One of the first ever Scout Groups in the country, 1st Buxted (O’Brien’s Own) Scouts have a long scouting history, dating back to 1909. The name pays homage to Brigadier General Edmund O’Brien who revived the Scout Group in the mid-1920s. O’Brien had fought in the First World War alongside 1st Baron Baden-Powell, founder and first Chief Scout for the movement. The Group’s history and close association with Baden-Powell are important to 1st Buxted, and they plan to make sure their rich timeline takes pride of place in their new building, funded by the Youth Investment Fund.
Strong friendships are made at Ist Buxted Scout Group
The children and young people who make up 1st Buxted range in age from four to 17 and beyond, when many young leaders convert to adult leaders. Perhaps unsurprisingly (given the fact they are willing and keen to take on a big building project) they are an ambitious and particularly adventurous group. Their calendar is busy at every level and adult leaders ensure young people get opportunities to really challenge themselves, and learn vital skills for life and work both during activities at the hut and during regular trips away. Strong friendships are made too.
16 year old Miles sums up the difference it makes to his week:
“It’s a point in the week that I look forward to. Throughout the week it’s building up, it’s Explorers in three days, it’s Explorers in two days… And now I get to do it twice [a week] because of Young Leaders too.”
1st Buxted has always been based at the heart of Buxted village, on some common land set aside for the good of the community. With a 125-year lease in place, the Scout Group embarked on a quest to rebuild their ramshackle scout hut. It’s an old army barrack, gifted second hand in the 1960s. It’s long past its sell by date; cold, damp and draughty, inaccessible and expensive to run. Vitally it just isn’t big enough to support all the children and young people who want to join. They needed a large injection of funding to create a building fit for their future, and to ensure they are there for another 100 years.
The Youth Investment Fund is like a white horse charging over the horizon
Group Scout Leader, Simon Morley says, the Youth Investment Fund came along at the right moment.
“It was like a white horse charging over the horizon to secure our future”.
A grant of nearly £951,000 will create a brand-new modern facility that’s sustainable, accessible, and fit for the purpose. Once complete the new building and enhanced facilities will mean they can increase their capacity to support more children and young people by around 50%. Soon their glorified shed will be unrecognisable, and they will have a brilliant new home for many generations to come.
One step closer to realising their dreams
The children are excited about the plans, back in February they asked if they could tear the old building down! They didn’t do that, but they shared their ideas for a new home.
The Youth Investment Fund grant means 1st Buxted are one step closer to realising their dreams. It will fund a flexible space for Scout meetings and community events. The design will incorporate a larger main hall and separate meeting room for breakout sessions. The expanded space means young people will have room inside for activities usually restricted to outdoors and dry weather – such as pioneering – creating bridges and structures with ropes and poles.
A welcoming and sustainable home
The team want to make sure it’s a welcoming space for everyone. They have been working with a special educational needs expert in thinking through how they can make the space welcoming for neurodiverse young people, for example, exploring which colours work best. Sometimes the building can be noisy and overwhelming, so they have included a quieter chill out zone; a calm space for young people to enjoy. Inclusivity is a core belief of scouts, and so they are making sure their new building will be fully wheel-chair accessible with an accessible toilet and plans are in place to make the rooms all on one level.
Energy efficiency is key too, with modern insulation, air source heat pump, solar panels, and battery storage so they can use the solar energy in the evenings. Having a new storage facility is important too, the Scouts have so much kit, and now it’s hard to find anything. A much larger store with roller shutter access will mean they can finally access their kit without risk of being flattened by toppling stacks of boxes!
Creating memories
More than anything the new building will be a great place for creating happy memories and learning new skills for life and work, and it will help create a happy space, something for the Scouts to look forward to all week.
Our building has served us very well, but it would no doubt have been condemned in a few years’ time. Our infrastructure has held us back but now the Youth Investment Fund grant means we are free to create a brand-new home that will secure our future, so we can be here for at least another hundred years
Simon Morley
Group Scout Leader
