The Scouts are one of the oldest and longest running children’s group which teach valuable skills such as outdoors survival and teamwork to children all across the UK and around the world. The 1907 a lieutenant general in the British Army wrote a book concerning recon and scouting for boys. Scouting for Boys was published in 1908 and from that started a revolutionary group for boys to learn about survival in the wild.

Over 106 years later the Scouts are still going strong with a number of different groups operating in our local area. In recent times both Consett and Blackhill Scout groups have been looking for a new place to call their own but each has tried to no avail to find a suitable space. By joining forces the 1^st Consett and Blackhill Scouts have secured funding for a new joint facility to be shared between the groups on Constance Street right in the centre of Consett. The new building is set to cost around £315,000 and has been funded by many generous local businesses looking to help the Consett Scouts find a new home.

Although both of the Consett Scouts groups had raised a sum of around £80,000 from the sale of their old properties and fund raising activities this was nowhere near the required amount for the new facility. Despite the new building being bigger than the previous building, innovative new features such as an air source heat pump for easy, cheap and efficient heating.  Milbank Architects performed all of the design work for the new building for free whilst Quantum Pharmaceutical, Morrisons and McVickers Electrical all donated significant sums of money to the Consett Scouts to help with the building.

Local business Forsters has donated electrical equipment for the new hut and MAC Security is fitting a state of the art security system for the building. It’s fantastic to see all of these local business getting involved and helping the local Consett Scouts groups.