Fundraising, News

Co-Op Community Fund

3rdCB were very grateful to be selected as one of this year’s Co-op Community Fund charities in Leigh-on-Sea, supporting us in our bid to buy a new safety boat.

The scheme has now completed, and we’ve received a whopping £3,995 donation from the Co-op!

Thank you to everyone who nominated us and shopped in the Leigh Co-ops over the past year. Coupled with the £10,000 we’ve already received from Sports England, plus other fundraising activities, we’re ready to add to our safety boat fleet and offer even more activities on the water to young people. The boating team are currently investigating the best option for us so we can purchase it for the next sailing season.

News

Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Awards

Alongside Scouting, 3rdCB also runs the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, giving youth members aged 14 (or school year 9) to 25 the opportunity gain essential skills, experience, confidence and resilience to successfully navigate adult life.

We’re incredibly proud to see our first “home grown” Explorers achieve the top Gold award through 3rdCB, the culmination of many years of work and commitment. A huge congratulations to Rob, Sophie and Conor on your success, and we hope you are the first of many more Gold awards to come.

News

Remembrance Sunday Activities

There was sadly no public Remembrance Day Service this year due to the current lockdown. Despite being unable to come together as a Group to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we came together individually and as families, and stood  on our doorsteps with the rest of the community to observe the 2 minutes silence at 11:00.

As part of the scaled down commemorations, our affiliated branch of the Royal British Legion will laid a wreath on our behalf at St Clement’s Church in Leigh-on-Sea.

As part of their remembrance activities, the Cubs have painted special remembrance stones, which Akela has laid around the Fishermen’s memorial in St Clement’s Church yard. Why not take a look if you’re nearby.

You can learn more about how 3rdCB carried on Scouting and supported the war effort around Leigh-on-Sea at 3rdCB.org.uk/about/history

Fundraising, News

Scouts Race Round the World

COVID-19 is the biggest crisis we’ve faced in a generation. Whilst we at 3rdCB are very fortunate to be financially stable, over 500 Scout groups – many of them based in communities that were already made vulnerable before the virus hit – are struggling to make ends meet. If they close their doors, thousands of young people will miss out on all the life-changing skills and experiences being a Scout can bring, precisely when they need us most.

The Scouts, as a national organisation, are asking everyone – including young people and their families, volunteers, and former Scouts – to sign up and join one of four teams as we #RaceRoundTheWorld.

The four teams are racing each other to see who can be the first to travel the 43,000 miles to get round the world. Everyone who takes part will be following our route at least once, though we’re encouraging everyone to take on as many miles as they can manage!

Find out more and sign up here, and don’t forget to let us know how you get on: scouts.org.uk/about-us/support-scouts/race-round-the-world/

News

Back into Lockdown and Virtual Scouting

Following the announcement of a four-week lockdown in England from Thursday 5 November, official guidance from National Youth Agency and The Scouts means we’ve had to pause face-to-face Scouting activities for the time being, in line with Government legislation.

Fear not, it will hopefully only be for a few weeks, and we’ve done it before now. In the meantime the leader teams are planning a variety of virtual activities for you all – watch this space and we’ll be back before you know it. Continue reading Back into Lockdown and Virtual Scouting →

News

Register for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at 3rdCB

Alongside Scouting, 3rd Chalkwell Bay gives youth members the opportunity to complete the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award with us.

We are now canvassing interest for new groups to start Bronze and Silver DofE Awards for this school year for participants in school Year 9 or above. We have run this at 3rdCB for 3 years now, with increasing numbers successfully completing Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards.

We’re still unsure what 2021 will look like in terms of our ability to run expeditions, but we have every intention of making this work where we can under DofE and Scouting guidelines. By completing all other sections of the awards young people will receive the Duke of Edinburgh Certificate of Achievement, and ‘catch up’ with the expedition when the situation allows.

If you would like to register or find out more information, fill in the form at 3rdCB.org.uk/dofe-interest or email dofe@3rdcb.org.uk and one of the team will be in touch. We will arrange a Zoom call in November to give you more information, introduce the proposed programme and explain how to get started.

More information on Duke of Edinburgh’s award is available at 3rdCB.org.uk/about/dofe or DofE.org

News

New Vice President for 3rdCB

The Group’s new Vice President, Colin Sedgwick MBE

We’re delighted to welcome Colin Sedgwick MBE formally back into the 3rdCB fold as a Vice President of the Group. Colin has a very long association with 3rdCB, and was Sea Scout Leader of Nelson Troop in the 60’s and 70’s before Ian Johnson took over the role (he was in fact Ian’s Scout Leader!).

Colin is the owner of Mike’s Boatyard in Old Leigh, through which he continues to lends us a huge amount of support, including employment to many an older Scout over the years, and remains very much a part of the Old Leigh maritime community. He is also a longstanding member of Southend RNLI, for which he was awarded the MBE in 2012.

We’re very glad to be able to welcome Colin back as a formal member of 3rd Chalkwell Bay, joining President Les Davis, and Vice Presidents Mike Regan, Angela Cruiks and Carol Tissington.

News

We’re Back on the Water!

Last week we managed our first face-to-face activities since lockdown began, with a week of sailing sessions in Old Leigh, getting back on the water doing what Sea Scouts do best! Great to see the Scouts and Explorers back at The Den, enjoying the lovely weather (if a bit breezy), and glad to see we all still remember how to sail.

Keen an eye out for upcoming activities on the water in our Boating Calendar.

More photos and videos of the week are on our Members Facebook Group.

News

Representing Southend’s Youth for VJ Day Service

3rd Chalkwell Bay were invited to represent the youth of Southend-on-Sea at the town’s VJ Day service on 15 August, commemorating 75 years since the end of WW2 in the Pacfic. A much smaller affair than usual due to COVID-19 restrictions, the service and 2 minutes silence was led by His Worship The Mayor, joined by representatives from the Royal British Legion, Combined Cadet Force and 3rdCB.

Thank you to Senior Patrol Leaders Harry and Jessica for representing 3rd Chalkwell Bay and Scouting so smartly.

The video of the service is available at https://youtu.be/NpiaOnj-b-g

News

Resuming face-to-face Scouting Outdoors

We’re really excited that we’re now able to restart running outdoor face-to-face activities at 3rd Chalkwell Bay after a 4½ month pause, and intend to start the sailing programme from 17 August, with outdoor Section meetings from the beginning of September.

Given the fact that we’re still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a few restrictions on what we do and how we do it, the specifics of which have been emailed to all parents, with a couple of actions also required.

We have in place approved COVID based risk assessments for outdoor meetings and water activities which allow us to safely start a staged return, although initially only for outdoor activities in small groups. These risk assessments will be reviewed as Government and Scout Association guidance changes, which will ultimately see a return to what we all recognise as a more normal form of Scouting.

Over the next few weeks the leader teams will be in touch with parents with more detail on how the programme and activities will operate. At this time, we are limited to 15 people per session, including adults, which means that sessions will only be able to cater for 12 children.

We’re all looking forward to getting outdoor activities back up and running again, so we can gain more skills and have more fun together.

Skills for Life