Wimbledon scouts who lost HQ to arsonists set to get new build after 25 years

Arsonists destroyed the previous home of the 19th Wimbledon Scout group in 1989 and since then cubs, scouts, beavers and brownies have been practising their sheepshanks in a makeshift portakabin donated by builders in Oakwood Road, Raynes Park.

Now, after 25 years of bracing the cold to use their outside toilet, the scouts could finally see construction begin on a new base which will also double up as a community centre. Most recently the group received a £60,000 grant from Merton Council's section 106 funding, to go with a £150,000 grant from the London Marathon Trust, £40,000 from the Veolia Trust, £20,000 from Garfield Weston Foundation and £10,000 from Berkley Homes - whom the 106 funding also came from.

The group have raised £19,000 through private donations and fundraising events such as a cake sales, raffles and a race evening and has applied for £10,000 from the owners of the Wimbledon Guardian, the Gannett Foundation.

Paul Wilkins, scout leader, said: "Our scout group has been around for 100 years in one form or another, the last 25 in this hut.

"But this building is disintegrating around us.

"We need a new HQ for the 21st Century with indoor toilets and central heating.

"We have over 140 boys and girls in our scout group aged between six and 18.

"We have provided fun and adventure in this sub-standard hut.

"With modern facilities we can reach more children and provide scouting for the next 100 years."

Berkley Homes helped the group gain planning permission and agreed to give the scouts the disused tennis courts adjoining the land of the former Atkinson Morley Hospital site in Copse Hill, which they are developing, to use as their new headquarters.

The project is expected to cost £430,000 and an application for a loan for £100,000 has been made to the Scout Association to cover the shortfall in funding.

If they are successful, the building work will start in January 2014.