At last - action!

Ok, so I'm not the quickest at keeping this site going, but to be honest there's been little action to report. There has been a significant amount going on behind the scenes and as we speak, the site has been cleared and the footings are in ready for a structure to be 'dropped in' to the site.

A total of £10,894.52 has been donated to the fundraising account. We have decided to close this account and place it all in the official 6th Redcar bank account in order for the Group to be able to pay the bills coming in for the new building.

Thankyou to all who contibuted personally or who, through other contacts, were able to help.

As the picture shows, the Rugby Club have fenced off the rugby field and railway sides. What isn't shown is the driveway and the obvious difficulty the site clearance vehicles had in accessing the site. The old gateway had to be removed (with the original plaque saved) as did the hedge on the rugby field side.

The new building will be similar in size to the old one - I'll post photos as soon as I can.

Help needed!
The water and electricity boards have hit us with an unanticipated additional cost. Another £5000 is needed to locate and connect their services. Although the fundraising and insurance money covered the work to date and the installation of the new building there is currently not enough in the bank to cover this extra expense. We plan to do some of the work ourselves and dig a trench to locate the old services, then if the water pipes are still the old lead type, dig a trench to the edge of the property. We also need to build a brick structure to house the elctricity connection and meter.

If you can help with a load of bricks, mortar or sand or can give some time, probably in the next few weeks, then let me know. If you also fancy running another fundraising effort or know of a source of funding then also please let me know.

See you all soon!!

Happy New Year!

Hi all! Its been a while since I've had chance to update the blog. Firstly, recent donations include; £100 from Redcar Masonic Club, £500 from DeBrus Almoners Account, £500 from Marwood Lodge, £50 from the Lodge of Philosophy, £100 from Coatham Lodge and £100 from the Saltscar Charity Box! That takes the total to over £8700!.

Next, you'll probably be wanting to know what's happening regarding the rebuild. Well, costs for site clearance and rebuilding are enormous, as mentioned a while ago. Alan Blunt is still beavering away ('scuse the pun) in the background and I'm assured there will be activity soon! If you're a parent reading this blog, you'll be receiving a letter from June, Group Chairman, soon. Once I know what's in it I'll let the rest of you know!

Ta ta for now!

Season's greetings and thanks!

Thanks to the hard work of Sally, Tracey, Jean and Chris a total of £477 has been raised from the sale of 2007 calendars featuring artwork of Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. This is a great amount and the 'run' sold out at the Ceilidh a fortnight ago. This, together with recent donations from Uniqema and Huntsman brings our total to £8300.

As I'm busy working panto at Middlesbrough Theatre (Peter Pan - tickets still available until Jan 7th!) this will probably be the last update this year. Keep the information flooding in(!) and it'll get posted here. Hope you all have a pleasant Christmas period and Santa brings you all you'd hoped for!

Merry Christmas!

Fantastic!

I understand that the Ceilidh held at the Redcar Bowl on Friday night (1st December) raised £2105 on the night! This together with support from Barclays Bank brought the total from the event to £2855! This is a magnificant effort, particulaly from Jackie Carling and helpers.

Other than that great news I haven't heard any tales from the evening - if you have any, or photos - please let me know and I'll upload them here.

Hut and fundraising update

As many of you will already know Alan Blunt has kindly agreed to take over the co-ordination of the Headquarters rebuild. Alan, who was a Cub Leader with the 6th in the 1980s is a structural engineer by trade and, although recently retired, is a great asset to the Group. More on that soon.....

On the fundraising front, we are now up to £3800! This is a great figure and the fund has been swollen recently with a donation of £500 from Uniqema Wilton. Tonight's Ceilidh has sold over 400 tickets and Barclays Bank have agreed to match the profit from the event up to £750. An update on the Ceilidh will follow soon (if someone would like to write me a review please!).

Thats all for now - thanks for your continued interest!

Thanks

Can I thank all those who turned up at Alan's funeral last Thursday. St Bede's chapel at Teesside Crematorium can rarely have seen so many people.

Thankyou also for helping to make it a celebration of Alan's life rather than a dour and mournful occasion. The laughter and quality of singing were what Alan would have wanted and were a fitting send-off.


Thank you also to those who came back to the Theatre Club afterwards and helped us share some memories!

Sad news

As some of you will already know, Alan Charlesworth, Group Scout Leader of the 6th Redcar Scout Group, died peacefully in hospital last Wednesday after a short illness. Alan started his involvement with the Group in 1977 as Assistant Scout Leader to Dave Hogg, leaving to become firstly Assistant District Commissioner for Scouts for the North Langbaurgh District, then District Commissioner on the retirement of George Walsh.

After the maximum 10 years in the post, Alan took over as GSL at the 6th on Dave's retirement. Alan was heavily involved in the extension of the Scout Hut in 1981 and for the last 20 years utilised his civil engineering skills during 5 county expeditions to Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Tanzania where he designed and led the building of school or clinic buildings.

Like Dave, Alan was an old-fashioned Scouter who was passionate in bringing traditional Scouting skills to future generations of Scouts. He became Scout Leader again when the departure of the previous leader threatened to close the Troop, and was still taking young Scouts to camp, sharing his skills and giving them the experiences that most of their age would dream of.

He will be missed; as a husband and father, but also as a friend to many