MEMBERS of 1st Goostrey Scouts are inviting the community to celebrations for the official opening on Saturday, May 6 of the village's new Scout Hut and Youth Centre. 

As the group looks forwards to the big day it has welcomed a generous donation received in memory of the Rev Ian Godfrey, the late vicar of St Luke’s Church at Goostrey.

David Giles, Group Scout Leader of 1st Goostrey Scouts, said: “I was touched to receive a very generous donation of £1,000 towards the cost of our new Scout Hut and Youth Centre collected in memory of my dear friend and vicar, Ian Godfrey.

"Ian, who died last summer, was a great supporter of the Scouts’ plans for the new building and was determined to start a new youth group which would have its home there.

"In Ian’s memory, we will be naming the upstairs meeting room the Ian Godfrey room.

"This contribution will help us to fund the final phase of this project, which has almost reached completion.

"The donation was received from the congregation at a memorial service held at John Keble Church, Edgware in north London, the former church where the Rev Godfrey served before moving to Goostrey.

“We have so far raised £250,000 of the £290,000 cost to build the new facility and have been very fortunate to have secured a one per cent interest rate soft loan to bridge our funding gap.

"Every donation will help us to repay the remaining money we owe, which has been used to build the facility.

“I am proud to announce that the official opening of the Scout Hut and Youth Centre will be held at 2pm on Saturday,May 6.

"At the ceremony, we will be joined by the Member of Parliament for Goostrey, Fiona Bruce, and the chairman and members of Goostrey Parish Council, who agreed to gift the site to us and provided a donation of £50,000, as well as representatives from the landfill charity WREN, which also awarded us a generous grant of £50,000.

"We expect many members of the Scout and Guiding organisations to attend, as well as representatives from a wide range of local community organisations who have supported and donated to this initiative.

"We have issued an open invitation to the village to join us, and are hoping the whole community will come together to celebrate the opening of the new building and to meet the members of the team who have worked unstintingly over the last three years to realise this project.

“The new facility will be used by all the uniformed groups in our village: Scouts, Cubs, Beavers, Guides, Brownies, Rainbows and senior sections, as well as by the Pre-school and other clubs.

"Our dream of having a dedicated facility has come true and hopefully the walls we have built will sound with the echoes of children’s laughter, only made possible thanks to the generosity of so many donors.”

Donations can be made directly to the Scout Hut and Youth Centre at mydonate.bt.com/charities/1stgoostreyscoutgroup

The annual Big Bike Ride in Goostrey will be held on May 13– friends and neighbours are encouraged to be generous in sponsoring all the keen cyclists for our good cause.

The Goostrey Summer Ball will be held on July 15, which is being organised in association with the Parent Teacher Association of Goostrey Primary School.