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.

Funding progress

As well as being a fantastic week for the activity on site, there is still lots going on for the funding side of things.

1. Preparations are going well for the annual Donkey Derby.  This year, it will be held on 2nd July, at Eling Recreation Ground.  We're looking forward to an excellent turnout and a record taking this year to bring in the much needed funding to get the project through to completion.  The Totton Carnival week runs from the procession the weekend before through to the Donkey Derby as the Carnival climax.  We'll have members of the Sea Scouts Group in the procession advertising the Group, the Aquativity project and the Donkey Derby.  Programmes will be on sale around the Totton area starting from this weekend, with many members of the Sea Scouts volunteering their time to sell these programmes to the public.
2. This coming Monday is Totton Charity Market, where we'll be selling draw tickets, plants, bric-a-brac etc.  Again, thanks to the wonderful volunteers from Sea Scouts parents, leaders and friends who are giving up their valuable time on a Bank Holiday Monday.
3. The grand prize draw has started.  Tickets are printed and starting to be distributed and sold.  Just 50p a ticket with the chance of winning £500 or another great prize.  The sales will run throughout the summer with the draw at the end of September.
4. A charitable trust (not the one I've mentioned before) pledged a donation of £2000, to be made available when we started work.  As soon as we started on Tuesday, we contacted them and they have confirmed that the money is on its way!

End of first week

Exciting progress this week.  The entire outline of the building has now been dug down to a depth of a couple of feet, so we can start to see something of the scale of the centre to come.  The area around the building is fully fenced off and the "Construction Site.  Keep Out" signs are up.  And the big "Aquativity Centre - Arriving Soon" sign is up too.  It really has the feel of a building site, which of course it is!  After waiting for so long, it feels really odd to be talking of an active building site.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, there will be lots of people visiting Testwood Lakes, so the site, the fencing and the signs should attract a lot of attention, hopefully there might be some offers of help!

This evening, as with every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, the Sea Scouts (or the older Sea Explorers on a Tuesday) have been out sailing and kayaking on the lake.  I've taken a few more photos of the site, with the flag raised to mark a Sea Scouts meeting night, and sails as a backdrop.

I'm just occasionally taking these snapshots as we go along.  Others involved in the project are also taking some better and more regular photos so we have a good record of project progress.

Building work starts!

We've started building today.  If you don't believe me, look at this:

Yesterday, the final details on the plans were agreed, so this morning a digger and a dumper arrived and started digging out the earth ready for the foundations, as you can see.  So far, they've dug out perhaps 1/3 of the floor area.  Once it is all dug out, the ground underneath will be compacted then filled with concrete, ready to lay the base on which the building frame will sit.

Meanwhile, the frame is being built off site, ready for erection in about 6 weeks time.  The time will fly, I'm sure, and we'll soon have the frame, then the roof and cladding and we'll start fitting out the ground floor.  I can't wait for opening day of Phase 1.

Well done for all whose patience and hard work is now paying off.  We're going to have a wonderful facility here and it is just fantastic to see work start.

A few more photos to prove to us all that it is really happening: