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!