Senior figures from Girlguiding UK are meeting with campaigners to try and head off a growing row over plans to close the charity’s activity centres.
The charity says that it cannot afford to refurbish the five centres and announced two weeks ago that shutting them would “help financially secure the organisation”.
But thousands of volunteers have joined a campaign against the move and Third Sector understands that the charity’s trustees are now organising further discussions with groups linked to the five centres.
Girlguiding UK declined to comment.
One local group, referring to the proposals, has already said it was “not taking this lying down”. A second group said after meeting with the charity’s chief executive: “At the moment the future is not looking good.”
The consultation on proposals to sell the centres – Blackland Farm, Foxlease, Glenbrook, Waddow Hall and Ynysgain – runs until the end of July.
The charity said in a statement earlier this month: “The activity centres have been used by less than 10 per cent of our membership over the past decade.
“We know most of our members are choosing to have adventures within their units, near their home, and in other locations and facilities.
“There has been historic underinvestment in the activity centres, and they have been running at an overall loss for some years, despite successful efforts to generate more business from different markets.
“The centres would need significant funding of over £20m in the coming years to be fit for future use. We cannot afford this level of investment.”
One Girlguiding group leader said at the time that the decision had left them “stunned, sad and angry”.
In a Facebook post on 19 May, Friends of Waddow, a group set up to support Girlguiding UK’s work at Waddow Hall, wrote: “Needless to say in respect of Waddow we are not taking this lying down and have arranged meetings this week to formulate a plan.”
The post promised that members would receive an in-depth report about its plans in the near future.
A message posted a few days later by another Facebook group, Friends of Foxlease, said that representatives of the group had “been able to get answers to some of the questions” raised about proposed closures.
It continued: “At the moment the future is not looking good but rest assured we will do our best, working on your behalf to persuade the [Girlguiding UK] trustees to find a better solution.”
Third Sector revealed last week that the charity is owed nearly £3m after a failed initiative to lease the hotel part of its headquarters to a private company. The 25-year deal collapsed when the firm entered administration in August 2022.
Girlguiding UK said any proposals on the future of the activity centres were “entirely unrelated” to this debt.