Grand reopening of vandalised Girl Guides clubhouse

A Girl Guides clubhouse left unusable after a serious case of vandalism has paused to recognise those who helped pick up the pieces at their grand reopening. See the pictures.

(L-R): Taubman's Danny Waddington, Girl Guides parent and mural artist Jessica Stoker and Royal Wolf manager Mark Williams inside the repaired Girl Guides clubhouse with members.

It’s a sad reality that it takes just a few minutes to wreck what someone spent years carefully building.

Two months ago, this reality came way too close to home for the Castle Hill Girl Guides in West End when volunteers discovered a group of youths had been camping in, and destroying, their clubhouse over several days.

Girl Guides district manager Sue Jennings remembers the moment she saw the half-opened door of the clubhouse move slightly while she was on the phone to police.

“They only left once staff showed up,” Ms Jennings said.

“They went out the back and were walking through the park giving us the finger as they left.”

Rachael Armstrong at the Castle Hill Girl Guides which was trashed. Picture: Evan Morgan

Ms Jennings said the invaders camped inside the small concrete-brick building, using and destroying sleeping rolls owned by the Girl Guides, graffitiing the walls and floor, slashing fly screens and destroying the kitchen and bathroom.

Valuable items were stolen from the clubhouse, including a laptop, $500 cash and a sound system.

Ms Jennings said her daughter was able to find the invaders on social media, where they’d posted pictures of themselves with the stolen goods.

Rachael Armstrong at the Castle Hill Girl Guides which was trashed. Picture: Evan Morgan

“They had spray painted on the floor ‘15 minutes, $500 not bad’,” Ms Jennings said.

“They got cautioned and got away with it. They were never made to help clean it up.”

The rebuild was an immense undertaking for the demoralised group of women who dedicate their spare time to creating a ‘safe space for young girls’ - but thankfully, volunteers started showing up.

One of the biggest supports came from paint store manager Danny Waddington and area manager Craig McDonald who got their employer Taubmans behind the cause and started putting in calls across the industry.

After seeing the sorry state of the clubhouse’s concrete floor, Mr Waddington called up Kennards Hire and asked if they could spare a concrete grinder to lift the layer of corrosive aerosol paint.

The defaced floor required a concrete grinder before it could be cleaned and coated with fresh paint by the Taubmans crew.

“If we’d painted over it, the paint would’ve started to lift and flake,” Mr Waddington said.

In order to grind-down the floor and repaint the room, it needed to be emptied out,

so another call was placed to Royal Wolf to see if they could spare a storage container.

Bunnings also supplied paint and manpower to fix the clubhouses kitchen area.

(L-R): Taubman's Danny Waddington, Girl Guides parent and mural artist Jessica Stoker and Royal Wolf manager Mark Williams inside the repaired Girl Guides clubhouse with members.

Other trades who paused to help the Girl Guides was Jim Roberts Locksmiths who redid the locks and keyed them and Whelan and Northey Joinery who replaced the doors.

Girl Guides parent Jessica Stoker was present for the clean-up and remembers the process well.

“It was horrible, the girls couldn’t come in for a long time,” Ms Stoker said.

“Not only was there rubbish anywhere, but some of the things they had sprayed painted were terrible.”

To clean up the vandalism, the tradesmen needed to paint over the old murals that used to grace the clubhouse walls.

The repaint gave the Girl Guides a blank canvas - they just needed someone crazy enough to volunteer as a mural artist.

Ms Stoker was that person - a task she says was ‘the biggest thing I’ve ever done’.

“I work full-time too... and I didn’t realise how hard concrete was to paint on, it’s thirsty and you can’t do fine details,” she said.

But with a bit of on-the-hop innovation and help from her eight-year-old daughter Myah Jessup and Caitlyn Lopes, Ms Stoker was able to complete four entire walls of mural work in a rapid time frame, keeping the whole thing secret for a grand reveal.

“It was so nice to see the girls’ reactions last week when we finally showed them,” Ms Stoker said.

Volunteers and contributors were recognised at a grand reopening event on Saturday, July 13, where people were able to tour the clubhouse.

The Castle Hill Girl Guides are located along Percy Street, next to the Matsunoki Karate building behind Castle Hill.

Originally published as Grand reopening of vandalised Girl Guides clubhouse