Towford Outdoor Centre began life around 1876. The then Duke of Roxburghe provided the building as a school for the surrounding area. At it’s height, it had up to forty pupils enrolled. Over the years, the rural population waxed and waned until eventually, in 1964 Towford School closed it doors.
At that point, it was gifted to the local education authority for use as an outdoor centre. In 1973, the Towford Conservation Area was formed with additional lands becoming attached to the outdoor centre. This took Towford Outdoor Centre’s grounds to eleven acres.
Alas, due to local authority cutbacks, Towford was closed in 1996. But then, in 1997, the Craigvinean Outdoor Centre trust was awarded the lease to run the centre. This they did until around 2004 when Craigvinean itself fell into decline.
The Craigvinean Trust was eventually taken over by an East Lothian-based arms length external organisation concerned with outdoor education and youth work – but Towford was never used or maintained. Although a slow decline was already taking place, a more pronounced fall in to disrepair occurred at that time.
In 2014, My Adventure, (an Edinburgh-based limited company delivering outdoor education with a strong interest in youth and community work), operated Towford and invested time and money in the centre. After two years or so, being unable to secure a lease, they withdrew.
The building and land fell abandoned again.
In 2019, leaders and young people from Longniddry Scout Group learned of this and stepped in – then Covid happened. During lockdown, we realised it would not be possible to renovate and run the outdoor centre as a scout group.
In early 2021, Gosford Bay Outdoors SCIO was successfully formed. Shortly there-after trustees elected a board, and we’re now good to go.
In order to bring the building back up to a habitable standard, early estimates put the cost of repairs in the £150k region. Although mostly sound, the roof has been damaged in several places and significant water damage has occurred in the building. A number of windows have also been smashed, allowing ingress of animals and the elements.
Across Scotland, accommodation for youth & charitable groups is evaporating, and being replaced by over-priced AirBnB establishments or holiday lets that eschew such custom. Towford and the land which surrounds it, isn’t ideal – it’s more than ideal. We simply have to save it.
There is a lot of work to do – but we are keen to do it.
If you would like to be involved, get in touch.
Towford is pronounced – Tow (to rhyme with cow) – ford (as it sounds), with even syllable emphasis. We mention it because we first used the centre in 1997, and we’ve been mispronouncing it ever since.