Since our last posting on this blog, we've been making progress on a number of fronts:
- Fundraising, I'll list some highlights in a moment
- Boat store and dry store, again more on that here
- Utilities connections, I'll post something soon to let you know what is happening - there are some negotiations involved and I'd rather not say too much until they are closed
So, fundraising first.
We held our
Donkey Derby on one of the best days of the year for sunshine and warmth - a bit windy for putting up marquees, but other than that we could not have asked for better. An excellent turnout, both in terms of helpers and members of the public - well over 3,000 of the latter! Financially it was also a huge success, taking over £10,000 on the day, and making an estimated
£7,500 profit. An excellent result and many thanks to everyone who organised the event or helped out. And thanks also to those whose efforts have been recognised by their employers in the form of match funding - for example we have been sent a cheque for £1,000 by a local firm towards fencing around the Aquativity Centre.
The following week we had some great news from
Hampshire County Scouts. We had submitted an application for a grant from The Mrs W Hayward Trust fund, for improving access to adventurous activities in Scouting. We applied for funding to enhance the fleet of kayaks and sailing dinghies. Hampshire decided that, since Scout groups using the lake through
Ferny Crofts Activity Centre are more likely to be kayaking in the short term, that is where they would like to invest at the moment. So they have offered us
£8,500 towards buying 15 new kayaks, complete with paddles, spray decks and helmets. We are now arranging the purchase of these kayaks, pending having somewhere to put them, and also making sure we involve the Admiralty to ask them for partial match funding under their Royal Navy Recognition scheme for Sea Scouts, so we can also get some other boats at the same time.
We are pursuing some other possibilities for financial support to the project - grants, other match funding and potential sponsorship deals - as we still need more income before we can be ready for business. I'll let you know if and when any of these come to fruition.
What's going on with the build?
Well, a number of us (Scout Group and Explorer Unit parents and leaders) have been participating in regular working parties over the last few weeks. Our focus has been on the walls and ceilings of the boat store and dry store - insulation, noggins to hold plasterboard, and sterling board on the walls for strength behind plasterboard. We now have the boat store completely insulated and boarded, and the dry store now segregated off and well underway. And, along the way, an electrician has been in fitting the cabling we need for lighting, power, fire alarm etc. in these areas.
This was all in preparation for starting to fit plasterboard on ceilings and walls. To meet building regulations, in particular to give sufficient protection from fire, all of the boat store ceiling and wall surfaces need 2 sheets of plasterboard. This will also give us more strength as those walls will need to take some knocks.
Then about 10 days ago, a building firm called RJ Spiller, who work with someone involved in the Sea Scouts, visited us to see how they could help. The result was that they offered to do all the plasterboarding in the boat store for us. So far they have done 3 days for us, all for no payment, and they will be back tomorrow to carry on. Just what we need - free professional labour, fitting plasterboard that was donated, using tools that have been loaned free of charge! Thanks very much to everyone who is helping in this way. I've put a few snaps here to give some idea of how the boat store is progressing.
Once the plasterboard is complete, we have a plasterer lined up to skim the surface for us. In order to provide access, we've moved all of the unused plasterboard and insulation out into other areas of the building - it is no easy job moving several hundred sheets of plasterboard, sheet by sheet!
I forgot to mention in my last posting, but you may have noticed in the pictures, we have opening doors to the boat store! It is great to get some daylight in (it really helps for the evening working parties) and see just how much space we have for storage...
