Hollinwood Scout Camp in Salford aspire to raise £1m to complete vital renovations to the camp site

Hollinwood Scout Camp is urging the local community to help them provide the camp with new activities and completed building renovations.

Hollinwood moved to a new location in 2016 and had to start from the beginning with a field and woodland and begin building necessary facilities on the new 30-acre land by creating multiple avenues of ways to donate.

Since 2016, the camp has received lots of support from the surrounding communities, and some small monthly donators have earned the title of ‘Hollinwood Heroes’ as their donations keep the camp running.

Big donations have been used for essential redevelopment of the camp and helped Hollinwood get closer to their aspiration of £1m. The Woodland Trust donated £10,000 and that has been used to put culverts across the stream. Hollinwood Scout Camp also received £3,500 raised by Greater Manchester Police, that was used to put fencing around the site and scouts apart of at Ellesmere District Scouts have donated £25,000.

The camp has also set up a GoFundMe to raise funds for a tractor and offer businesses and organisations to support through the ‘Buy a Brick’ scheme on their website, allowing them to contribute £1,000 to building construction, or even volunteer and book corporate away days, Transport for Greater Manchester and Sage have supported the scouts in this way.

The scouts are also urging donations in the form of building work and materials such as Cargill, who donated a toilet, and a shower block a couple of years ago.

Hollinwood also offers older teenagers the opportunity to camp on the site in exchange for helping with maintaining the camp, which could be anything from making benches, pulling up Himalayans Balsam, or cutting grass. Despite these renovations, there is still lots of work left to do to complete the site.

The five-year plan for the camp is the set up more activities for the children such as soft archery and a rifle range, to build a big campfire circle and finish building the shop and painting the toilets.

Camp leader, Ste Butterworth has urged more children to get involved and emphasised how incredible the Hollinwood Scout Camp is.

He said: “You don’t get much outdoor space in Salford where kids can just run around and be kids without social media. So, we’ve got 30 acres. We’ve planted over 1,000 trees on one of our big fields to create some campsites. 

We’ve got rid of loads of invasive plant species. And actually, it’s a beautiful place. It’s a bit soggy and wet today, bit chilly, but in the summer, it’s 30 acres where kids can run around, so they come and camp and then they’ll do activities. And it’s just a great place to have big hide and seek games or learn about nature, do campfires and cooking. It’s absolutely brilliant.”

Hollinwood Scout Camp takes pride in the work it does for the community and the environment, by hosting open days, bonfire nights and other events that regularly feature in the Boothstown newsletter. The camp also cares for the community by cutting down any overgrown plants that are blocking public access and pathways in the surrounding areas.

The scouts at Hollinwood planted over 1,000 trees on the site in 2017 and a further 8,000 bulbs in a ‘big bulb planting drive’ in 2024 and they plan to have another one in March 2026.

For more information and be apart of any upcoming events at Hollinwood Scout Camp, use the land or get involved with volunteering or donating, visit their website www.hollinwoodcamp.org.uk