A high and low ropes activity centre built for scouts has has been opened following major donations from the county's Freemasons.

The new £250,000 facility, which has a zipwire, is open to both able bodied and wheelchair users and in places reaches as high as a four storey building.

It is a joint project built for the Essex County Scouts at Skreens Park, Chelmsford, to celebrate 300 years of modern Freemasonry.

It was officially opened by Rodney Bass OBE, provincial grand master for Essex Freemasons and Stuart Gibson, county commissioner for Essex Scouts, on Saturday September 15.

The centre's high ropes and linear courses, including the zip wire equipment, were funded by a £145,000 donation from the Freemasons, with the Scouts adding a further £120,000 to build low ropes and a wheelchair friendly section.

Mr Bass said: "Our 10,000 members across Essex were in full support of funding a project that would be a fitting legacy in celebration of our Tercentenary year.

“In less than 12 months they raised more than £161,000 which we decided to donate to the Scout Movement.

“Essex Scouts told us that they needed funding for a new rope activity centre that could be used by all organisations that use Skreens Park and we agreed.

"We immediately donated £145,000 to cover the cost of the work and decided that the balance will be used to support local Scouts across county.

“This activity centre is a wonderful facility of which my members can feel proud and one which I hope delivers many hours of challenge and enjoyment for the young people of Essex.”

Essex Scouts is the third largest in the country with 22,000 members.