The Charity - Walton Firs Foundation

The Walton Firs Foundation is a registered charitable trust with educational aims and a company limited by guarantee. The Foundation is located in Surrey, with its registered office in Addlestone and its activity centre located in the rural outskirts of Cobham. The Foundation's registered charity number is 1113830 and its company number is 05695208.

The Walton Firs site was originally developed as a private golf club, until it was purchased and operated by the Scout Association between 1955 and 2008 as a camping and outdoor activity facility. When the Association announced its plans to sell the site, the Walton Firs Foundation was established and successfully raised £800,000 to buy the land.

The Walton Firs Foundation was established in February 2006 with the charitable aim to purchase and preserve the existing thirty-five-acre Walton Firs activity site in Surrey, so it could continue to be used by current and future generations of young people. As a result, the Walton Firs Activity Centre was established in 2008 as an independent provider of outdoor education and residential activities.

The Foundation's charitable objective is:

"To acquire, hold, improve and maintain the property amounting to approximately 27 acres at Cobham, Surrey, presently known and used as Walton Firs Scout Camp site for the use of young people and through their leisure time activities, to develop their physical, mental and spiritual capabilities, that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society and that their conditions of life may be improved and in furtherance of that object, to provide at the Walton firs site, a centre for meetings and other forms of leisure time occupation for the benefit of young persons."

The Foundation is overseen by a management board of charity trustees and company directors. The Foundation's management board meets on a quarterly and holds its annual general meeting during June. The Walton Firs Foundation has an active group of patrons, who support the work of the Foundation and Activity Centre through the provision of financial and practical support and advocacy and networking in the local community.

The Foundation's charitable activities are:

"To hold, improve and maintain the Walton Firs Activity Centre in Cobham, Surrey, for the use, education and enjoyment of continuing generations of young people. In operating the activity centre, the intention is to provide outdoor, educational and training activity facilities for all groups of young people."

The Walton Firs Activity Centre is located in rural Surrey, in over thirty-six acres of grassland, woodland, flat areas and slopes. Twenty-seven acres of the site is wholly owned by the Foundation, with a further nine acres currently leased. There are plans to purchase or lease three further areas of land cited adjacent to the current areas of use, including the site containing the adjoining Manor Pond. The Walton Firs site provides a superb environment for camping, skills training, games, nature and environmental studies, alongside other activities vital to young people both individually and together.