EASINGWOLD OUTDOOR CENTRE ('THE DAWNEY')
The new Dawney is now complete and looking magnificent. After a long 4 years and a massive effort to raise the £218,000, we have achieved a wonderful new facility waiting to welcome you.
The new build has full disabled access, main hall, kitchen, office, shower & toilets with heating, lighting, hot water and a fully functioning kitchen. Tables and chairs are available in main hall.
The centre is owned and managed by the 1st Easingwold Scout Group who have priority use. It is our intention, however, that it will be available to hire without discrimination by other community groups, scouts, guides and schools all year round. There are some restrictive covenants in place due to neighbouring properties which may impact on some hire possibilities.
It is the Home of the Easingwold District Explorer Unit (Tuesday Evenings) and the 1st Easingwold Scout Troop (Wednesday evenings) and they are joined in summer months by the Cubs (Monday) and Beavers (Tuesdays).
BOOKING FEES
Please contact us to discuss. The Dawney can also be hired via www.hallshire.com and www.venues4hire.com. Or just shoot us an email and we'll endeavour to meet your hire needs at this fantastic rural facility.
Archery equipment and qualified staff (2-3 hours) – please request this at time of booking.
Target shooting facility- please request this at time of booking.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Grounds
The Dawney is located on a flood plain and is sited on 8 acres of pasture and woodland surrounded by farmland (mainly sheep and arable). It enjoys a wonderful natural, secluded setting with an abundance of wildlife including a wide variety of birds, insects, bats and plenty of rabbits!
The land generally drains well and is split by Shires Beck. There are very many trees which are assessed and managed annually to ensure their ongoing health and our safety.
There is fencing around the water course but the land does slip occasionally when wet so we ask users to be extra careful near the watercourse edges and do not trespass onto the banks. The centre is served by a septic tank which must not be accessed at any time.
The grounds have a shooting range and the Group has Archery equipment and qualified staff to hire and for tuition.
Mobile coverage is usually fine in the area but no Wi-Fi is available.
History
The site has been continuously used as a children’s activity and camping area since 1978 when Easingwold Town Council granted a lease to 1st Easingwold Scout Group for one acre of land.
The site’s cabin was erected in 1979. Originally in Easingwold’s New Inn Yard, it is believed to date from the 1930s. It was used by the Ministry of Food and later became Easingwold’s labour exchange. It was donated to the scouts who secured planning consent to erect it in its present position with the addition of a toilet and washroom area.
In 2010, a public meeting in Easingwold backed a proposal to improve young people's access to the outdoors by opening the site to schools and other organised youth groups.
The Easingwold Outdoor Centre Project was established with support from Easingwold Town Council, Hambleton District Council, North Yorkshire County Council and a number of local businesses to create a not-for-profit, safe, versatile rural space where supervised, pre-booked groups of young people could enjoy outdoor activities, education and camping. The project has been adopted as a priority by the Easingwold and Villages Community Forum.
More than 300 under-18s and 85 teachers and youth group leaders responded to a consultation exercise conducted with help from Hambleton District Council to determine what facilities would be needed to achieve the project’s aims. Quiet, sustainable outdoor space, modern toilet/wash facilities and renewable energy sources in the cabin were key requirements.
Funding from Hambleton District Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Easingwold District Scouts and a local benefactor was used to purchase and fence four acres of adjacent woodland and grassland and to plant several hundred trees.
The New Dawney Project
In 2017, a number of surveys were carried out to assess the structural integrity of the old building ready for refurbishment. Unfortunately, surveys indicated the presence of asbestos and structural failure making refurbishment economically unviable. The toilet facilities were also wholly inadequate. It was decided that a rebuild was the only way forward to save this wonderful facility and 1st Easingwold Scout Group have risen to the challenge of fundraising to the tune of £218,000 to secure a new indoor facility to include a new connection to the grid providing electricity to the site. Despite the arrival of Covid-19, Grainger Timber Frames of Ripon have made great progress with the new build, alas, the same cannot be said for the grid connection. We had hoped that the new build would be ready for the gala opening in August but, sadly, we still have some way to go and it now looks more likley to be the Autumn 2020 before it is completed.
Over the past four years the site has been used by up to 200 children per week in supervised groups of 10 to 40 children at a time for a mixture of daytime use and overnight camps, predominantly between April and September. The site has been well utilised by local nursery schools, primary schools, forest schools, scout and guide groups, Duke of Edinburgh Award groups, Boys Brigade, North Yorkshire Pupil Referral Unit and North Yorkshire Police. We very much look forward to welcoming back all our previous users and, of course, new ones to our magnificent new outdoor centre as soon as we possibly can.
Hazards & Risks
This is not exhaustive list, but we hope it supports hirers own risk assessments.
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Environment: Weather extremes such as flooding, sun burn/stroke, wind burn (this is often forgotten)
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Insects: Bites & stings
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Flora & trees: Skin irritants, falling branches, trip hazards
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Camp fires: Burns, risk of fire getting out of control
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Water: Drowning, poisoning
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Indoor faciity: Kitchen hygiene and safety, toilet/shower hygiene & safety
Activities: Risk assessments must be carried out for all activities