Campaigners at one of five Girlguiding activity centres at risk of closure have formed an organisation to continue operating at the site and applied for charity status.
Foxlease on Clay Hill is one of five nationwide centres set to be sold by Girlguiding UK, and be closed at the end of 2023.
The prospective charity is named Foxie’s Future after the site’s mascot, and aims to find and fund an alternative to the closure and sale to preserve it for future generations.
Girlguiding UK recently announced plans to sell five of its activity centres and to end its more than 100-year-old British Girlguiding Overseas operations.
As well as Foxlease, trustees have recommended the charity sells centres at Blackland Farm, Glenbrook, Waddow Hall and Ynysgain.
The charity said there had been historic underinvestment in the activity centres, and they have been running at an overall loss for some years. The charity said it would need significant funding of over £20m in the coming years to be fit for future use.
Save Our Centres, one of the campaign groups opposing Girlguiding’s closure plans, told Civil Society: “The Save Our Centres steering committee have identified Foxie's Future as the organisation that we support and recommend to take over Foxlease, should the Girlguiding trustee board decide to go ahead with the sale of Foxlease.
“We will be promoting their fundraising efforts and supporting them with access to any expert advisers we are able to make contact with. We are hoping to identify similar organisations to support at each of the other centres in due course.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we received an application from Foxie’s Future to register as a charity in June 2023.”
Girlguiding UK told Civil Society it did not wish to provide any further comment.
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