Friday 8 May is the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, and whilst we can’t meet in person there are still loads of opportunities to celebrate as a community.

We’re working with HMS Leigh to celebrate VE Day in Southend. Part of this is an online service or Remembrance, and they’d love the Scouts (across all sections and age ranges) to make a short video in their garden/houses, in uniform if possible, talking about how they feel about VE Day, and how they think it compares to their experiences in lockdown.

Also, if you have a story that you know about from your own great grandparents or relatives that fought in WW2 we’d love to hear that too.

Upload your video here, and see some of our special VE Day themed activities to help celebrate the occasion.

After many years of discussion, planning and fundraising, we’re finally ready to start work refurbishing our HQ’s site.

We’re making the most of the pause in face-to-face Scouting and the first phase is starting in just two weeks time! On 28 April work will start on removing the final buildings in Knapp’s Yard (the boating side of the site) and levelling the ground in preparation for the new boat workshop, camp store and dinghy park (although the actual building of this is a later phase of the project).

Over the next couple of weeks a small team will be emptying the final equipment from the site into a temporary store and rearranging the boats to make room. Whilst this work is going on we ask people to keep clear of The Den and respect the social distancing guidance, although if you’re passing on your daily exercise please do take a look from the distance to see how it’s getting on (and feel free to share with others on the 3rdCB Facebook).

We’re also expecting to start the redesign of The Den’s ground floor in the coming weeks as well – watch this space!

At the end of February 3rdCB management team held an exciting and productive meeting (so far as committee meetings can be) so move forward with plans to redesign the ground floor of our HQ. After a lot of hard work we have agreed the prime contractor and tender, and plans are ready with only minor adjustments remaining.

We’re hoping for work to start in a matter of weeks to expand our facilities, with phase 1 offering larger changing rooms, new facilities for leaders, and a dedicated classroom to teach water-based skills in. In due course we’ll be redeveloping the boating yard as well, resurfacing it and building a dedicated camp store / boat maintenance building.

We’re very grateful to the many organisations and individuals, too numerous to mention, who’ve donated their time, skills and funding to us so we can move ahead with the project. If you or an organisation you work with are able to provide financial or technical support to us as we move forward with our expansion project, please get in touch.