It’s been nearly eight months since myself and Chris (Chairman) had to release our last statement saying the campsite would be closing due to corona virus and the ruling set out by the scout association.
Although we temporarily said good bye to campers that didn’t stop us from carrying out essential improvements. Following government guidelines of course.
We started with the total refurbishment of the site office and tuck shop. Followed by the total refurbishment of the newly named Hornbeam Lodge (previously Uncle Tom’s Cabin). This was all made possible by the National Lottery Community Fund.
The crew also kept busy. At first they was just visiting the site over the weekend to make sure all our security systems where working. As well as maintaining the site and checking our perimeter fence. As conditions was eased over the year the crew and our friends from Bushscouts started on our first of hopefully three round house outdoor class rooms. If you haven’t seen the pictures please check them out!
Although we took full advantage of the Lockdown we also suffered significantly. Sadly we had to cancel all three of our events which bring in much needed money for investment. We also had to refund a majority of our campers (this was going to be another record breaking year for us). A lot of our long time customers did help us out though letting us keep their deposits and moving dates when next suit them.
This money has helped us pay our bills and keep us afloat. So we are forever in your debt!
We continue to adapt and work out different ways of bringing money into the campsite. Plans for next years events are underway and we’ll most likely try to host these towards the end of 2021 as we will hopefully have more understanding of how the year is panning out.
Finally, I think you will join me in saying a massive thank you to all the crew and committee. Although we haven’t seen as much of each other this year. They’ve all been committed to the site and have battled on to keep it looking amazing and running smoothly for when our campers arrive back. I would also like to add a thank you to Bushscout UK who have helped us out this year and continued to support us even through these unprecedented times. Hopefully 2021 we will all be back together.
From all the Crew and Committee. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Matt & Chris
