Thank you for voting for us

Back in October, we asked for your help.  Nat West Community Force were running a website where projects all round the country could advertise what they were doing and ask for votes from supporters.  The 3 projects with the most votes in each region (ours being Southampton) would get a donation of £6,000 as a result of attracting these votes.  With your help, and with a lot of running around in the final days of voting, we got 360 votes.  Thank you!

Nat West Community Force have just announced the winners.  And the result is....

Aquativity is a winning project!

Screenshot from the Nat West Community Force website

So we are awaiting a £6,000 cheque from Nat West Community Force, sometime in December.  This will be used toward fitting out the building.  As you will have seen on this blog, we still have plenty to do, so every donation like this one will be used in full to achieve the next step towards getting the building ready for use.

For general interest, the other 2 deserving winners in the Southampton area are

• Calmore Sports Club, just down the road from Testwood Lakes, congratulations to them
• Hampshire Air Ambulance - who can possibly say that is not a deserving cause!

Thank you to everyone who voted for us.  If you have any ideas for other ways that might attract funding for our project, we'd love to hear from you at aquativity@gmail.com, or comment on this post.

Taking Stock

We've made a huge amount of progress over the last year, so I thought it might be worth an illustrated summary of progress and status.  This blog, along with our main website, has been tracking progress; this post should bring everyone up to date with what has been happening and where we currently stand.

By way of a reminder, the Aquativity project is about creating and running a new inland boating centre at Testwood Lakes, near Totton in South Hampshire.  The centre will be run exclusively for young people's groups and disabled boating groups, led by 4th New Forest North (Eling) Sea Scouts.  The new centre will also provide the new permanent headquarters for this active Royal Navy Recognised Sea Scouts Group.

An early design impression

For quite a few years, the project has been in a planning and initial fundraising phase.  It took some time to get to having full planning permission and a detailed design acceptable to the local authority's building control body.  Throughout this design phase, we were raising funds through running local events, applying for grants and getting donations from a range of people and bodies.  We finally got past planning and into the building phase in May 2011, a time of great celebration for all involved.

Work starts on 24 May 2011

 Through June and July, we continued to dig down to form the outline of the building, compacted the ground to provide a stable foundation, put in the concrete footings and brickwork for the walls, then laid the concrete raft on which the building was to sit.

At the start of August there was a sudden change of pace in the apparent progress of the build.  The timber frame and scaffolding arrived and went up very quickly, in two quick stages, with the assistance of a crane and a team of experts.

Stage 1 of the timber frame going up in August

How we achieved raising £20,000 in a year

The frame for the 2 storey building was rapidly topped off by the roof timbers ready for the slates to go on.  Of course, while all of this was going on, the fundraising never stopped, not least with Totton Carnival, the annual Donkey Derby in July, Grand Draw throughout the summer, and NatWest Community Force voting in October (for which we are eagerly awaiting the results).  All this effort ended up with the fantastic result of us achieving our aim of raising £20,000 in a year, every penny being matched by a generous charitable trust.

Ready to start putting the slates on

Progress continued rapidly through September, October and November, with roofing, windows and doors, and cladding.

Windows go in

We are now in the enviable position of having a completed shell ready for fitting out, and doesn't it look fantastic with its smart black cladding, classical slate roof and light pouring in through the windows into the first floor!

Facing the lake with fantastic views from the first floor above the boat store with its big double doors

Main entrance, with some work to do outside ready to welcome members and guests

More photos and details of the completed shell on the Aquativity website.

So, what next?

We have some finishing off to arrange around the shell, such as some drainage work, then the first 'room' we aim to be completed will be the boat store.  We'll get rid of the shipping container and get our boats moved in, while we work on the changing rooms, showers and toilets.  All of this, of course, will need electrical fittings, water and waste water connections, plumbing, heating and hot water.

Then onto the galley kitchen, meeting rooms, equipment storage, foyer, stairs and lift, then main hall, meeting rooms, kitchen and toilets upstairs.

So plenty of work to come in 2012 - more fundraising, more detailed planning, building work, equipping everything ready to use, and then getting the centre into operation.  Thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far.  If anyone can help us accelerate getting the centre open for business - cash donations, labour, materials, contacts, fundraising plans... - please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Vote for us NOW (please)

****Voting closes at midday Monday 24th October so please don't delay!****

 

We only have a few more days to get as many votes as possible to be in with a chance of winning one of 3 grants of £6000. Please vote now and please forward this message on to as many people as possible. It is also very easy to share a link to our voting page on Facebook  to encourage all your friends to vote too.  Voting is open to anyone 16 yrs or over and separate email addresses are required for each person voting.

 

It has taken over 14 long years to raise enough money just  to start building the centre which will not only be our new sea scout HQ but ultimately be a community resource for youth groups and those with disabilities to use for boating, kayaking,canoeing and rowing. This will also provide a base in our local area  for RYA Sailability to use.  Although the shell of the building is almost complete we still have a long way to go to raise enough funds to complete the project.

 

 

How to vote for 4th New Forest Eling Sea Scouts Aquativity Project:-

 

1.       Click on this link http://communityforce.natwest.com/

 

2.       Fill in your details to register.

3.       You will then get an automated email from NatWest asking you to confirm your registration.  Click on link.

4.       Return to this email and click on this link to vote for Sea Scouts  http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/5925

(If you don't get the automated  email please contact helpdesk@natwestcommunityforce.co.uk or freephone 0800 2100 246 )

Remember to click on the Facebook icon to share with your friends.

Thank you for your support and to all those who have voted for us so far.

Windows

The windows and doors have arrived this week, and as of yesterday evening, the windows had all been installed, and 1 door in.  Ridge tiles have completed on the roof too, and cladding as far as possible, ready for completion now the windows are in.

Here's a few snaps I took yesterday.

Vote for Aquativity to win us £6000

Despite the great success of the 20/20 fundraising challenge, we still need more money and more support.  One of the latest initiatives we are taking part in is the Nat West Community Force.

Everyone is invited to register their email address on the Community Force website, then vote for up to 3 projects across the country.  The 3 projects in each area with the most votes get a financial contribution of up to £6000.

Our Community Force area is Southampton, in which there are 46 projects so we only need to beat 43 others!  The great news is that as of this evening we have 81 votes, which is far more than most.  We are definitely in the top 10 in the area and very close behind a number of those, so we still have a very good chance of getting into the top 3, IF we get sufficient votes in the next week.

Voting ends on 23rd October, so not long to go - please, please vote for us now.

When you are registered and logged in, search for us by the project name Aquativity.  You can also find us directly as project 5925.  Accept the terms and conditions (nothing apparently onerous) and vote for us, then vote for other worthwhile projects elsewhere in the country (not here, 'cos voting for another project near us means 1 more vote we have to beat).

20/20 Match Funding - The Result

Back in September 2010, we were set a challenge: raise £20,000 by the end of September 2011, and every £1 will be matched, so the project will benefit from a total of £40,000 as a result of our efforts.

So here we are at the end of the allotted time.  How did we do?


Well,

• We've run lots of activities, including Donkey Derby, Barn Dance, Totton Carnival, litter picking at Netley Marsh Steam Rally, Smartie Tube Challenge, Bag Packing, Sponsored Boating and Grand Draw.
• We've sold draw tickets all over the place, including many of the above, and Testwood Lakes Great Outdoors Open Day, Solent Sea Scouts Kayaking & Pulling Regatta, friends, family, neighbours, work colleagues...
• We've also spoken to many individuals and organisations about the project and its benefits, and attracted a number of donations of all sizes from businesses, local councillors and others.
• We've certainly been very busy all year, especially the fundraising team, Donkey Derby committee, building project committee, Sea Scouts leaders and exec, and many others.  Lots of fun but lots of hard work along the way.

The culmination was last Friday 30th September at the Grand Draw evening.  During the day there had been lots of conversations about potential donations, selling off surplus drinks stocks from previous events, selling some more draw tickets etc.  When we arrived at The Salmon Leap, we knew we were likely to make £19,000, which was at least £500 more than we had predicted a couple of weeks ago.  We got confirmation that all the drinks stocks had been sold.  Then various people arrived with stubs and money for tickets they had sold through the week and especially that day.  Then we sold a few more tickets to the pub customers around us.  And then a phone call from one of the local councillors we had contacted during the day - he came through for us and made a sufficiently large donation to the Aquativity Project that the target was achieved!

We did it.  £20,000 raised in a year!

And a total of £40,000 into the project as a result.

What can I say other than well done!

And as for the Grand Draw...  Approximately 3,000 tickets sold.  Not all of the prize winners have been informed yet, so I won't spoil any surprises by saying here and now who has won, but we had a successful draw with about 20 prizes all going to worthy winners.  Winning tickets were held by group members, Donkey Derby attendees, work colleagues, friends, regatta participants...  One lucky person has won £500, and another a week's holiday in France.  And everyone who participated has the satisfaction of knowing that the money they contributed will go straight into the Aquativity project, which is forging ahead.

At the building site, the roof is complete all but the last few ridge tiles, the cladding has started, the windows and doors have been specified, agreed and ordered, and plans for the electrical supply are progressing much better now.  Many of you will have been watching some progress reports and photos on the Sea Scouts website.  Here's an extra photo of the cladding that has now started.

Sponsored Boating

Despite a very (very, very) wet morning on Sunday, lots of Sea Scouts turned out for our sponsored boating.  The weather improved through the day, and we also had a few visitors to our stand at the Testwood Lakes Great Outdoors Open Day.  Thanks very much to everyone who organised, helped out or turned up to take part - we sold a few more raffle tickets, and made some money on the refreshments, before we even start counting the money raised by the boating.  We also spoke to quite a few people about potentially joining or volunteering to help us.  So a good day out all round.

We also had a Group Exec meeting on Monday including a brief review of building progress and finances.  We've had some more money coming in from a range of sources, so we are now at a total of £16,200, even before the weekend's activities, towards our target of £20,000.

Back from hols

Welcome back to the blog - the project has been very busy through August since my last posting here.

Picture by F Wright

2 big areas of news to mention today:

• The construction project is really progressing well.  You may have seen updates on the Sea Scouts website over recent weeks - the frame is up, the roof is watertight and we're starting to put the roofing tiles on next week.  Then cladding on the walls, and windows and doors, then....  A few of us had an official site visit yesterday morning to take a look around both floors - it is looking a fantastic space and we can't wait to get the building into use.
• The fundraising is also progressing well.  Netley Marsh Steam Rally was held in July and each year they make donations from their takings to local good causes.  This year they have been fantastic to our project and granted £3,000 to us.  The hard work that many members of the Sea Scouts group put in to help with the litter picking each year has helped keep the group and project in their focus, so thanks to everyone involved in that.

The 20/20 fundraising total is now over £15,000 with a month to go.  Lots going on in September, with sponsored boating this Sunday, combined with the Wildlife Trust's open day (looking forward to a fantastic busy day at the lakes).  Then on 17th September, we host the Solent Sea Scouts Pulling and Kayaking Regatta - another chance for draw ticket and refreshment selling.  Then the grand draw will be drawn on the evening of 30th September - we're starting to make plans for that and looking to sell as many tickets as possible before then.

It is going to be a busy month on both the construction and fundraising fronts.

The framework starts to go up

Wow, what a week!  The wooden plinth went in over Monday and Tuesday, scaffolding over Tuesday and Wednesday, and today the frame for the ground floor shot up.  A big crane arrived this morning, with a lorry load of wooden frame pieces, and within hours a building started to form.

Lots of details, pictures and videos on the Sea Scouts website thanks to Frank and Tim : http://www.elingseascouts.org.uk/news/news_aquativity

Here's a few snapshots of the outcome at the end of today.  With it being holiday time over August, work is continuing on site, but this blog won't be reflecting the progress for a few weeks.  In the meantime, any important news will be on the Sea Scouts website - see the link above.

The building appears

All of a sudden, the boat store looks huge

Concrete pouring

This week, the outline footings have been filled with reinforced concrete for what I'm told is called the oversite.  So we now have complete footings - dug, compacted, wall bases of brickwork on concrete, shale and now concrete raft floors.  The outside of the footings has also been infilled with earth back to level ground.  And not forgetting the necessary drainage pipework built into the concrete raft.

As you stand and look at it, it feels like the base of a building, for the first time really.

What next?  Well the plan for next week is:
Monday - plinth is fitted ready for the frame
Tuesday - scaffolding is erected
Wednesday - frame starts to go up

So next week is going to be a very exciting time for us.

Then it really will feel like a building in progress!  I went for a walk around the lake this evening, and looking across from the North shore as the Scouts set up for their evening's boating I was trying to picture the scene once the building is up.  With the Wildlife Centre up on the hill and the Aquativity Centre down on the shore, with a consistent design and materials across the 2 buildings, I think it will look very impressive.  And with regular boating activity in front of it, Testwood Lakes is going to enter a new and exciting phase - wildlife and boating co-existing in a fantastic location, with purpose built facilities for both.

Building status

Some more progress - a couple of photos to show you.  I haven't managed to get on site for a couple of days, but things are progressing day by day.  The brickwork for the footings is all in place as you can see.  Drainage, concrete raft and base brickwork for the walls all go in next, and we are firmly on track for the frame going up later this month.  I spoke with the building contractor this morning, and he remains confident in staying right on plan.  He's starting to talk about utilities connections, thinking a little way ahead for completing the shell.  So all is going very well.

Here's how it looked earlier this week.  It's starting to take shape really well, isn't it.

BIG 20/20 Fundraising update

Don't forget we have a BIG 20/20 challenge running! 
For every £1 we raise, we have another £1 to match it from our charitable benefactors, up to £20,000 with a deadline of the end of September.  So how are we doing?

Well, we're doing ok. We still have some way to go, so need to be busy over the summer, particularly selling tickets for our Grand Draw, but we are on somewhere around £13,000 so far.

That is assuming a £6,000 profit on the Donkey Derby last week.  We still have some incoming funds and some outgoing expenses on that, and will have for some time, so the Donkey Derby money is only an estimate at the moment, but based on previous years and our knowledge of how successful the event was this year, it is probably not far off.

On the Grand Draw, we've sold somewhere close to £700-worth of tickets.  We need to sell a LOT more over the next 2-3 months.  If anyone can help, please don't hesitate to contact us.

The Smartie Challenge was a fantastic success, raising a total of about £950!  The rest of the money has come from the Barn Dance, back packing, donations etc. that have been coming in through the year.

Some main fundraising activities coming up are:

• Litter picking at Netley Marsh Steam Fair on the weekend of 24th July.
• Selling tickets for the Grand Draw - anywhere and everywhere.  Everyone wants a chance to win £500, so it is pretty easy to sell a ticket for just 50p a chance.  Or a book for £2.50 for that matter!
• We're looking at running another bag packing session later in the year - previous sessions have raised well over £1,000.
• 4 September is our Group boating day, combined with a Hampshire Wildlife Trust open day at Testwood Lakes - we'll be doing things like sponsored boating, serving food etc., so we hope to raise a fair amount that day.  And I guess we'll be looking to sell lots more draw tickets then too!

Ideas welcome, especially if you also have the time to organise and/or run with turning your idea into reality.  We always need more help with running the fundraising, so while ideas are very much appreciated, ideas and help are even better :-)

2011 Donkey Derby report

We held our 16th annual Donkey Derby yesterday afternoon, and it was a fantastic success.  The organisation was excellent and everything ran really smoothly.  Attendance was recorded at over 3,400 people coming through the gate - that's a lot of people coming to have fun.  Saints star Adam Lallana came along to open the proceedings and to give some commentary on the opening procession then on the first race.  Quite a few lucky fans got their photos taken with him, so we had plenty of success straight away.

The weather was perfect - warm but not desperately hot, a bit of cloud cover and no rain.  The donkey races ran to plan - a few fallers as usual but no injuries.  Lots of people mingling around the field watching the racing, playing the games, buying at the stalls and generally enjoying themselves.  There were queues at many of the attractions, but none so long as to be a problem.


On the Aquativity stall we had lots of interesting conversations about the Sea Scouts, the building project and the current status.  We were using that stall to sell tickets for the draw in September, and that went brilliantly - over 1000 Grand Draw tickets sold at this one event.  With lots of tickets already having been sold at other events and by people in the Sea Scouts as they go about their business, we are well into profit for the Grand Draw having more than paid for the printing and the £500 first prize.


As the finances are worked out, I'll update our Big 20/20 gauge to reflect how much we've made towards out £20,000 target for the end of September.  Two things are certain - lots of people came along and had a great time, and our finances have taken a great leap forward, almost certainly we made more for the Group and the Aquativity project at this Donkey Derby than ever before.


Thank you very much to everyone involved - the organising team, those who sold programmes, those who gave up their time on Friday to set up, those who came along on Saturday to finish the preparations then to run the attractions, those who stayed behind to clear up, and those who came along to help make it such a success.

And on a personal note, I had a great time on the Aquativity stall, and the donkey I sponsored in race 3 won, then won again in the final, so I've come home with the "owner's" cup!

Brickwork starts - and Donkey Derby

Another exciting week in the life of the Aquativity project.  Brickwork has started as the base for the walls, and the Donkey Derby is this weekend...

The construction of the building is concrete footings, brickwork around the base of the walls, then timber frame on top with cladding to form the shell.  Of this, the footings are now in, and the brickwork is underway.

Meanwhile, much of the Group's energy is going into getting ready for the Donkey Derby on Saturday - apart from those Scouts and Leaders involved in winning the District Camping Competition last weekend (well done to them and good luck for the County competition you've won the right to enter)! - oh, and the people involved in the very successful Totton Carnival procession and stall.

Lots of Donkey Derby programmes have been sold now at a range of venues over the last few weeks, so we're doing well for bringing some cash in before we start.  The site, equipment, tents, food, tombola prizes etc. are all coming together, as a result of a lot of hard work from the organising team.

And now, we've just heard today that Adam Lallana is confirmed as coming along to open the Donkey Derby for us.  We're hoping to see lots of Saints fans joining the crowds to watch the donkey racing, enter the tombola, bet on the races, eat the burgers, buy the cakes etc.  The weather forecast is looking good, so we're all set for a great day.

From digging down to starting to build up

This week, for the first time, the building has moved from digging earth out to beginning the process of building up.  Trenches have been dug for all the exterior and load-bearing walls, and for the base of the lift shaft, and these have now been filled with concrete ready to build on.

Load-bearing areas concreted ready to build on

You can see the base of where the lift will take people to the first floor, front and centre in this picture.  Entrance hall to the left, meeting room to the right, changing areas and galley behind, with the boat store at the far end.

Also this week, members of The New Forest Rotary Club visited the Sea Scouts on Thursday evening to hand over two new kayaks they have donated.  We'll get the full story and pictures posted to the Sea Scouts website.  The new kayaks have the Rotary Club logo on them, and a spare logo sticker was also put on the temporary boat store container to mark their contribution.  It is great to see the "Aquativity - Testwood Lakes" name on a sponsor's logo like this - if anyone else wants to see their name or logo associated with us, let's talk.

Of course, the big event coming up for us is the Donkey Derby on 2nd July.  Preparations are going well, with programme selling occupying time over the weekends for quite a few volunteers, as well as Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers (and their leaders and parents) all doing their bit to sell as many programmes as possible.  Outside Argos in Totton was the main selling venue yesterday - thanks to those who helped there and to everyone involved.  To find out more about what our Donkey Derby is all about, take a look at this site dedicated to the event and its organisers and helpers.

What with Totton Carnival on 25th June, the Donkey Derby on 2nd July, and selling tickets for the Grand Draw (to be drawn at the end of September), the usual Sea Scouts sections' activities every week, camping plans for August and of course the building project progressing day by day, we're certainly having a very busy summer, and that's only mentioning a few things that we've got going on.  If anyone is wondering how they can do more to help, please email aquativity@gmail.com, we'd love to hear from you.