Parents

Welcome

At Southbourne Sea scouts you can always be sure of a warm welcome. Every parent is a member of our Group Council and as such the Group belongs to you for the benefit of your sons and daughters.

We encourage you to participate in the activities of the Group and to suggest positive opportunities for improvement. Our goal is to provide  the best opportunities for your children. We guarantee that you will find your participation both rewarding and tremendous fun.

As a registered charity, Southbourne Sea Scouts is highly dependent on parents and supporters to raise the funds that are essential for the operation of the Group.

Membership subscriptions cover less than 30% of costs and consequently the balance must be found elsewhere. It is therefore a necessary condition of membership that every parent helps to raise these funds.

Currently the Group has the following annual fund raising avenues amongst other one off events and occasions:

  • A coffee shop which runs every weekend from April to October which is staffed by parent volunteers.
  • A plant sale weekend held over the first weekend of May
  • Marquee Hire. We have a small team of volunteers who put up and take down our hire marquees at requested locations
  • A Christmas Fayre

 

Beyond helping with fund raising, there are several ways in which you can further support the Group:

  • Become a member of our Executive Committee
  • Become a Section Assistant or Occasional Helper and help at meetings.
  • Become a skills instructor – whatever skills you have that may be useful:  Sailing, Kayaking, Power Boating, Camping, DIY, Map Reading, Model Making, First Aid….whatever. You will be surprised at the variety of scouting activity badges there are.
  • Volunteer to assist with the maintenance, custody of and upkeep of our equipment (Camping and boating equipment mainly – the scouts sure know how to break it all!)
  • Let us know if you have skills or access to resources that could help the Group – for example sales, marketing, administration, transport or building related skills.
  • Every Little Helps!

Administration

The group section leaders use an on line management system for administration. This helps us to keep accurate records of badge progress, event management and the program. When your children join one of the sections you will receive an invite to create an account that enables you to

  • Sign up for events that are on the program.
  • Check if your child is signed up for the event and sight details for the event
  • View your childs badge progress
  • View the program and latest changes

View the system at https://www.onlinescoutmanager.co.uk/

Subscriptions

Most of the cost of running the Group is met by a subscription payment (usually referred to as subs) at the beginning of each term. This can be paid by cash  or cheque. For payments please put them in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name and description of payment. Please write the child’s name on the back of cheques also.

Gift Aid

It is vitally important that all parents who are UK tax payers sign a Gift Aid declaration form. Gift Aid doesn’t cost you anything but it increases our Group income enormously each year.

Uniform

As a part of the Scout Movement all members of the group wear a uniform. The Beaver and Cub section wear the same uniform as land scouts but the scout uniform is based around both the usual land scout uniform and that of the Royal Navy.

Uniform consists of:

  • Sea Scout Woolly jumper with all badges correctly and neatly sewn on
  • Maroon Necker, Clean, Ironed and smartly tied
  • Clean Class 2 Seaman’s cap and Sea Scout Tally band, correctly tied.
  • Polished black School shoes and black socks
  •  Pressed Black School type trousers

Additional Items

The group have Polo shirts with our group logo on which the scouts may wear on organised activities outside the HQ during the summer months when it is too hot to wear the normal uniform woolly jumpers. These are optional and are for sale from the HQ.

Inspection Requirements

To maintain the above standards each week when in uniform,  a brief inspection is carried out (Each patrol is inspected by a  Leader

Purchasing Items of Uniform

The Sea Scout Jumper and other approved items of uniform can be obtained from our own District Scout shop situated at West Dean scout HQ,  Scout shops on-line or Havant School wear shop.  (for directions please  ask one of our leaders).  Second hand Class 2 Caps are provided by the troop at a cost of £10.  The relevant badges, cap tally and group Necker will be given to the scouts on formal investment into the group. Please speak to a member of the troop leadership team for further details.