By Chris Yandell
Southern Daily Echo – 9 January 2025
Campaigners are preparing to reopen a Hampshire activities centre after a "rollercoaster year" in which they raised more than £4m. The Foxlease complex at Lyndhurst is set to start operating again in February following an 18th-month battle to save the 65-acre site. Foxie's Future has taken more than 70 bookings since it bought Foxlease from Girlguiding UK, which had axed the centre to cut costs.
Julian Lewis, Conservative MP for New Forest East, said:
"Foxie's Future deserve the congratulations and support of the entire community.
"They have overcome huge obstacles to reach their goal, and countless young people will benefit as a result."
The charity's attempt to buy Foxlease was initially rejected, but a shock U-turn by Girlguiding UK resulted in it being named as the preferred bidder. A Foxie's Future spokesperson told the Daily Echo:
"2024 was a rollercoaster of a year for us which ended in great success. We started the year by raising our first million by the end of January, having started in August 2023. We heard we'd been successful with our Community Ownership Fund grant application for £1.78m in March, on more or less the day of the deadline to submit a bid to purchase the site.
"We then had to raise a further £1.5m in less than a month to stay in the running. We managed to do that thanks to the support of 300 members of the local community and our supporter base who loaned us the funds to submit the bid. Having managed to raise the funds to meet the asking price we were not chosen as the preferred bidder, which was devastating. We continued fundraising and challenging the decision, again with huge local support, and after several months we heard the position had changed and we had been selected."
Having raised a total of £4.26m, Foxie's Future completed its purchase of the site on 19 November 2024. The spokesperson added:
"So far we've found that the incredible support for the project is continuing. We have secured further funding, and have over 100 wonderful volunteers on site doing all kinds of work. We've also had some great meetings with prospective partnership organisations.
"Whilst people are being wonderfully supportive, we still have a long way to go. We need all the support we can get - financial, materials, and volunteering - to get the site up and running. We can't wait to open the gates and have people back on site again, alongside our volunteers from February half-term."