Pettypool Activity Centre Recovery Strategy

“No one will protect what they don’t care about: and no one will care about what they have not experienced”. David Attenborough

Girlguiding Cheshire Forest is very lucky to own Pettypool, our 17-acre woodland site which provides opportunities for our members to learn about and enjoy the out of doors. We have facilities for up to 50 people to participate in residential experiences in our new, award-winning building which is fully accessible. However, our extensive site is also used for children and young people to participate in adventurous activities and learn about the natural world. Our aim is to create an environment in which everyone feels connected so that they can enjoy the benefits the outdoors gives and so that they make choices that help protect it.

We recognise that in the lengthy period of return to ‘normality’, it will take time to return to the provision of residential experiences. We know that children and young people will benefit from the opportunity to get out of doors, enjoy the fresh air and build resilience after wide disruption to their lives.

For nearly a year we have had no income from our activities centre or our depot. We need to ensure that, as soon as regulations allow, we can return to providing exceptional outdoor experiences for our young people. We recognise that day visits will probably the main way in which people will use the site and we want to upgrade the facilities we have for day visitors so that they are completely accessible and provide safe, state of the art equipment for activities, for hygiene and for safety.

We have therefore, formulated a ‘recovery strategy’. We have planning permission to construct a new single storey building which will serve as a facility for disabled visitors, including space for them to sleep indoors whilst others are camping; we want to provide cooking facilities so that groups can be catered for during day visits; and it will also provide a small meeting space which we hope to rent out to add to our income stream.

We have worked with the architects of our residential building to draw up plans for this building which is based around the refurbishment of three commercial containers. The total cost to build is estimated at £165,000.

We have been lucky enough be invited to be part of the Aviva Community Fundraising crowdfunding event. We would be grateful for your donations to achieve our goal: 
https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/pettypool

Sue Lomas
Chair, Pettypool Management Committee