Mr Ellwood added,  “£30,000 will not enable us to re-build the hall. It may be that we have no alternative but to fight on” They are leaving th atter in the hands of their solicitors. The allege that Fennell, Turner and Taylor were paid to get £50,000 worth of building insurance.

But after the fires the scouts were told by an insurance company they were not covered because instructions had not been received by the brokers. The brokers say they sent the instructions to the Insurance Company.

Transcript of East Grinstead Courier 20 January 1983

Insurance hitch on HQ fire settled

Scouts of the 1st East Grinstead group are "riding long on the crest f a wave" this week. They have just been told they are getting nearly £44,000 compensation towards rebuilding their Moat Road HQ. It was gutted by fire early a year ago. At that time Scout leaders where' shocked when they were told that there was no insurance cover on the building, although insurance premiums had been paid to a broker.
The hitch occurred after the insurance company claimed it had never received instructions from the brokers. Ever since the Scouts have been locked in a legal tangle with insurance brokers for adequate compensation.

Settlement following articles on the scouts plight in the Courier and Daily Mail, a leading firm of solicitors took up their case free of charge and has negotiated "the very acceptable settlement of £43,750. The sum has been brought up £49,050 with a grant from the Sussex Education Committee of £5,300. The leaders are delighted with the settlement that has now been reached after originally having been offered only £30,000 short of the £50,000 they have been insured for.

However the estimated final costs of the proposed new headquarters will be in the region of  £65,000, so the Scouts still have a lot of fund raising to do They appealing for donations.

Costs have already been cut to a minimum with an incredible effort from among parents and friends of the group.  The new building has been designed free of charge by architect. Mr Roger Castiglone who is himself a Group Scout Leader of the 8th East Grinstead Scout Group.

Local roofing specialist Mr Fred Constable has offered to spend a week of his time roofing the building. Mr Vic Worth has been able to get local contractors to donate all of the decorating materials and Lester Scaffolding Ltd has offered to supply scaffolding free of charge.

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