The Torre de Cabdella City Council, in Pallars Jussà (Lleida) wants to recover “the splendor” that the Molinos children’s camp complex had thirty years ago.
To achieve this, it has acquired this space, which was created in 1956 and operated until 1993. During the summer months, it welcomed more than 500 children, children of Fecsa workers. The company rehabilitated a building to convert it into a children’s colony. A cinema and housing for staff were located in an annex; on the esplanade, a games area with a swimming pool, and at the entrance, a church. Thirty years have passed since its closure and it is now in a state of total abandonment. The mayor, Josep Maria Dalmau, has said that social housing will be built in one of the buildings.
Dalmau explained that a company bought this complex in the nineties coinciding with the urban boom and the Filià ski resort project, which failed years later. According to the mayor, negotiations to acquire this complex, of more than 5,500 square meters, began more than ten years ago. This April, the council signed the purchase for a value of 90,000 euros.
The buildings that are still standing, but in very poor condition, are hidden behind the vegetation of trees and bushes. The first action that the City Council plans to carry out will be to clean the space and the buildings to “dignify” the place. Subsequently, in the building where the staff housing was already located, social apartments will be made so that whoever wishes can settle down to live in the Vall Fosca.
To decide what will be done in the rest of the buildings and space, the City Council is committed to involving all the neighbors and “brainstorming” to find a “stimulating” project. Dalmau has ruled out demolishing any buildings and has opted to maintain them all, even if it is with another function.
Children from all over Catalonia went to the Molinos children’s camps. The residents of the Fosca valley remember the years of splendor of the complex full of activities for children. Dalmau explained that in some of the activities they organized they also invited the children of the valley.
