History
Our scout hall was built in the early 1900’s when the group was founded and since then has had a major overhaul and renovation.
(see below for more info)
Renovation
The Scout hall was built in the 1932 by the members, it is a steel frame with single brick infill construction, wooden pitch and slate tiled roof and Parquet floor.
The hall was in need of some refurbishment and we have started a major improvement plan to improve the Scout hall facilities.
Phase one – We installed recycled kitchen cabinets, electric cooker and then added hot water. This was partly funded from the Selex 60th Anniversary Open Day in 2014 were we assisted with the parking for the event. We supplied 16 people including Cubs and Scouts and was allowed to have a bucket collection which raised £260.
Phase two is a complete upgrade of the heating system, replacing old electric heaters with a new Central heating system. After months of trying to obtain quotations we found a Gas Engineer which was happy for us to do some of the work to reduce the cost. The original quotation ranged from £4.5K to £8K for heating system alone. We found a supplier who quoted us £2.5k for Vaillant Eco Tec boiler and installation, whilst allowing us to supply and fit new radiators for the hall, end room and kitchen. This allows us to build the walls out to suit radiators and to insulate the walls with (100mm and 200mm thick loft insulation). We have also insulated the roof space with 40 sheets Kingspan Insulation Boards 120mm thick. The estimated cost for this phase was £5K which we have borrowed from the trustees.
The Central heating system was installed on 18th December and we have been working hard to complete the insulation and repainting of the hall, we have completed the hall walls and the roof space and are currently working on panting windows.
Fund raising activities have included a raffle in September, Quiz night in October, Sponsored walk in February, Race night in February, BBQ for the Wood Street First summer event, some donation, we have also has extra hall hire.
We has raised £5,000 to date and hoping to get to £6,000 by end of year. The works to date we has spent £6,500
Planned events for this year are Quiz in October and a Christmas party and Raffle.
Phase three has started with the levelling of the area at the rear of the hall to allow an outdoors cooking /BBQ area. We are hoping to add some cycle racking for all scout hall users. Over the summer brake we have refurbish the Den and completed the internet and Wi-Fi installation, we still need to painting of window frames and replace the guttering around the hall. We need to refurbish the workshop area so we can use this area during the normal meeting for training and handily craft, due to the increased membership.
Phase four will be to investigate the possibility to replace some or all of the windows, unlike the above work which was predominantly labour cost saving this phase has a high material cost estimated £6K to £12K, therefore we need to work with the window supplier and obtain some external funding.
The improvements we have made so far have allowed us to start hiring the hall out to the community “Beans on Balconies” a group that makes planters for vegetables and plants, another community group is a kid kitchen. We have also seen an increased scouting membership since the hall improvements have begun, we know have approximately 70 youth members in the 3 sections
Hire
Please make contact for hire opportunities – our priority are those events run and managed by the 14th Walthamstow Scout group
We also hire to community groups who are well established and self sufficient
Renovation Gallery
