Hundreds of Guides, Brownies and Rainbows are in a race against time to replace their crumbling headquarters.
Members of the Girlguiding Banstead District desperately need to build a new hall before their existing hut, a 40-year-old prefabricated building, falls apart.
District commissioner Patsy Wooldridge said: “There are holes in the walls and leaks in the roof. The windows and doors need to be replaced and the building has been propped up to stop it from falling down.
“This should have been replaced 20 years ago.”
The hut, on the corner of The Drive and the A217 in Banstead, is home to seven different Guiding sections, with around 250 girls aged between five and eighteen meeting there every week.
It is also home to the Little Haven Nursery.
The movement has raised more than half of the £200,000 cost of a new building, but it has taken years and they are running out of time.
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council granted planning permission for a replacement building earlier this year and the Guiding leaders want work to start next year.
Mrs Wooldridge said: “We realise we have not picked the best time in terms of raising the money. Grants for such projects have all but disappeared in the current economic climate so we will have to raise most of the money ourselves.”
The girls have held sponsored walks, quiz nights and discos and have other fundraisers planned. But they have made a plea for the community to help.
For pictures of the hut, click here
Reprinted from the Surrey Mirror and Copyright © 2011 Northcliffe Media Limited – we are very grateful to the Surrey Mirror for publishing this article.