Announcements


ADVENTURE PLUS T-SHIRT

posted May 22, 2013, 1:56 PM by Admin SJSS   [ updated May 22, 2013, 1:56 PM ]

If you are interested in or need an activity T-Shirt for your Kea, Cub, Scout or Venturer take a look at the,

"ADVENTURE PLUS T-SHIRT"

with SCOUT GROUP name, available from Scouts Direct including "ST JAMES SEA SCOUT GROUP" embroidered on the sleeve for just $16.48


This shirt is not an official uniform, it is a promotional and marketing shirt for promoting SCOUTS and the brand in the public arena.

Great for any SCOUT activity where official uniform is not required.

No Sailing Sunday 5th March 1pm

posted Mar 4, 2011, 9:16 PM by Unknown user   [ updated Mar 4, 2011, 9:18 PM by Admin SJSS ]

Due to forecast 40 knot southerlies.  Best we stay off the water.

Family Water Day - Cancelled

posted Mar 19, 2010, 1:32 PM by Chris Smith   [ updated Mar 19, 2010, 10:11 PM by Admin SJSS ]

Unfortunately the weather forecast for strong winds means that, for safety reasons, the water day tomorrow is cancelled.

We will attempt to find other options to get our cubs and keas out on the water with the Scouts.

Regards, Scott
Good evening,

This coming Sunday, the 21st of March we’re going to have the family water day that was postponed from the end of February.  If you and your children fancy going out on the water with the Scouts, please come along and join in.

The day will start from 11:00am and go through to 4:00pm with boats coming out of the water by then for wash down and putting away.  For boating activities it is important that all participants are prepared.  This means a set of clothes for on the water.  We recommend polypropylene top and pants and shorts (above the knee) with a fleece sweatshirt and windproof jacket.  Prepare for a hot day with a sunhat and suncream but dress on the water as if it is going to be cold.  Have a towel and dry set of clothing for the participants to change into as soon as they are off the water – everyone will get wet to some extent.

Compulsory water clothes include footwear that the children and adults can wear in the water.  The beach is the site of an old dump and it frequently has broken glass and sharp metal objects.  No footwear no water activities.  If wearing shorts they must be above the knee.  Everyone participating in the water activities will wear a lifejacket provide by St James – we have plenty.

We will be putting on a barbecue at lunch time and the group will provide sausages and bread for the BBQ and we ask that families bring salad and or a dessert for a shared lunch at midday.

Lets hope for good weather and no Tsunami warning on Sunday.  

And a reminder that next week we will start packing and delivering local Hutt Valley telephone directories.  Packing books on Thursday evening from 5:00pm at the den with a fish and chips provided, and deliveries starting on Saturday morning (27th) from 8:00am.

Regards, Scott

Scott Rodgers
Group Chair, St James Sea Scouts Group
021-222-7570

St James Sea Scout Group - Family Day this Sunday

posted Feb 26, 2010, 8:31 PM by Admin SJSS   [ updated Feb 26, 2010, 8:32 PM ]

Good evening,

This coming Sunday, the 28th of February we have a family day planned.  This event provides our Keas and Cubs, and family members with a chance to join the Scouts on the water for rowing and sailing.  We have recently purchased a number of small lifejackets that we can use for smaller children to go on the water.  While not a typical activity for the younbger ones, we can invite Keas and Cubs onto the water as long as one or more adult is on board to supervise them.  

The group will provide sausages and bread for the BBQ and we ask that families bring salad and or a dessert for a shared lunch at midday.

The day will start from 11:00am and go through to 4:00pm with boats coming out of the water by then for wash down and putting away.  For boating activities it is important that all participants are prepared.  This means a set of clothes for on the water.  We recommend polypropylene top and pants and shorts (above the knee) with a fleece sweatshirt and windproof jacket.  Prepare for a hot day with a sunhat and suncream but dress on the water as if it is going to be cold.  Have a towel and dry set of clothing for the participants to change into as soon as they are off the water – everyone will get wet to some extent.

Compulsory water clothes include footwear that the children and adults can wear in the water.  The beach is the site of an old dump and it frequently has broken glass and sharp metal objects.  No footwear no water activities.  If wearing shorts they must be above the knee.  Everyone participating in the water activities will wear a lifejacket provide by St James – we have plenty.

Parking will be at a premium in the morning as cycle event finishes close to the den.  We will open the gate to allow some cars to park in front of the building but we have limited space for parking when moving boats in and out of the water.

I hope for good weather and a good turnout on Sunday.  I hope to see you all then.

Regards, Scott
Group Chair.

Chairman’s Report 10 December 2009

posted Feb 26, 2010, 8:30 PM by Admin SJSS   [ updated Feb 26, 2010, 8:32 PM ]

St James Sea Scout Group

 

Annual General Meeting

 

10 December 2009

 

Chairman’s Report

 

The year has seen significant the growth in numbers of youth participating in Keas, in our new Cub Pack and with the Scouts.  At last count we have over 35 families involved in the St James Group.  This growth in our youth members has been great to see and bodes well for St James.  As with any community group, the growth can only occur with the support of parents, leaders and other individuals who give so much to provide a full and fun programme for the children. 

 

This year we have a real need to introduce new leaders in all our sections to support the great work that is going on.  We recognise that we must provide an environment that welcomes and encourages our parents to be leaders and which support our leaders in their learning journey.  Please talk to your section leader and Eileen if you’re able to help our youth by providing leadership.

 

Fundraising

To deliver the programme for the sections requires resources and materials.  We must also maintain the building and other facilities, including the boats, in safe and tidy condition. 

 

We have had another year of successful fund-raising with just over $9,000 raised through telephone directory deliveries.  The local directory deliveries in March raised $2,930 for the group, and the main white/yellow pages delivery completed last month raised $6,117.  A significant sum earned by the group.  While a lot of effort goes into the packing and delivery of directories, the excellent turnout we had from the St James families meant that the majority of the work is not particularly onerous.  We are fortunate that we have incurred very few expenses, with fantastic support provided from local businesses: Kevin Rikys providing trucks from his Super Liquor business to move the pallets, local businesses Peter Baker and Jets Transport offering us use of their forklifts, Business Solutions Limited providing a very large warehouse space, and last but not least, Café L’Affare providing free coffee for the packing day.

 

This coming year we will again bid for the contract to deliver telephone books. 

 

Scouts New Zealand has put together a campaign for groups to raise money selling hot cross buns in the first term of next year.  This has the potential to raise a significant amount of money for our Keas Cubs and Scouts for relatively little effort.  

 

Maintenance on the building and boats continues to dominate our spending, but we have been fortunate that much of the money needed for this purpose comes from grants through various trusts.  While we do have some quite significant expenses that we need to cover from our fundraising, a significant amount is used for activities and resources that directly support our Keas, Cubs and Scouts.  With our solid record of fundraising, we have also been able to keep subscriptions very low which means that we need to continue to raise funds with our community activities, which all require the support of our families.

 

This year, as with previous years, we have again been generously allocated funding from the Eade Estate.  I would like to acknowledge the value of this support to our group operations.  Apart from funding for maintenance of boats and building, we have received a grant that goes a long way towards the purchase of three new masts and sails for our cutters.  Some of the previous funding from Eade Estate for a new boat ramp has been used for an engineers report and initial design that, with an updated design provide by Simon Therkleson, is necessary for resource consent from the Hutt City and Wellington Regional councils.  We are about to submit the consent applications. 

 

We had also received $1500 from the Hutt Mana Energy Trust for the purposes of installing a fire escape ladder from the balcony on the river side of the building.  The initial concept for a fire escape would have cost the group about $3500.  During the past year we had a review of our plans and of the fire safety of the building and received advice that a large aluminium fire escape platform and ladder was not necessary.  We did consider that we should improve our ability to evacuate the building and to replace or update some of our existing fire safety equipment.  Chris approached the trust administrators who agreed to re-purpose the grant and to provide us further time to return receipts.  We subsequently purchased new fire extinguishers, fire blankets, fire buckets and flexible evacuation ladders that have significantly improved the safety of the den and boatshed, as well as enhancing our camping fire safety equipment.

 

We have a number of projects to improve both the building and the boats which means that we will be increasing our focus on obtaining funding from community grant organisations. 

 

Over and above our normal programme, in the coming year our Scouts and some older Cubs will be fundraising for the 2010/11 Jamboree.  This is an exciting opportunity and an important growth opportunity for our Scouts.  Again, parent help is essential to reach the target in time.

 

Projects

We have, through Donna’s connections, purchased the paint we need to paint the outside of the hall.  Early in the New Year we will be calling together a working bee to prepare and paint the front of the hall.  Access to the side and back walls is more challenging and we will get to them in time.

 

As mentioned above, pending resource consent, we are going to build a boat ramp.  The building of this is estimated to cost somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000.  We have the majority, if not all, of the funds for this from grants.  When we get close to starting work there may be a request for some assistance from parents.

 

Ongoing maintenance work on the boats has, again, been led by Simon Therkleson and the fact that we have a good number of boats available for sailing and rowing is a testament to his commitment.  Thank you Simon. 

 

One of our more unusual initiatives, which I would like to see expanded if we can, is that the group has 2x Optimist yachts that are excellent introductory boats for young sailors.  We won’t use them for Scout sailing on the river for a variety of reasons, but we have been able to provide one this year for a Scout to use in a local yacht club learn-to-sail course.  Typically yacht club courses are limited by boat availability and cost of boat rental.  By providing a St James boat, keen scouts or older cubs can rapidly gain sailing skills at a relatively low cost, and Julie gains skilled sailors who can help St James do well at the regattas we attend.  We need to consider how and in fact if, this programme will proceed, and how we fund things like sails, rig updates and boat maintenance.

 

 

Committee

I would like to thank the committee, and express my appreciation of the effort they have put in to making the group function for the benefit of the keas, cubs and scouts.  Rodney came forward to be the treasurer for this year when our previous treasurer retired, and Chris joined the committee as Secretary early in the year.  Both of them have made a huge contribution to the running of the group. 

 

We need more parents on the committee, as we have been operating on reduced numbers recently, which limits the amount we can do to support the leaders in running the youth activities.  I cannot express strongly enough that we must have a balanced committee with parent representation from kea, cub and scout families. 

 

Serving on the committee is an important function in keeping the group operating.  The committee manage all the administrative and financial matters so the leaders can focus on delivering the activity programme to the keas, cubs and scouts.  If you are not thinking about becoming a leader, then you should be thinking about serving on the committee for a period.  The modern scout movement is a co-operative where each family needs to contribute to the running of the group.  The current committee members are willing to stay involved but we need more members.  The offices of the committee are assigned at the first committee meeting and again, we have the existing chair, secretary and treasurer willing to continue in those roles if elected.

 

Finally, I would like to acknowledge and thank Eileen and her team of leaders, without whom the group would not be the great organisation that it is.  They all deserve our full support.

 

Scott Rodgers

Group Chair

St James Sea Scouts Group update - 18th August 2009

posted Feb 26, 2010, 8:28 PM by Admin SJSS   [ updated Feb 26, 2010, 8:32 PM ]

Good evening,

The St James Sea Scout group has been doing well with a good number of Keas, Cubs and Scouts taking part, and a number of positive initiatives underway.

Recent changes to the committee have seen the appointment of a new Chair, Scott Rodgers, the introduction of Chris Smith as Secretary, and Rodney Grindey volunteering to take on the role of treasurer. We have been fortunate that James Scott and Marcus Smith have been able to support our group for so long as Chair and Treasurer, they deserve our thanks.

One of the roles of the committee is to raise funds for the group and to that end Kevin Rikys has volunteered to lead a fundraising sub-committee to help us manage the fund raising activities and submit grant applications. We recently submitted a price for delivering the white and yellow pages to Eastbourne and Petone and have been advised that we were successful. The fact that we were awarded the contract without compromising on the price is, I believe, testament to the quality of the service St James had provided over the years.

For the calendar: we need all families involved in packing the books into plastic bags on the evening of Wednesday 30 September or Thursday 1 October and delivering books to all residential addresses and business in our area during the week and more particularly on Saturday the 2nd of October. Please note – this is St James’ major fundraising activity and the income supports a lot of discretionary activities. We do need the full support of the St James families at this time.

We are currently going through an exercise to update all of our fire safety equipment. We have bought new extinguishers and fire blankets and buckets for camping and are replacing all extinguishers in the hall that are due as well as making a number of other small improvements that will see the hall well set up for the foreseeable future. Much of the money for this improvement has come from a grant from the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust.

During the coming summer we hope to make progress on building a boat ramp to improve access to the river for our boats. We have a plan from an engineering company that provides an excellent basis for obtaining the necessary resource consents and other approvals. Before we formally start fundraising and engaging builders we have decided to canvas the families to see what knowledge and skills we have available. On Sunday the 30th of August at 11:00am we are having a meeting at the Hall/Boatshed to confirm with our leaders what they need and to seek your advice and the input. I am happy to forward you all of the documents and concept plans, please let me know by return email if you wish a copy emailed to you.

We have recently benefited from a healthy discount on paint from Guthrie Bowron in Upper Hutt (thanks to Donna) which has enabled us to buy the paint needed to tidy up the whole hall. When the weather improves later in the spring we will have a working bee to start work on painting the hall. At this stage we intend that the working bee will only paint the west wall as it is reasonably accessible. More information on the timing of this project will follow.

Thanks to a grant from the Eade Estate we are investigating building a trailer to take both a 17’ Cutter and a Sunburst. The sailors in the group are finalising their requirements so we hope to be able to make a final decision on exactly what we need soon.

Finally, to make this Group work well we need you to help our programmes. Each of the sections would benefit from parents able and willing to assist by taking a leadership role – we don’t need people to to take over leadership of the sections, but we do need to support our current leaders. If you are in any way able to help please talk to the leader of your children's section – Keas, Cubs or Scouts. While we have a healthy committee, we need your views and input. Our next committee meeting is tomorrow night, Tuesday 18th August at 7:30 and every month on the 3rd Tuesday of the month.

I hope to see you soon.

Regards, Scott

Scott Rodgers Chair, St James Sea Scout Group

Letter to all group families - 22nd May 2009

posted Feb 26, 2010, 8:27 PM by Admin SJSS   [ updated Feb 26, 2010, 8:28 PM ]

To: All Scout Group Families

Good evening,

I would like to invite all parents and leaders to a committee meeting at the den on Tuesday night at 7:30. We have a vibrant and rapidly expanding group of young people that deserve great programmes and resources. Come along and contribute, tell us what you think, and help us support the work of our leaders and the care and development of our facilities.

I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday.

Regards, Scott Rodgers

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