After five years of swimming, knitting and gardening their way to raising £310,000, a South Lakeland village is all set to enjoy a grand opening of its brand new community facility and guiding HQ.

A buffet and a band will be on hand as Park House, at Hawkshead, is officially launched on Sunday as a centre for the 1st Hawkshead Scout and Guides, a pack holiday house and community resource.

The party marks the completion of a massive project to transform the building that used to house the village junior school.

Back in 1998, the Park House Trust was formed to retain the building for the community and make it a home for the village’s seven scouting and guiding groups after its owners, Cumbria County Council, put it up for sale.

Hundreds of guiders and local people swung into action to raise the £135,000 needed to buy the property and the thousands more needed to renovate it.

Regular table-top sales have raised nearly £70,000, selling everything from a donated car to peg bags sewn by Nora Blair and Rose Wilson, walking sticks crafted by Harry Parker and numerous knitted items from Dorothy Bowness. Green-fingered residents also kept the charity-stalls topped up with fresh fruit and vegetables.

At 70 years of age, Elsie Bell even got into her cossie to swim across Coniston, raising £1,000 for the cause, while staff from BAE systems staged a raft race, generating £3,000 for the kitty.

Meanwhile, there were hours of desk-based charity work as the trust and its tireless treasurer John Deavin put together 260 grant applications.

The fruits of their pen-pushing labours included grants of around £50,000 from DEFRA, £5,000 from the Frieda Scott Trust and a donation from the Cockermouth-based Community Foundation.

Work in kind has been provided by the Lakes Horticultural Society which donated the plants and put together the garden that has been designed by the partner of the Rainbow leader, Karl Van Heeswick.

The cash paid for the building and essential works including a new roof and replacement floors. There is just a bit more fund-raising to go to finish a downstairs floor.

Park House is now a purpose-built facility with a plush stainless-steel kitchen, three showers and bunk beds to sleep 31. It is envisaged that the House will pay for itself as guides and scouts use it for pack holidays.

Grantham Scouts and a pack from Barrow have already stayed and Grantham enjoyed it so much they have booked again for next year.

Everyone is invited to attend the celebration, which runs from 1.30pm until 6pm, to view the new community facility and to enjoy light refreshments.