Note from Denis Nicole (ex?) GSL:

This site has been pretty much unchanged since early 2006. Around the same time that our University building burnt down, a query came from the Royal Navy about some hats we had ordered and paid for around a year earlier. This escalated remarkably and in early 2006 I found myself turned away at the door of a hastily relocated Group Executive meeting; I subsequently received a letter from the then District Commissioner telling me I had resigned.

About four years on, I have moved into the replacement building at work; so far I have received an apology about the involvement of a National Commissioner, but am still waiting for a final resolution from Southampton City Scouts. In the meantime, I have become a skills instructor with Hampshire Scout County and a member of the 2nd Gilwell Park Fellowship^†.

2009-10-19

25th Southampton ((Northam) Sea Scout Group

Welcome to the Northam Sea Scouts

Our Headquarters is SSS Enterprise at Crosshouse Hard, Crosshouse Road, Southampton; we are almost under the Itchen Bridge and quite close to Ocean Village. You will often see us sailing Laser Picos, Bosuns, Toppers or a Wayfarer on the river or off Weston Shore; we also row a Home Counties Gig and have a large collection of canoes.

When not in use for meetings or activities, our Hall is available for hire; please contact Denis Nicole (below) in the first instance. We have prepared a short tour for prospective hall hirers.

Parent permission forms for activities:

Air Rifle Shooting

You may need to install Acrobat Reader to print these forms. You can also use Acrobat Reader to enter text into the input fields.

Meeting times:

We meet during school terms as follows:

• Beavers (ages 6 to 8): Mondays, 18:15…19:30.
• Scouts (ages 10½ to 14): Fridays, 19:00…21:00.
• Explorer Scouts  (13½ to 18) A District Explorer Scout Unit is based at our Headquarters.
• You can find out about the other Explorer Units in Southampton City here.
   

New members, boys and girls, are very welcome in all three sections.

Contact Information:

• Please contact Graham Meering in the first instance:
  • Home Telephone: 023 80 558 582
  • Email: Graham.Meering@BTinternet.com
     

Uniform

The Group stocks some uniform items. Others can be obtained from the Eastleigh Scout shop.

Some Past Activities:

2006

• Feb 4–5th: Cycle Camp
  Crosshouse to Ferny Crofts and back by bike, with a good warm wood fire.
   
• Feb 3rd: Cycle maintenance, slalom and preparations for the cycle camp.
   
• Jan 27th: Completion of the St John's Junior Lafesaver award
   
• Jan 20th: Wood and Fire skills
  Axes, saws, splitting wedges and sausages over a wood fire.
   
• Jan 13th: Fitness Challenge
  With skipping, exercise ball and the BBC health and fitness to get you started.
   
• Jan 6th: Cooking
  Pizza (make your own dough) and Swiss roll. The two main ways of baking wheat.

2005

• Friday January 7th: Fitness challenge
  The activities used at this meeting came from two web sites:
  • BBC Sport Academy
  • Supaskills
     
• Winter Expedition: 22nd to 23rd January
  Off-road Cycle expedition to Pinsent Camp Site, near Winchester. It froze hard overnight, with a little snow. We had a good wood fire, though.
   
• Kick-Start Hampshire: 27th February
  We provided the technology activities base for the County launch at Winchester Guildhall.
   
• Itchen Towpath Cycle Race: Sunday 10th April
  Met at Mansbridge car park at 07:30, finished at Brambridge about an hour after start.
   
• Trek Cart Camp: 16–17th April (Explorer age group)
  We took a trek cart from Crosshouse to camp at Cricket and back. Pictures here soon.
   
• Wye Valley Camp: 29th April to 2nd May (Led by West District)
  This is an excellent event for older Scouts and Explorers at a beautiful site in the Forest of Dean on the banks of the river Wye. White water canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking and archery.
   
• District Camp at Braggers Wood: 29th April to 2nd May
  for Cubs and Beavers. Pictures here soon.
   

• Thursday June 23rd 2005
  This was the evening of our Royal Navy Inspection. We passed, although the certificate says 2004.
   

• Summer Camp: 7th to 14th August
  Summer Camp was at Corf Campsite on the Isle of Wight, near Newtown on the Solent shore. The cost was £120 and activities included cycling, hiking, sailing and power boating.

  • Final details
  • Site map
  • Site directions
     
• Christmas Show and party 16th December
  This included the performance for the Creative Challenge.

2004

• Friday 17th December: Christmas party.
• Friday 10th December: Creative evening.
• Friday 3rd December: Night hike in the New Forest.
• Saturday 27th to Sunday 28th November: Cycle expedition to Ferny Crofts and back.
• Friday 26th November: Camp fires and cooking at Crosshouse.
• Saturday 20th November: Power Boating
• Sunday 14th November: Legoland trip.
• Friday 15th to Sunday 17th October: National Scout Air Rifle Championships and Jamboree on the Air, Bisley.
• Wednesday 6th October: Air Rifle shooting.
• Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th September: Cub "survival" weekend.
• 15th to 22nd August: Troop Summer Camp
• 28th May: Treasure hunt on the water.
• 25th April: St George's Day Service at St Mary's, Wessex Lane.
• 30th April to 3rd May: District Camp at Foxlease.
• 28th March: Itchen Towpath Cycle race
• 28th February: County Challenge Hike: We won! Congratulations to the team.
• Sat 17th January: We had a good turnout, including seven Scouts, to help the Council clear the Hard next to Drivers Wharf, here off Princes Street. A great deal of rubbish was removed leaving the slip itself completely clear. Thank you all for coming.

2003

• 21-22nd November: Beaver Sleepover
• 17-19th October: National Scout Air Rifle Championships, Walton Firs.
• 11-17th August: Scout Summer Camp at Longridge, on the Thames near Marlow.
• 12th July: St Mary's Festival.
• 9th July : RN Inspection. We passed; thank you all for your support.
• 22nd June: District Cub and Beaver Day, Gilwell.
• 15th June: Itchen LD Canoe Race and District Raft Race.
• 22nd June: District Cub and Beaver Day, Gilwell.
• 2nd to 5th May: Cub camp.
• 23rd April: District Hike in the New Forest.
• 13th April: St George's Day Parade (Wessex Lane, 1400)
• 9th April: Explorer Treasure Hunt
• 30th March: Itchen Towpath Cycle Race
• 9th January: Group AGM, SSS Enterprise, 20:00

2002 and before

• October 2002: National Scout Air Rifle Championships and Jamboree on the Air.
• 21st September 2002: Solent Regatta, Blashford.
• 27th July to 3rd August 2002: Troop Summer Camp, Allerton, N Yorkshire.
• 8th June and 6th July 2002: Sailing course.
• 23rd June 2002: Itchen Long Distance Canoe Race
• 29th June 2002: Solent Sailing Regatta, Blashford.
• 24th March 2002: Itchen Towpath Cycle Race
• October 2001: Bike trip to the Isle of Wight
• October 2001: National Scout Air Rifle Championships and Jamboree on the Air.
• July 2001: Troop Summer camp
• 2001: Iceland Expedition
• July 2000: Troop Summer Camp

• Long ago, back around 1978, we used to have a wooden "Scout Hut" here on Prince's Street. We have an old Troop photograph from that time. Do you recognise anybody?

Patrol Names

Links:

• Current weather at Southampton Dockhead.
• Southampton Tides
• Southampton shipping movements
• Southampton VTS radar
• Inshore Weather
• METAR reports: up-to-date weather at airfields etc.
• UK Tides
• Scouting materials by mail order
  • Base Camp
  • Outdoors
  • Information Centre
• Where to put badges on uniforms: Beaver, Cub, Scout, Explorer, Adult. We wear our group badge on our scarves.
• Tying a cap tally
• Our allies explain when to ring a ship's bell. Actually, we do it slightly differently in the UK; here we ring 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 8 through the dog watches. Thus, at a Troop meeting, 1900 is two bells of the last dog watch and 2100 is two bells of the first watch. Over here, we call the mid watch the middle watch. The Americans also paint their buoys different colours (colors?)  from us. In both cases, it is because they still use the old English way they inherited in 1776. 
• RN Recognition Scheme
• Sea Scouting UK MSN Group
• BCU Canoe and Kayak "star test" syllabus and the canoeing safety test.
• RYA National Sailing Scheme (without detailed syllabus).
• Southampton Central District Scouts..
• Hampshire Scouts
• Hampshire Scouts Activity Manager: CALLSAM
• UK Scouts
• World Scouts
• uk.rec.scouting archive
• Escouts
• Forms. There are not very many forms in Scouting, and links are placed here for your convenience:
  • New adults wishing to volunteer to work with the Group need to:
    • read Young People First
    • fill out an Adult Appointment form
    • fill out a CRB Disclosure form, which has to come from the Scout District (ask Denis). You will need a BLACK (not blue!) pen, and will have to show him your passport or driving licence and two further different bills or bank statements, sent to your current home address. You will also need to know your full home addresses for each month of the last five years with no gaps.

      Yes, this is all rather complicated but it is a legal requirement imposed on us by legislation to protect young people from harm. There are Scout Association Guidance notes and there is the CRB web site. There is a rather obscure document on the CRB web site that tells you how to handle ID Checking. I've been caught out twice by this. The checker is supposed to list all ID seen either on the the printed form or on an additional sheet like this:

      Form reference number: F012345678910   Registered Body number: 12345678901
      Applicant name: John Smith
      Documents seen: Passport
                      P60 Statement
                      Bank Statement
                      Credit Card Statement
                      Store Card Statement

      The CRB don't usually care but if you don't have any Group 1 documents, or you don't sign on line 69, then you must attach the additional sheet.
  • "Charge Certificate". You need to fill out one of these and have it authorised by Denis and the County Scouts if you wish to take charge of any boats on Scouting activities. You will probably also need a national RYA or BCU qualification and a current First Aid certificate.
  • Risk assessments
    • The Scout Association fact sheets
      • Risk Assessment
      • Safety in Scouting
      • Risk Assessment for Scout Premises
    • A nice relaxed booklet from HSE, with a form to fill out.
    • HSE's guide to legislation.

Denis A Nicole

† I think, but that's another story...