Great River Race 2023 23 September 2023 (updated 23 September 2023) | By Trevor The 14th Richmond Scout Boating Centre had four boats in this year’s GRR, Jubilant, Gordon Hall, Fan Maker and Naiad. All boats completed the race successfully and all crews (seemed 🙂 to enjoy themselves, the weather was perfect with overcast sun, not too hot, and river conditions pretty good. Jubilant with a new invigorated Crew completed the course in the fasted time ever for Jubilant in 2h 47 minutes, Gordon Hall (Thames Watermans Cutter) for the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers with Simon in charge,completed in 2h 11m was 7th fastest overall, and first in three classes (Thames Watermans Cutter, Riparian Borough and City Challenge) Fan Maker (Skerry) crewed by our associated club the Bench Blisters completed the races in a great time of 3h 1m Naiad (Skerry) was crewed by our long term friends and sponsors AREEN and completed the course in 3h 21 mins, pretty good for a first time GRR crew. The Areen Crew are raising money for CRASH – Construction Industry’s Charity Charity! Please Donate on Just Giving here
GoodGym runners – paint Arch Doors(again!) 8 August 2023 (updated 23 September 2023) | By Trevor Liz and her team from the Richmond GoodGym Again volunteered to paint our boatarch doors with Teak Oil. This took two sessions, one on Saturday 29th July to “flat off” the doors with sanding blocks and put a first coat, then a return trip on the following Monday. We are very grateful for the teams help in keeping the boat arch doors in pristine condition.
Jubilant Crew Outing 29 July 2023 (updated 29 July 2023) | By Trevor The “refreshed” Jubilant crew have been out training on the river, a recent trip was captured by Ruth Wadey (photographer – known for regular BBC Weather “Weather Watcher” pictures http://www.wadey.com/ ) , she has kindly let us use these images .
Open for Bookings 8 May 2023 (updated 8 May 2023) | By admin Jubilant setting off from Richmond Pontoon Jubilant was relaunched after a major refit over the winter, she is all pristine and freshly varnished ready for the 2023 season. Bookings can be made for outing on Jubilant or our other boats from our booking page (email the boating centre if you do not have a registered login account) We are also looking for more people to train as instructors, we can run all the courses, and do the assessments for Scout Pulling permits.
Lovely Winters Day for checking moorings 22 January 2023 (updated 23 January 2023) | By admin After a lot of work clearing Robin Arundel’s prop from a couple of metres of tangled rope, and rebuilding the prop thrust plate supports, this Sunday I finally got to taker her for a spin around our moorings by the flowerpot islands to check our boats (bailing, covers ropes etc) Flowerpot Island at Richmond with cormorants The day could not have been better, the flood of a 7.2m (London Bridge) spring tide perfectly cancelling the almost 200cumecs of fluvial flow so the river was flat calm and glassy for about 1.5 hours. It was still very cold , ice in the boats and frost on Robin Rescue, but quite beautiful, tough had to wade back along the river front (glad I had wellies) I just love being on the River! Trevor – Centre Manager
90th Christmas Breakfast 19 December 2022 (updated 16 January 2023) | By admin At last, after two years of pandemic lockdown, we were able to run the Christmas Breakfast face to face again. In the last two years we have had to resort to virtual celebrations at home, with everyone cooking their own breakfast. This year we also celebrated our Centenary (which actually happened last year). The 14th was formed in April 1921, and the breakfasts started about 10 years later. This year numbers were down on normal, sadly we have lost many old friends over the last couple of years. The strike disruption also put a number of people off travelling. We had about 40 people sitting down for a full english breakfast cooked by Neale and Rosemary, supported by a small gang of helpers. In fact , in the tradition of the 14th, most of the people attending helped in some way or other -from serving out plates to clearing and washing up. Thank you to all who attended and helped to keep this 90 year tradition going. Trevor – Centre Manager Everyone had a Centenary Mug to remember event.
Richmond Draw Off and Scout Moorings 14 November 2022 (updated 14 November 2022) | By admin This year we have a two month Draw-Off where the barrier curtain at Richmond Lock is not closed , this means the river drops to its natural level at low tide, and the foreshore and manu of the mooring areas dry out. We treat the draw-off as an opportunity to inspect and repair the Scout moorings and they definitely needed some work. At the start of 2022, we lost one of the pendulum mooring chains, as the chain links dip into the gritty river bed, the links of the chain rub together and eventually wear through. It was a perfect day, as the rain has held off for a week allowing the river level to drop sufficiently to expose the river bed at our moorings, this was dubbed Trevor Island a few yeas ago as I seemed to spend so much time on it . Trevor Island and the boat “Dreckly” It was a perfect day, as the rain has held off for a week allowing the river level to drop sufficiently to expose the river bed at our moorings, this was dubbed Trevor Island a few yeas ago as I seemed to spend so much time on it . So 50m of heavy chain has been bought (about 100kg) and the main groundchain relaid, plus the broken pendulum mooring chain replaced. As we leave Jubilant on our moorings in the summer, the anchors and ground chain have to be in good condition for such a heavy boat. But… all done now, so hopefully all fine for he next few years. Trevor Hall Centre Manager Scout Moorings at Low TIde during the Run-Off
Remembrance Sunday 12th November 2022 14 November 2022 (updated 15 November 2022) | By Trevor A quiet reflection time on the members of hte 14th Richmond Sea Scouts who lost their lives in the war, Especially for me, for my Uncle Gordon Hall who was a Scout Leader in the Group. Trevor Hall Centre Manager
Remembering our Patron, HM The Queen 1926-2022 11 September 2022 (updated 14 September 2022) | By admin The 14th Richmond Viking Boating Centre join the rest of the world in honouring the memory of our Queen Our District Commissioner, Phil Hunt, writes: We are all saddened across the District at the news of the passing of The Queen, the Patron of Scouting across the UK. We remember those occasions where Scouts from the District participated in royal events involving her Majesty such as Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph and forming a guard of honour in Richmond Park during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012. Many Scouts have been honoured with the award of Queens Scout and will continue to proudly wear the award and display the certificate signed by Her Majesty. We look forward to the rein of King Charles III. links between The Queen and Scouting can be found here Trevor Hall – Centre Manager
In Memory of our President Bamber Gascoigne 22 April 2022 | By Trevor A proposal has been made to make a permanent memorial to Bamber on the river by refurbishing the set of river steps near his home , and naming them Bamber’s Steps in honour of all his promotion and support for users of the Thames. please donate if you can on https://gofund.me/749859b1 Bzamber’s Steps (c) Mark Edwards