FOR over 50 years, generations of Scouts from Fermanagh and beyond have been taught the skills needed to survive in the wild at the organisation’s outdoor centre at Cladagh Glen.

Now, with the Scouting movement undergoing massive changes in recent times, the centre is being redeveloped at a cost of around £250,000 to meet the requirements of modern life.

In order to help pay for the renovations, which will take another four months to complete, the local Scouts have launched a unique appeal to raise the necessary funds.

People and businesses are being invited to donate £100 to have their names engraved on special bricks which will form part of a permanent memorial wall located inside the new outdoor centre.

Speaking to the Impartial Reporter this week, county chairman Jonathan Styles said the Fermanagh Scout Council have had a building at the site in Cladagh Glen since 1965, when the land was donated by the Earl of Enniskillen.

It began life as a wooden pre-fabricated structure, but in 1994, after much planning and lottery funding, this was replaced by a brick building.

Mr. Styles said this centre became popular with Scouting groups from throughout Ireland.

However, with the modern Scouting movement now involving both boys and girls, there was a recognition that the existing building needed to be upgraded to become much more ‘user friendly’.

Mr. Styles said the redeveloped centre will have “everything it takes to look after the next generation of Scouts”.

He said that funding for the renovations had been secured from a variety of sources, including the ‘Brick Appeal’.

The county chairman said they had not set a specific target for the appeal, but that a “significant amount” of bricks had already been sold.

Mr. Styles concluded by saying: “So far, the response has been good.”