My dearest Reading Roadrunners

It makes me immensely proud that you chose to support 1st Charvil Beavers- Cubs- Scouts as your chosen Charity of the year.

1st Charvil Scouts Group, and scouting generally, exists to actively engage and support young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society. We believe in helping our young people fulfil their potential by working in teams, learning by doing and thinking for themselves. We’re working to making Scouting available to all and we’re passion about what we do.

1st Charvil Scout Group is

• Based in the village of Charvil (Reading)
• Run by a committee and leaders who are all unpaid volunteers.
• In its 7th year of operation, founded in 2014
• Started with five six-year-old children who couldn’t be accommodated in surrounding Groups, we are now 90 children strong ranging from 6 to 13 years of age - supported by a committee of 10 volunteer adult leaders. There are currently over 15 potential future members on our waiting lists for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.

It is a very young group with limited funds and is very heavily reliant on support for surrounding well established troops like Twyford and Sonning. However, our parents and volunteers have been working hard to establish relationships, hire our village hall and borrow filing cabinets so that we can store our arts and crafts. We run weekly meetings, camps, take part in activities as diverse as kayaking, abseiling, local hikes around West Berkshire, photography, climbing and so much more. There’s something for every young person to give young people the opportunity to enjoy themselves, have fun and experience adventure while developing the skills they need to succeed.

There is a variety in which RRR can support us, but equally we are keen to support RRR so we can earn badges. We are excited to invite you to our camps so you can see for yourself. In return we are looking forward to support you at track and local events, and maybe suggest some joined social events. Vroni is working with the RRR events team to put a calendar of events together for you.

The Scouting committee is finalising our online project for the charity link, which I am hoping to be able to share by 15^th May, but please earmark the following link: https://app.thegoodexchange.com/applicants/6923/1st-charvil-scouts-group

For 2021/22 we have a really ambitious fundraising target and we envision to have 3 project available that you can support individually to.

Project 1: Camp, Storage & Equipment: £5,010

• Camp:
  • As a top priority and given the challenges Covid has provided us with we would be in a better position to help struggling families with membership and excursion fees.

This is usually the highlight of the year for the kids. For example, a weekend camp with activities costs approximately £80.00 per child. However with many families struggling financially we believe families might be unable to find funds. Yet we believe that many children have not been exposed to the outdoors over the last year, have not been able to maintain friendships outside the online world and would really benefit from coming together for a weekend away. Available funds would mean we can support all families to ensure that their child does not miss out. We anticipate that we might need to cover 50% of the costs.

• Storage:
  • As a new Group we started from a zero base seven years ago, with no venue and no resources. Over the years we have slowly accumulated equipment cast offs from other Scout Groups and from a private school. This equipment is currently distributed around the parents’ garden sheds! Some have even taken to take out storage on their own.

Central storage would allow us better access and control of our equipment. In the short term we would like to hire storage which would be approximately £150 per month and would love if RRR can help us by covering 50% of the costs.

• Equipment

When we consider equipment, the list seems almost endless, with 25 children wanting to do the same thing at once the requirements quickly escalate!

• Maps, Compasses
• Different types of camping / hiking stoves
• Camp catering equipment
• Hiking catering equipment
• Spare equipment when not owned by members (ruck sacks, sleeping bags etc)

Project 2: Group Equipment: £900

These are larger Equipment expenses such as

• Camp tents / Hike tents
• Hammocks
• Event Shelter

Project 3: Events – Activities: £1,435

• New Activities:

We aim to introduce the children to new and varied activities, these inevitably require funding, which we subsidise where we can.  Examples include:

• A day building and (sinking!) rafts on the Thames costs £20.00 per child
• Visit to Caversham Chalk mines costs £15.00 per child
• Kayak / Canoe / dragon / bell boat / paddle board costs £8.00 per child per hour

Free: Leaders!

• This may seem an odd item but we really could use help from adults prepared to make the commitment to become a leader - at the moment we are having to operate a rota with Scouts!). If any of your members have time on their hands and are interested then please point them in our direction! Or even if they have an interesting skill/ hobby/ profession and can spare a night to “teach” we would love for you to be involved. You could teach beginners guitar, fitness, origami.. don’t be shy!

 

I am hoping to share a monthly update with you and look forward to the RRR support that we all know. As your charity organiser, I am committed to giving as much time as I can to this role as well as volunteering for you as a coach. I am very open to new ideas from members about how we can jointly work together.  Please do not hesitate to come and talk to me at track on a Wednesday evening or email me.

Thank you

Vroni Royle

Charity Coordinator 2021/22

 

Total Raised as of May 2021
£??

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