Fears for future of Wombourne girl guides due to crumbling village hall
Girl guides in Wombourne might have to hand back their badges and sashes for good unless their local village hall undergoes serious repair work.
The 50-year-old building in Mill Lane, Wombourne, is used every day with more than 250 children visiting per week – and the cracks are starting to show.
The group has now issued an urgent plea for help to repair the hall.
Volunteers, who have been busy organising cake sales, dance shows and other fundraising events, say the money raised so far has only managed to the cover running costs.
District commissioner for girlguiding in Wombourne Becky Fletcher said the whole hall was suffering “serious structural damage”.
The 24-year-old volunteer said: “We had a structural review and it is safe at the moment but there are large cracks in the wall and a leaking roof.
“There is no disabled access either meaning we can’t promote it.
“We want to make it a hub for the local community, so other groups can use it too.
“If it got to the point where it was unsafe we would have to move out.
“And the girls would have to find somewhere else to go.”
Desperate
Ms Fletcher, who works at Wolverhampton council in the education department, said working with children was her passion. She desperately wants to keep running the sessions out of the village hall.
She added: “I love it, I’ve worked with children for 10 years now.
“I was a Rainbow, Brownie, Guide and then I went on and became a Young Leader before starting my own unit.
“Girlguiding gives girls a chance to make new friends, have fun and grow in confidence, and provides them with opportunities to develop new life skills.
“We have been fundraising ourselves for some time to enable us to make small changes such as trimming the hedges and repairing the lighting.
“However, we now feel that larger repair work is needed to be able to offer the girls a safer, warmer and more enjoyable environment.”
The team has set itself a target of £10,000 and applied for various grants, such as the Aviva Community Fund, for extra help.
If granted, the Aviva funding would allow the roof to be repaired and for a new boiler so that the building could continue to be operated safely and used during the winter months.
But for any extra funding, Ms Fletcher has launched a crowd-funding page, through which she hopes to raise extra cash for a new paint job and other minor repair work.
For further information about the fundraising drive or to donate save the village hall, go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/wombourneguidehall
