Latest News from the 19th Purley
During lockdown we took the opportunity to get lots of works done at our HQ
We have been incredibly fortunate that the following works have happened over the last 7 months thanks to the amazing local community who have done these works for either nothing or very little.
O’Brien Contracts Ltd who are a locally based ceilings, partitions and joinery company and happen to be owned by our Group Scout Leader’s husband, replaced all internal ceilings following the sealing of our roof last year, completely free of charge. One of the workers is an ex-19th Purley member and eldest son to our Group Scout Leader.
KH Decorating who are a locally based painting and decorating company painted the internal ceilings, walls and skirtings completely free of charge every evening after work for a week following a plea on the Warlingham Facebook page.
We have gained a small team of volunteers who are working on our grounds.
The works they have undertaken include:
• running our drainage system from our new kitchen right the way round the building to the main drain instead of to the soakaway which was constantly blocking;
• building a woodstore;
• making our current campfire circle seating area bigger and refurbishing the existing;
• cutting back of dangerous brambles and one
dead oak tree (under the guidance of the council although we are not in the TPO area);
• installing a staircase in our small hall for easier access to loft;
• replacing broken lights inside and out;
• fitting of fire evacuation signage and
lighting;
• and more to come…….
After a request for an old Henry hoover a very kind local resident bought us a brand new one!
We have been very fortunate to secure a long-term weekend hut hire over lockdown with a local racing car group run by Mark Jones who leads the Warlingham Facebook page. Through him we have been able to make these amazing contacts and through these really tough times when moral was low, we have had great reason to celebrate.
We are looking forward to when we can meet face to face like we used to so our young people can enjoy the fruits of our labour.
We also look forward to giving back to the local community at Christmas in plans that are being discussed right now.