00So we're here with Copthorn Scout and Guide Hut and Nicky, this is your project, your baby this
00:06place. It is, well I've inherited it as a division commissioner for Shrewsbury and we've been working
00:12really hard over the summer to try and get this place ship shape. It's had a lot of neglect over
00:18the last few years and it needed a little bit of TLC to bring it up to standard. So we've spent a
00:22lot of time this summer painting and decorating and we're here tonight to have an open house
00:29and to show everybody what we've managed to do so far and hopefully get the local businesses
00:35involved in supporting us and doing all the other jobs that we need to do. Cool, well we've got a
00:41few groups represented, who've we got here then? Who's in the green? Who've we got? My name is
00:47Thomas Dooley and I'm part of the 23rd Shrewsbury Scout Group. Cool and I'm Imogen Burgess and I'm
00:55part of the Guides. So we've got the Guides, we've got Brownies and then who are these little ones?
01:01What are these ones called? Rainbows, cool I like it. So what is it you need to raise a few
01:08a few quid to get it up to scratch don't you? How much do you need to raise Nicky? Well to do the
01:12outside of the whole of the roof because it's such a big hut we're looking at about £35,000
01:18to do that yeah but we've got some smaller projects inside that we need to do including
01:22insulating the roof in here and and doing up our toilet areas and we're really raising money
01:28tonight to get a new fire door. Okay yeah and I guess is it always helpful if anyone wants to
01:36put their hand up and say kind of well we can do the work we can you know tradesmen are happy to
01:41volunteer time and all that? Absolutely and we get a lot of support from our parents and we've got
01:46all sorts of parents we've got all sorts of crafts and skills that they can help and share with us
01:50but sometimes we really need some bigger help for these bigger projects with local business
01:54in the area and that's what we're looking for. And the building it's a few years old isn't it
01:59when was it first built? It's actually 50 years old this year it was built in 1974
02:03yeah so it's our 50th anniversary this year which is another good reason to celebrate. Yeah
02:08totally and how many children do you think you have come in and using the kind of facilities
02:12and what you offer here? Roughly with all the scouting and guiding of all the units together
02:17we reckon we've got 150 children using this facility a week and then we also have a small
02:21play group that use the facility too. So it really is when you're investing in the building
02:26you really are investing in the in the young and the youth here aren't you really? Absolutely
02:30and we're a really rare commodity in the local area there aren't many community
02:34halls like this yeah for local people to use. So who wants to tell me about some of the stuff
02:39you get up to here then? Cool good let's come in what's your name again young lady? Emma Ryder.
02:44Hello Emma. So what sort of stuff happens here then? So I do guides on a Thursday and it's really
02:51fun and we just play loads of games and do so many fun activities. Yeah so it's cool it's a good way
02:56to make new friends I should imagine isn't it? Yes. Cool now you've got you've got sisters here
03:02haven't you? Which one's yours your sister again? That's it you've got one in every category.
03:08So do you girls have fun here? Yeah. Yeah what's your favourite thing that you like to do when you
03:13come here? We play with the toys that stay in the box. Ah you've got a special set of toys yeah
03:22good fun and have you made lots of new friends? Yeah. Oh that's pretty cool what are all these
03:27badges on your top what's going on here do you have to earn those do you have to do different tasks
03:34show me one what's your favourite badge you've got on there then
03:36um wow Christmas badge I like that that's pretty cool
03:46your drawing badge so did you have to do some very good drawing to work to earn it yeah
03:52what did you draw can you remember right so brownies what about you young lady what's some
04:00of the stuff you you've been up to here that you've enjoyed we do loads of fun activities
04:04and games yeah that's cool oh we've got another scout joined us hello up there
04:11and somebody tells me you go over the woods as well is that right who goes over the woods is
04:15that scouts yeah cool so what sort of stuff are you getting up to over there is that bushcrafting
04:19it's a lot of the time we're building shelters yeah and um we make like ropes to pull things
04:25up on top of the trees that sounds like good fun lots of pioneering with the ropes pioneering
04:32sticks and ropes and we learn knots yeah and different tools to help us with that
04:40that's good fun isn't it yeah it's good where's the woods then Nikki is it is it just at the back
04:44here or literally just next yeah yes we've got access to a play area woods and we've got lots
04:48of time outdoors as well as inside so that's a it's a great location for this building to be in
04:54then isn't it by the sounds of it yes and there's there's a lot of the local community we've got
04:58two primary schools that we draw from here and the wider community as well is there anybody else
05:03who wants to say anything about something they've done they've enjoyed go on go on mrs brownie go on
05:11i like collecting badges ah well you've got one or two there haven't you so which is the one you're
05:17most proud of of earning there so what's brownie gold so what did you have to do to get brownie
05:22gold then get um all your theme awards ah so it's like it's just a marker that you've done all the
05:29tasks yeah and completed a lot well done i bet that takes a while to get doesn't it hard work
05:34but good fun right well thank you for inviting us down to look at your um your building here
05:39and happy 50th to it but yeah it needs um like all of us when we get to 50 it needs a
05:43a bit of a gentle touch right thank you guys Nikki this um this building the structure of it it's
05:50literally just breeze block and that's it isn't it absolutely we're breeze block with a flat roof
05:54and it's the worst combination ever for damp yeah yeah so you've had problems with mold and stuff
06:00like that i mean you've recently done what you can here you've had somebody um who helped with
06:05the roof that was just a kind of a patch-up job wasn't it really yeah it was we we had a local
06:10some help from a local roofer working on the local housing um and they managed to patch the roof so
06:14we are at least now watertight which means which is why we've spent so much time this summer
06:19working on all the inside of the building and making that ship shape yeah we've worked on the
06:23outside too and we've painted the whole of the building on the outside um so there's only so
06:29much you can do with goodwill and you know it does come down in the end to when it needs money
06:33spending on it doesn't it i mean if you take us around the corner we can see you've got
06:37you've got windows that are cracked and so on we have and things like this all need replacing
06:42bit by bit but we don't have a lot of money to spend yeah so we're we're having events to try
06:48and raise this money um and we're we're looking out for sponsorship and anything that we can do
06:55um having the events in the hut to raise the money so that we can replace things like this
06:59so this is a you've got your garages here but there's there's quite a lot of damper that you're
07:03getting in here is that right absolutely and the garages are so damp now the roof is leaking so
07:07there's nothing there's nothing really stored in there anymore it's a waste of space but we've got
07:11a lot of problems with the actual brick work on the wall and the masonry yeah so we need to get
07:16these fixed um we've got a sloping roof here which and the water pools without coming out of
07:21the drain and we can see where you've done your best but there was a point where you ran out of
07:25paint so that's kind of what the the old building looked very much like that with the paint peeling
07:30off all over yeah indeed it looked just like that we've changed the color slightly so it's much
07:34brighter yeah but we've still got some work to do so do you guys go camping and stuff like that
07:42yes i remember once we went to bodezer which was really fun it was like this indoor we stayed
07:48indoor in this sort of church and it was just so much fun because we did all these activities
07:54what sort of activities were you up to i think we did like some crafts we played loads of games like
07:59tag and other things like that yeah and um so you put tents up as well well that comes
08:06obviously when we're in the camping in the woods which is a place called bickley coppice we had
08:10several tents there and we put some tents and also bivvies which are basically where you tie
08:15ropes around a tree and connect a tarp over it they're really fun to stay in that's cool um but
08:22when any campfires i like a good campfire of course there's campfires you can't have a scout
08:26camp without of course you can't and which we obviously sing around the campfires obviously
08:32talk about things then we also can cook on the campfires yeah so we make um egg sandwiches and
08:37porridge and all sorts of things sounds good and uh what sort of activity have you got up to
08:42any kind of like climbing or that kind of stuff archery even no we tend to just um stick with
08:49like the woody areas yeah so we're obviously exploring in the woods when shelters and making
08:54loads of things out of sticks cool what about you any any climbing or archery any of that kind
08:59we go on loads of activities like we've done archery ziplining we've done climbing we just do
09:05all sorts it's not just indoors yeah crafts we do loads that sounds like great fun cheers guys
09:12so this is the fire door is it indeed so the event we've got this evening is to raise the money
09:17to replace this unit because this is just a patio door at the moment and what we want is
09:21a proper steel fire door there to make the building secure but also um as a fire exit
09:27for the children so if any companies that deal in the world of fire doors their input would be
09:33welcome absolutely yes it's not just we can we can pick up things free from round and about but
09:39it's having the manpower yeah a lovely space at the side of the building we can see it just there
09:46and there curves around the back which is very useful but you are responsible for all these
09:51trees and bushes absolutely we need to maintain the grass area we use this area a lot with the
09:57girls during the summer outside we've got all these trees and bushes that we need to maintain
10:02and you know we get some help from local people and some families and that and we quite often take
10:08our brownies out and do a bit of trimming yeah and there's a there's a potential issue with a
10:13tree that we think might be dead or dying so any any tree surgeons watching this likewise get in
10:18touch absolutely yes please just in a toilet block here and i'm already seeing the mold on the door
10:24and yeah on the roof up here yeah so what's happening in here well we've had a problem
10:29with the roof here we have a leak which is now sealed but um we're in the we're in the process
10:34of looking to redo the roof here yeah get new plaster boards and get this looking stick and
10:39span again like it should be ah yeah you can see where you have to you have to close this one off
10:45yeah it's literally fortunately we've got two toilets so we've still got the other yeah
10:50and the door's all coming away at the bottom there isn't it so we've got plans we've got plans of
10:55to fix all this yeah yeah that's all right so should we go into the hall as well just like
11:03so it's a big space so it's a big space isn't it in here really a lot of room we have got a lot
11:19of room um it's a good space and it could be it could be used to a bigger potential if it had
11:24more users we would be self-sufficient if people were to hire it and that's helped towards paying
11:29all the bills for the ceiling here you've got plans for this as well just fill us in on what
11:33you want to do absolutely i mean ideally when here we'd like to insulate the ceiling between
11:38these choices put a full plasterboard ceiling get rid of the fluorescent strip lights that we've got
11:43and have down lighters and that would save all the hassle with when we've got children playing
11:46with beanbags and balls and things inside the home and you're looking at 12 to 13 000 roughly
11:52you've been quoted for that job yeah so we've got some big projects and some little projects but
11:56there's plenty of work still ongoing yeah
12:07and nikki what's the what's the deal with the brewer's sign yeah well brewers decorators um
12:12gave us a grant earlier this year of uh up to 500 per pound's worth of products okay that started
12:19the ball rolling really because we were able to get all the products and the paint and the
12:22decorative materials that we needed to get the ball rolling and of course the summer time is
12:26the best time to do it because um all the girls are out for the summer and our units don't meet
12:32so we work really hard this summer and it was thanks to them in the first place that
12:36we've actually got the ball rolling