Ightham Pavilion Project

The Vision

1st Ightham Scouts, in association with Ightham Football Club, plans to build a new Scout Headquarters and Sports facility in Ightham recreation field. This will be a joint use building enabling some overlap of facilities.



Benefits to 1st Ightham Scout Group and Ightham Football Club

This new building will directly help young people aged between 8 and 18 within the Scout movement and also benefit other young adults through the football club. It will not only benefit the young people of Ightham but also those from the surrounding villages within the Scout Group’s catchment area. This includes Plaxtol, Shipbourne and Dunks Green. Ightham Scout Headquarters is presently unfit for purpose as it is too small for the number of Beaver, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers in our Group. In addition there is no disabled access to the hut, which means it is very difficult for the group to provide truly equal opportunities for any young person wishing to join the group. The current hut is of wooden construction and is rapidly approaching the end of its serviceable life.

 

A new pavillion will make a significant difference to Ightham Football Club. They are currently unable to run a youth team due to the inadequacies of their present facilities, primarily the lack of proper changing areas for both males and females, despite having coaches willing to run a team and young people wanting to be in one. The Pavillion will allow the football team to carry out evening training sessions, which they currently cannot do. Their present pavillion is totally unsuitable, being no more than a brick shed built about 80 years ago, and the current changing rooms also fail to meet current Football Association recommended standards. In a time when child obesity is becoming a major national concern, this is surely of benefit to the local young people. 

 

Benefits to the wider community

The Pavillion Project will not benefit the Scouts and Ightham village football team, but will make new opportunities available for young people and adults to get active. The facility will provide the chance for new sports and activities in the village to be initiated; thus providing more for the local community to get involved in. A new pavillion in the recreation ground would have the potential to be utilised if there was a large village event that required indoor space in addition to what is already available. By having a useable facility on the recreation field there will be more opportunities for other local organisations to hold events on the field and this has the potential to really enhance relations and community spirit within the people of Ightham.