At Longford Scouts, we believe every young person deserves a safe, inspiring space to grow, learn and adventure. At the start of 2024 we secured additional building space through a 25-year lease, and we are embarking on an exciting HQ refurbishment project. This initiative aims to address critical infrastructure challenges, enabling us to provide an enriched scouting experience for nearly 300 young individuals aged 4 to 18.
Our acquired building space is in subpar condition with a leaking roof, faulty or missing electrics, broken and rotting doors, and structural repairs needed. If not addressed promptly, these issues may lead to the demise of the building beyond serviceable repair.
We’ve broken the work into a number of phases to allow the projects to be managed and funded in appropriately sized chunks of work.
Completed improvements
Thanks to incredible community support, successful fundraising and grants, we’ve delivered over £285,000 of improvements to our Scout HQ — and we’re not done yet.
- Phase 1 – Re-roof (circa £35,000): stripped slates, replaced rotten timbers, re-used heritage slates.
- Phase 2 – New meeting room (circa £90,000): converted a derelict room, re-roofed, new window and external door.
- Phase 2a – Courtyard tidy (circa £10,000): cleared waste, deep-cleaned veranda, new concrete slab, painted external woodwork.
- Phase 2b – Upstairs timber windows (circa £6,000): conservation-area compliant replacements to stop leaks and improve warmth.
- Phase 3 – Stores and major build (circa £140,000) – Re-roofed the remaining shippon with reused slate, made the building watertight, replaced all electrics in the new storerooms, and upgraded the space to a modern, usable standard.
- Phase 4a – Electrics upgrade (circa £6,000): three-phase supply, new distribution boards, cabling and electrical cupboards.
- Kitchen – Complete (~£26,000): modern, accessible kitchen ready for section nights and events.
- Solar, Battery & LED – Complete (~£30,000): lower bills and carbon; brighter, more efficient lighting.
Current priority: Toilets
The project will create four self-contained toilets that are easy to clean and maintain – because everyone deserves a clean, comfortable place to go. We’ve already raised £14,000 towards our total target of £28,000.
Please help out..
Every penny helps us make a difference. Your support, big or small, brings us closer to completing our improvements and creating a safe, welcoming space for all our young people and the community to enjoy.
What’s planned next
With the major structural work complete, our focus now turns to improving the spaces our young people, volunteers, and community use every week. The next steps will make the building warmer, more welcoming, and better suited to modern Scouting.
- Upstairs – Insulate, paint and refresh both the back rooms and main upstairs space.
- Main Room – Refurbish the main activity room with new insulation, flooring, windows and decoration.
- Leaders’ Room, Entrance and Corridor – Redesign and refurbish these areas to create a more welcoming and practical entrance.
- Courtyard and External Space – Restore the courtyard with new drainage, replaced and re-pointed setts, and safer outdoor surfaces.
- Community Meeting Room – Work with Trafford Council to create a fully fitted community room with new windows, doors and an accessible toilet.
- Stores and Safe Courtyard – Organise storage and improve access, drainage and surfaces for safer outdoor activities and drop-offs.
- Indoor Activity Space – Add exciting new bouldering and caving experiences for adventure all year round.
- Whole-Building Refresh – Insulate, decorate and finish throughout to enhance warmth, accessibility and appearance.
Be part of it
Your support keeps The Ranche welcoming, sustainable and accessible for generations to come. If you can help with skills, materials or funding, we’d love to hear from you.
