Even though it still remains a Proper little Campsite there have been many important upgrades over the years. New toilet blocks, have now been complete and the two refurbished Activity Rooms set up a couple of years ago are well used and receiving great acclaim and feedback from visiting camping groups.

The future for the campsite is also being actively considered. We are now near to agreeing a new 25 year lease with our landowners, Surrey County Council which will allow for a long-term secure situation for the campsite and the option of pursuing major grants for future upgrades and improvements. This new lease will be a major improvement from the last, in that the lease site will now include Woolgars Wood, where we have our existing campfire circle, as a part of the leased site. It is at the moment, being “borrowed” from Surrey Wildlife Trust, the Wisley and Ockham Common land managing agents. The extra security for this wooded area will surely be a great improvement for the campsite.

The site has had its normal very hectic year with larger and more frequent requests for bookings. The committee is very aware that, to increase our usage, we have to continually upgrade the campsite infrastructure. Over the last year, time and money was sent on the septic tank system so that a more reliable and modern way of moving grey water from the old cess pit retainer to the septic tank was fitted. The earlier setup had occasionally been overwhelmed when there were large weekend camps, which led to restrictions in campsite numbers. Future plans for an increase in the septic tank ground water drainage system will also be embarked on to spread the resulting waste water more efficiently.

Over the past year we have seen the campsite be as busy as ever. The Campsite Management Committee worked tirelessly to maintain the site on a limited budget. The row of poplar trees on the M25 side of the site was reduced by a third to ensure that they remained safe in high winds. Our tractor has never ceased to ensure that we are concerned about its well-being with constant episodes of overheating when mowing. The tractor had received a major overhaul only a few years ago at great cost and to have to consider this again was worrying. Eventually, by replacing the radiator we have found that this may have been resolved and we are optimistic that the machine will work efficiently in the future. The toilet and shower facilities are regularly requiring updates and repairs, especially in our busy summers, but we are able to deal with this as and when they occur.

So what are our plans for the future? To allow for increased campsite use, the septic tank will require a larger drainage systems and the halls better drainage of their used water. It is planned to lay a new mains water pipe to the far side of the field. The Campsite has received a £1000 grant from the Members Community Allocation fund for the provision of an AED (a defibrillator) and we thank Cllr. Colin Kemp for this. A further £450 has been donated to allow this to be purchased and we are waiting for a final grant decision to allow a training unit to be bought. The AED will be for community and campsite use and therefore provide an important facility in our area. Finally, our priority plan is to provide a new set of leader’s toilet and showers. At a busy camp there can be occasionally in excess of 20 adults and their toilet facilities are severely restricted. This will provide a much needed extra amenity at our campsite.

One of the nicest parts of being a member of the Birchmere committee is to be part of the team that the campsite has to organise and maintain the site to allow it to be such in demand by booking units. The campsite, under the supervision of our warden, Steve Valiant, has constantly offered visiting camping groups a great outdoor space to stay. This last year a very special moment was the presentation of the County Commissioners Thanks Badge to Judi Oakley for over ten years’ service to the campsite as booking secretary. Her certificate read… “For services as Booking Secretary to Birchmere Campsite; being the welcoming voice of Woking Scouts to potential visitors. For your loyalty and assertiveness and for offering suggestions during changes to both site and campsite fees” It was signed by the County Commissioner for Surrey Scouts, Joe Rogerson.

Thank you Judi and, indeed thank you to all our great campsite management team. They put in an amazing amount of time and enthusiasm in really making this “A Proper Little Campsite”.

Birchmere Campsite, the Woking District Campsite, is open primarily for our District to use, and use it they certainly do! The bulk of the campsite’s bookings are filled with Woking groups, so much so that there seems little time for visitors. Bookings at peak times are made one or two years before the event to guarantee the date. What has happened to make it such a popular site?

Over the past two years the campsite has upgraded their aged activity hall with two refurbished halls acquired from a school in London and now it is able to offer visiting groups not one, but two halls, both with a modern kitchen for group use. But these things don’t just happen by themselves. It has been amazing how Woking District Executive stepped up to the mark by supplying the bulk of the refurbishment costs. Others have also very generously supported the upgrade and we are really grateful and thank them.

Not only have there been new indoor activity areas built, but the way the campsite deals with an increased campsite use and resulting waste water has also been improved with a new soakaway being created for rain water and an upgraded septic tank facility for waste water for showers and toilets.

The Birchmere Wardens, Steve and Katy Valiant, have now become established as an enthusiastic management team after joining us last spring. Over that time, they have worked hard to change how the campsite runs. A notable improvement is the monthly wardens work morning. Occurring on the first Tuesday of the month, a small team meets to do maintenance and repairs. From painting to door hanging, grass mowing to cake eating, they tackle most things. This, combined with support from Woking District who bring specialist help when needed, the campsite has seen steady improvements over the year.

These improvements however go hand in hand with the day to day tasks of the Committee who always are available to keep the campsite busy and safe. Birchmere is very lucky to have all these “friends” who are so willing to do these tasks. Thank you!

It is no secret that the campsite’s main users should be groups in Woking District, however the site is also available for hire by youth groups for elsewhere. To publicise the improvements at Birchmere the campsite’s web site has been replaced with a modern and stylish means of allowing potential visitors to view the site and to book a visit on-line.

In the coming spring we hope to reduce the height of the row of Poplar trees on the M25 side of the site. Later in the year our plans are to upgrade the septic tank drainage system, create a small on-site firing range and to clear coppiced areas of Woolgars Wood for small group use.

The outcome of all these plans is to continue to provide Woking District Scouts with a “Proper little campsite” and for another very busy year at Birchmere Campsite.

We had been granted planning approval for a much larger new activity room to replace the old schoolroom that we called the DRT some six years ago. Then a school in Hounslow had two to offer us as they were about to replace them. Either we had them when they became available or they went to landfill. So very quickly we had to say “Goodbye old faithful” DRT building and “Hello and Welcome” to its new replacements.

In a few months, we had the new building planning approved and the new buildings were dismantled from the school, shipped down the A3 and reassembled at the campsite. To conform to our planning requirements, they were quickly clad with timber supplied from the nearby Norbury Sawmills. The new cladding very successfully transformed the existing prefabricated grey concrete structure and made it a really eye catching country building and something we could become totally proud of!

From here things became more difficult with our various busy visiting contractors having to fit a large project into their already full diary, but slowly, we were able to update the internal structure and begin fitting out the new semi-industrial kitchens together with all the building’s communal spaces. New under floor insulation plus floors and floor tiles have been fitted. Bottled gas is now connected to our new range cookers and the outside gas bottle stores completed. The plumbing and waste water management is now also ready for use. Both the halls have been reroofed with upgraded insulation and all internal decoration is now complete. One of our major campsite improvements is that Birchmere is now able to offer two similar halls for separate bookings thus removing the previous competition that always existed for campsite indoor kitchen and activity space.

It’s a great improvement and the Campsite Management Committee is very grateful to Woking District Scout Council, Tuffin Ferraby Taylor LLP, Woking Borough Council and the very many people who have supported the changes in so many different ways.

Birchmere also has a new Warden team, Steve and Katy Valiant. Steve has a great depth of scouting skills and also ADC Cubs in a nearby District. However our campsite management team is made up of many others who have had their enthusiasm noted by being awarded various-Scouting awards. Gary Cheesman has been awarded the Merit for Outstanding Service and Terry Oakley, past warden, awarded a Bar to his Award of Merit. Finally we are really proud that two members of the committee were given the accolade of the best that scouting can give, The Silver Wolf. Past committee members, Tony Bowman and the DESC for Woking, Brian Pinto, have been given this prestigious award. Well done, but thank you and well done to ALL the members of our brilliant Birchmere Management Team!

It was such feedback, from a questionnaire given to past users and after camping conversations about Birchmere, that initiated the many recent changes at the campsite. The refurbishment of the boys and girls toilets and shower area is now well known and has recently been described as “The best toilet area in any scout campsite I know.”

But it’s not only these changes that make the site. There are on-going upgrades of the site’s activities from pioneering, orienteering and geocaching to trails and the enthusiastic support that we receive from the local Surrey Wildlife Rangers and indeed the recent interest shown to the campsite from the officers of Woking Borough Council.

Over the last year campsite improvements have continued to be made. The building of the toilet facilities now turns to repairs and maintenance. (We are constantly amazed how muddy boot prints can manage to get so high up walls and doors and taps damaged so frequently). The Management Committee is now turning its attention to the last part of the proposed trilogy of
improvements, the replacement of the DRT Activity Building, for which we have successfully gained planning consent. Other improvement tasks, namely better campsite field drainage, a dedicated dishwashing area and the construction of new paths to reduce mud finding its way into all buildings on wet days, are also being actively pursued.

With these tasks in mind Birchmere has hosted Ray Morgan, Chief Executive of Woking Borough Council together with other civic officers. Grant applications have been made to Woking Borough Council for a Community Award (regrettably unsuccessful) and recently an application made for a Reaching Communities Award from the National Lottery. We await the outcome of this application but perhaps again, we are not totally confident of a successful outcome. The cost of the new building however is £130,000, and we continue to seek other forms of funding or support for this project.

The members of the Birchmere Management Committee, once again, deserve acknowledgement and praise. Over the year we were very pleased to hear that Tony Knight had been granted a Silver Acorn Award and possibly more so, that he wished to have this presented at Birchmere. Duncan Flack, Deputy Warden, gained the bar to his Award of Merit and Ivor Morgan the Chief Scouts Commendation for Good Service. Also Jean Smith was presented with the Gold Award as The Volunteer of the Year for the NHS Southeast area.

It may be that perhaps all the Birchmere Committee are the stars of the show for all the work that they do to make the campsite run so smoothly! From Terry Oakley, Birchmere Campsite Warden and Duncan, Deputy Warden, to Judi Oakley who keeps our very busy appointments diary and the committee meeting minutes under control. It would though, perhaps, be not the place to thank all the committee individually for all they do, but to say their real enthusiasm and great support for Birchmere is very much appreciated, especially by all who use the site.

So what of the future? The campsite cannot really accommodate any more bookings with the existing activity building arrangements. If, however, we are successful in our planned changes we imagine then perhaps the numbers of camping groups can be increased by at least a third over the year! It certainly may not an easy task to achieve the funding for this project, but the Campsite Management Committee are enthusiastically working toward this with the aim of making Scouting in the great outdoors around Wisley and Ockham Common available to very many more young people.