Last month the Barnet & Potters Bar Times awarded grants to five charities which were funded by the Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of our owners Gannett. In the last of our profiles on the winners, LEIGH COLLINS, spoke to the Friends of Moat Mount Campsite.

In the far north of the borough of Barnet in a corner of the Green Belt lies a centre offering adventure for youngsters at a 'reasonable price'.

Since the 1920s there has been a campsite in Moat Mount Open Space run by the council (first Hendon, then Barnet). Then in the mid-1980s, a group, called Friends of Moat Mount Campsite, formed with a view to taking over the management of the site and building an outdoor centre offering permanent accommodation the whole year round.

The group felt the campsite was being underused as children could only stay there in the summer. Also, being a charitable organisation it could raise money to build the centre, when the council could not.

After 12 years of fundraising, the centre was opened in June 1997 at a cost of £400,000. It is set in 140 acres of unspoilt parkland, is fully accessible for disabled people and sleeps up to 36 people.

"We get visits from Germany, France and even as far away as Israel," said manager Peter Smyth, the only full-time member of staff. "For people from overseas it's reasonably priced accommodation for them to go sightseeing in London. But our biggest customers are school groups who come for team-building activities. We have archery, orienteering, the adventure course and the aerial runway as well as environmental studies and nature walks."

Other activities the centre arranges include canoeing and sailing at the Welsh Harp Reservoir, rock-climbing and gymnastics at the Hendon Youth Sports Centre and swimming at Copthall.

Scouts, guides, brownies, clubs and religious groups have used the centre in the last five years as well as around a quarter of schools in Barnet.

"It brings the cost of school journeys and outdoor trips down," he said. "They've got it right on their doorstep."

The centre is completely self-sufficient and run almost entirely by expert volunteers Mr Smyth being the only full-time member of staff. "We do it all on a charitable basis," he said.

The £2,000 which was awarded to the Friends of Moat Mount Campsite will be spent on new safety helmets and harnesses for the adventure course and aerial runway where people fly along suspended rope on a pulley. Some of the money will also be used to improve the adventure course.

Prices at the campsite start at £8.50 per head. For more information, call the centre on 020 8906 9499.

June 19, 2002 12:30