Campaigners fighting to save five Girlguiding activity centres from the axe have drawn up detailed proposals that include the sale of the charity’s headquarters opposite Buckingham Palace.
The group of Girlguiding volunteer leaders have posted an online open letter calling for the London base to be offloaded and the money to be used to refurbish the activity centres.
The letter, which has attracted almost 1,900 signatures, details a range of grievances surrounding the closure of the five centres announced by Girlguiding last month.
Written to “all those in senior management in Girlguiding”, it says: “The Girlguiding leadership is rapidly losing the confidence of many volunteers.
“Without a serious reconsideration and a public statement in short order, these volunteers are likely to withdraw from an organisation we perceive is moving further away from the values we stand on.”
Girlguiding announced last month that it would close its activity centres at Foxlease, Waddow, Glenbrook, Blacklands Farm and Ynysgain by the end of 2023, with a view to selling the properties next year.
It said it hoped the move would secure its financial future and that the centres had been losing money for “some years”.
The announcement came a few days after it said it would shut down its overseas operations by September.
Later in May, Third Sector revealed that Girlguiding was owed £2.8m by a company that went into administration while leasing the hotel section of the charity’s London headquarters.
Louise, a volunteer unit leader who is leading a social media campaign to save the activity centres, told Third Sector about a decline in trust between Girlguiding’s management and volunteer membership which dates back to Covid.
“There’s a feeling we aren’t necessarily being told the whole story,” she said. “They are just telling us what they want us to know.”
The letter rejects “the sale of historically and socially significant Girlguiding Activity Centres”. It also rejects the board recommendation and “the associated redundancies implied”.
Along with the sale of Girlguiding’s premises on Buckingham Palace Road, the letter details a proposal for the activity centres to be re-launched as regional headquarters, along with a consultation on the use and value of Girlguiding’s properties.
It says: “The centres need to be viewed as a huge growth opportunity, not a threat. The investment and works required are daunting, however this organisation’s membership is big enough to step up and support every step, with time, skills and money. The Centres have stood for over 100 years – now is the time to rally, not give up.”
The letter also contains a call for a collective fundraising effort and an application to the community ownership fund, along with an extraordinary AGM.
Separately, a petition on change.org launched on 18 May calling for Girlguiding UK to reconsider its decision to sell the activity centres has attracted more than 28,000 signatures.
A further petition calling on the charity to re-examine its decision to cease all guiding overseas has attracted over 16,000 signatures.
Girlguiding declined a request to comment on the open letter, owing to the period of consultation of staff likely to be affected by implementation of the trustee recommendation.