A TEESDALE Scout group is launching an urgent appeal to fund a new hut amid fears it could be forced to close.

Staindrop Scouts and Guides have been providing activities for the village’s youngsters for more than 100 years and currently have a waiting list for its 120 spaces.

They started fundraising for a new purpose-built hut 18 months ago and despite raising more than £50,000 of the estimated £160,000 needed, they are still £25,000 short to start work on the new hut.

Group scout leader, Jacqui Nicholson, said the team had worked tirelessly to raise the funds to demolish the old hut but desperately needed an investor to bridge the funding gap.

The group have been offered temporary refuge at Staindrop Primary School but Mrs Nicholson said the school would not be able to house the youngsters for long and the alternative would be that the group could be forced to fold or have to move out of the village which would prove difficult for parents as activities are ran six days a week.

“It’s getting to the point where we don’t know how long we are going to be able to be in there,” Mrs Nicholson said.

“This could be a disaster for the village because there’s nothing else – we did a survey and they are all saying the same thing - that apart from the Guides and Scouts in the village, there’s nothing else.”

The team have already spent money improving the existing hut by putting in a sink and running hot water, but fear the council might still shut them down if they don’t start work over the summer as planned.

Other groups have also shown interest in using the hut once it’s built which Mrs Nicholson hopes will make the facility self-sufficient but she said that while many organisations had offered to help with providing fixtures and fittings, none were able to support them with capital funding.

Mrs Nicholson added: “We need to do something soon otherwise we are going to end up being demolished and disbanded and in a village this size, it’s criminal that there’s nothing to do.”

To make a donation visit gofundme.com/la0yrs or call Mrs Nicholson on 01833-630370 or 07834370780.