History

Longcraig is a water sports centre owned and operated by the Scout Association and run entirely by volunteer staff.  The  centre operates from a purpose built building situated in the corner of the Dalmeny Estate, by Longcraig pier, South Queensferry.  Our purpose is to provide adventurous activities based around the water for Scouts and Guides living in the South East of Scotland and for others from further afield, including those visiting from other parts of the country.  We maintain our building and equipment by charging a small fee to each participant and by seeking funding from various grant giving bodies for more major items of expenditure such as facilities improvements and new or additional equipment. Above all, we seek to convey an ethos of water safety to young people, all done in a fun, friendly, but risk protected environment.

Longcraig is a recognised RYA training centre and all our activity staff hold RYA and/or  British Canoeing qualifications as well as Scout activity permits. Our activities are underpinned by two power boats which provide safety cover and our on-water team is backed by a team of senior staff who act as Duty Managers, responsible for providing session management. The activity staff are supported by an admin team who take care of the paperwork.

Boating activities – initially for Sea Scouts -  began operation in the early 1960’s 1959 at Granton and moved to its present site in 1969. At Longcraig pier, as we became established, we began offering evening and weekend activity sessions to local Scouts and Guide groups and not just Sea Scouts, from a wooden hut. We added a second hut and toilet bock over the years. In 1998 we replaced these with the purpose built building we use today. 

In 2019 Longcraig celebrated 50 years of continuous operation.

During the Pandemic Longcraig was compelled, like many others,  to closed for bookings, but remained operational for outside care and maintenance activities. Post Pandemic Longcraig has struggled with finding volunteer leaders, as has most of Scouting. This has required us to trim our sails a bit and we reopened with  a reduced program of operation. Mainly focusing on weekends but more recently once again opening up some evenings.

In 2023 we secured approval and funding to upgrade our changing facilities to meet modern standards and we installed a state of the art solar heating and power system leading us towards Net Zero. We also improved security with CCTV and an expanded and  fenced-in  boat park.

This coupled with an increased focus on recruitment and retention,  puts Longcraig in great shape for the future.

In 2029 Longcraig hopes to celebrate 60 years of continuous operation.