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. 

Raft Race - New Forest North District comes to Aquativity

This afternoon/evening has been the New Forest North District Scouts Raft Race, hosted at Testwood Lakes, home of Aquativity.  6 teams between Eling, Copythorne, Testwood and Lyndhurst were competing in a series of races in very windy conditions.




An excellent performance from the 2 Eling teams saw them taking 1st and 3rd places, with Copythorne taking the 2nd place.  Lots of good fun on the water, as well as Scouts working as teams and continuing to learn new skills.

Importantly for Aquativity, it was also a good opportunity for a range of people around the district to see that things really are happening on the building project, and the much awaited new Sea Scouts centre is on its way.

Over the last week, the main skimming of the ground has completed, shale put on top and the roller brought in to compact the ground and shale surface.  Now the trenches are being dug ready for the footings; they are in place for about half the building so far.  Concrete reinforcing bars are on site ready for the concrete raft to be poured in, so keep watching for more rapid progress over the coming week.

Activity this Half Term week

You may have seen our Group featured on BBC South Today, as part of the national Volunteering week, talking about the need for volunteers in a range of roles, and what some of our current volunteers get out of their roles.

The full report was shown on Thursday evening, read more about it here: http://www.elingseascouts.org.uk/node/240.

Meanwhile the building project is progressing apace, and this evening we are hosting the District Raft Race.  I'll try to get some photos of the both building progress and the Raft Race and post them in the next update.