´óÏó´«Ã½

A "dilapidated" wooden scout and guides hut has been flattened to make way for a £350,000 purpose-built brick replacement on Anglesey.

The new-look Menai Bridge Scouts and Guides building has been officially opened by Falklands War veteran Simon Weston, president of Scouts Wales.

The hut is built on the slopes beneath Thomas Telford's suspension bridge.

It is used by more than 120 children and young people each week.

Scouts and guides have been meeting in Menai Bridge for more than a century, 70 of them in the existing building.

But the wooden hut, built on brick pillars, was beyond repair, and had no facilities for people with disabilities.

The new building has eco-friendly features such as photovoltaic panels on the roof to produce electricity, with any spare being sold back to the National Grid.

It is now available for community use by other groups or individuals, said Malcolm Rogers, chairman of the management committee.

The project received funding through the assembly government's rural development budget and the European agricultural fund for rural development, as well as grants from the community facilities and activities programme and Anglesey council.

"We would also like to say a big thank you to the local community who have supported our own fund raising activities over the last eight years, helping to raise over £20,000 of our own contribution towards the project costs," said Mr Rogers.

Helen Murdoch, president of Girlguiding Cymru, also took part in the opening ceremony.