Gas company gives Horley scout hut and garden a second revamp

The team from SGNs Horley head office prepare to start work on the Horley Scout hut - picture submitted

The First and Second Horley Scout groups meet at their hut on the Metro Centre Industrial Estate. The building is also used by the East Horley Playgroup.

Thirty four members of the SGN finance team spent two days pulling up weeds and bushes that had become overgrown, clearing gutters, and painting and cleaning the building inside and out.

The team offered their help as part of SGN’s Community Action Programme (CAP), in which employees get one day a year on company time to help the community.

Scout group chairman Claire Creed said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at SGN for their hard work at our headquarters last year and again this year. The impact they made has been immediate. Not only have they created a clean, safe environment for the children who use the hall each day, but they have improved the surrounding area for the local community.”

“They have also inspired the next generation of Scout leaders to want to create something even bigger and better for the children of Horley.”

As organiser Tara Bridges from Accounts Receivable said: “We were keen to help out there when we did our CAP day last July because the Scout hut is very local to our offices and everyone’s familiar with it.

“We take our responsibilities to our neighbours very seriously and are proud that our Head Office is based here in Horley, where the community makes us very welcome. It’s great that we can show our appreciation by making a practical contribution to something as worthwhile as the local scout group.

“I don’t think the Scout group would mind me saying that when we were there last year, the area around the Scout hut had fallen into disrepair – the weeds outside were 6ft tall and we collected three skips full of rubbish. This year we were able to continue where we left off and the whole area looked visibly better by the time we’d finished.

“We had a great day – it was also a great team-building exercise because we were chatting to people we wouldn’t usually see. It was loads of fun and we can’t wait to do another!”

SGN is now working with the Scout group and hopes to provide them with the temporary use of some of its land for storage purposes.