The Story of "The Guide Hut"
Girlguiding Guessens has been meeting in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire in the "guide hut" in Guessens Road since it was built 1929. A report in The Welwyn Times of 11 April reported on the opening which had taken place the previous Saturday - 6th April 1929.
Each week over 200 girls aged 5–16 attend and participate in group activity, having fun, building positive relationships with their peers, young leaders and adult volunteers and gaining valuable life and personal skills along the way and contribute to making a difference in their local community. The hut is also a resource for over 340 girls and 35 volunteer adult leaders across the Girlguiding district.
The Hut had been well used for 87 years but the time had come to replace it with a new building to enhance the opportunities and experiences for everybody who uses the facility. The old hut was too small, had little heat and sound insulation, the kitchen was very small and was not suitable for group cooking activity and the toilets were in poor condition
It had become increasingly difficult and costly to maintain and was also not easily accessible to people with disabilities. The hut had not changed much at all in the last 87 years, but the activities offered by Girlguiding have significantly moved on. In order to enhance the experiences and challenges provided for the girls by the adult volunteers, the time had come to replace the old hut with a new building which we believe will secure Girlguiding in Welwyn Garden City long term.
The new building has a larger main hall, plus the addition of a small meeting room for group work or meetings, a larger kitchen with modern facilities and space for group work and new accessible toilet facilities. We have addressed access issues for wheelchair users and provided adequate storage facilities for all the equipment for the District units.
We worked with a local architect and consulted with local residents to ensure that the new building retained the traditional Garden City look and becomes a valuable asset in the local community.
Girlguiding Guessens Registered Charity number 1155795