Press Release April 2024

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The 1st Hoveton and Wroxham Sea Scouts have been awarded a life-changing Youth Investment Fund grant to transform its services for young people in Hoveton, Wroxham and the surrounding area.

How the building will look. Artwork by Sunny Petch

The 1st Hoveton and Wroxham Sea Scout Group has been awarded a transformational Youth Investment Fund grant to renovate and extend its youth service offer to young people across the area. It is very welcome news for young people supported by the Group who will benefit from the generous funding and means that the Group will be able to offer places to more young people and to offer more exciting and fun activities in much enhanced surroundings when the project is complete. These new facilities were chosen by the young people of the area themselves and include, but are not limited to: New toilets, showers, a larger meeting place, a climbing wall, new ranges for archery and shooting, camping facilities, enhanced disability access and a “chill out zone” to help with personal well being. 

The 1st Hoveton and Wroxham is one of 140 youth centres in England to benefit from a Youth Investment Fund grant, provided by the funder, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Youth Investment Fund is part of the Government’s National Youth Guarantee to transform and level up opportunities for young people in England. The Youth Investment Fund, of over £300 million, aims to build, renovate, or extend youth services in the parts of the country where new spaces and new opportunities are most needed. 
 
Work is now under way on the transformation of the Scout HQ in Wroxham with a planned opening date of September 2024.

Nigel Pope, the Chairman of the Scout Group,  welcoming the Youth Investment Fund grant, said:

“We have been Scouting in Hoveton and Wroxham since 1910 and our current Headquarters building, which was built in the 1980s, has served us well. However, demand for places in our Group has been growing significantly in recent times and we have outgrown our HQ. This has resulted in us needing a waiting list for a place in the Group and this is something we must strive to avoid so that no young person misses out on the opportunities that Scouting has to offer. Also, everyone felt that the building was outdated for 21st Century Scouting and was limiting our ability to offer places to young people with special needs. It was time to move on.

Of course, we all know that Scouting is a voluntary organisation, and to expand our operation, we need to recruit more volunteers to help make the dream come true. Volunteering with the Scouts offers a multitude of rewarding experiences and lots of opportunities for personal growth. By becoming a Scout volunteer, you have the chance to make a positive impact on the lives of young people, helping them develop essential life skills, values and confidence that will benefit them for years to come. It also allows you to contribute to your community in a meaningful way and offers opportunities for personal development, allowing you to enhance your leadership, communication, and teamwork skills while also building lasting friendships and connections with fellow volunteers.

We believe that Scouting truly has the power to change the World for the better. Scouting gives young people practical skills, leadership qualities and self confidence. In future years, these tools will give them personal opportunities and the ability to benefit the community as a whole. It is no coincidence that 11 out of the 12 people who walked on the Moon were Scouts. That’s where they learned that confidence and self reliance that you need. We are the largest youth organisation in the World, 55 million strong and still growing.

The grant gives us the infrastructure we need for the future, and we will have places for everyone, male and female, from 4 years old onwards with no age limit. We hope that this will inspire more people to join our friendly team as volunteers and to make a difference to lives here and in the wider world. If you want to grow personally while helping others to make a positive contribution to the future, then why not join us? No previous experience is needed, and we provide a safe and supportive place to learn, grow and contribute. We can be contacted at enquiries@hovetonandwroxhamscouts.org.uk 

You can watch the building project grow and see what else we are doing on our website: www.hovetonandwroxhamscouts.org.uk/news.htm


Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said:

 “I want to see every young person have someone to talk to, something to do, and somewhere to go outside of the classroom, no matter where they are from, to help maximise their potential in life.” 

“This next round of funding from the Youth Investment Fund will help nearly 20,000 more young people achieve this goal.” 

“We have now committed to building or refurbishing over 220 projects in some of the country’s most underserved areas, creating more opportunities for young people to gain the skills needed to succeed in life and stopping them from falling through the cracks.” 


Additional Information about the Grant for Editors:

About the Youth Investment Fund
The Youth Investment Fund forms part of the Government’s ‘National Youth Guarantee’ to ensure every young person across England will have access to regular out of school activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. The Youth Investment Fund, of over £300 million, is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and delivered by Social Investment Business in partnership with National Youth Agency, Resonance, and the Key Fund. 
The Youth Investment Fund has been developed to create, expand, and improve local youth facilities and their services in the out of school youth sector, to drive positive outcomes for young people, including improved mental and physical wellbeing, and skills for life and work. 
The Youth Investment Fund will fund the building or renovation of 300 youth services and will increase the number of regular positive activities undertaken by young people in the targeted areas by 45,000 per year, by 2026/27. 
To learn more, visit www.youthinvestmentfund.org.uk  
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