In Memory of our President Bamber Gascoigne

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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

14th Richmond Open for Bookings (at last)

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Please use the “Login/Register” tab to get a user password, I will let you know details on the (protected) booking page access in the response.

Sorry this has take a while, but our boats have been laid up for the winter, but available now (Jubilant will be on the water in approx 10 days)

The Richmond Bridge Pontoon has only recently returned, and is still being finished, so access a little limited but possible.

Bookings may take a few days as I have to get all our instructors back on the lists , and available.

Bamber Gascoigne – Gone Home

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it is with greatest sadness that I have to pass on the news that our Centre President and friend Bamber passed away on the 8th February
Bamber was a great supporter of the 14th, always with a cheery word to us while we were out on the river with groups of young people, and we all appreciated his wonderful light hearted speeches at our annual Christmas breakfast reunion.  he is a great loss to the Richmond River Shore.

our thoughts are with Bamber’s wife Christina .

Bamber at the Launch of our boat Brynhild in 2013

Gone Home – David Isaac.

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We were all deeply saddened but the sudden passing of our friend David Isaac.
David was the Group Scout Leader of Kew Scouts, and a huge supporter and user of the activities in our boating centre . He would never hesitate to help with our fund raising or activity events.

We have lost a great friend and enthusiastic Scout. He will be sorely missed

more details on the District Web site https://www.richmondscouts.org.uk/news/article/gone-home-david-isaac

Turk’s Pontoon returns to Richmond

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The Famous (and old) pontoon at Richmond riverfront has returned.

The pontoon was built in the 1950s for the Festival of Britain so is in the order of 70years old. The pontoon has been at Turk’s boatyards in Chatham for the last few months, and been refurbished and modified to better serve the floating barge/restaurant. The barge will return to Richmond sometime this year.

The pontoon is still being commissioned, and needs some finishing work and also needs the Brow refitting to allow access to the shore. We hope we can start using the pontoon for our boating activities sometime in the Spring.

Refurbished Turk’s Pontoon at Richmond Riverfront
The Pontoon prior to refurbishment

Covid cancelled Christmas Breakfast

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Dear All,

I am very sorry, but the trends in COVID infections, and the general scientific advice indicated that the risks were too great to hold an event close to Christmas. I consulted with Robin our Group Secretary and Vic and we all agreed.

We are made and sent out the decision on the 16th December to minimise any costs to the Group, and also gives  a chance for the word to spread.  I do feel this is a postponement not a cancellation, we will  celebrate our 100 years history. So I am looking for a date in February to  try again. 

Hopefully some of you celebrated the 100th year of the 14th with a breakfast at home, if you have any pictures and we will put them on our website as I did last year,

We are very sorry for all of you looking forward to meeting up with people not seen for such a long time, but I will be in touch with a new date as soon as practical.

14th Richmond Scout Boating Centre Open for Bookings!

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As from the beginning of August, we are again taking bookings for evening outings on our boats.

Please use the bookings page (under Centre Calendar) and the password for bookings “Viking14” The booking system is still experimental, so please check you get a response with a Subject “New Booking” and contents similar to this :- Your reservation for: 9 August 2021 6:00 pm – 9 August 2021 9:00 pm is processing now! We will send confirmation by email.

I am also starting to do Scout Permit assessments , though this can only be for full Scout members (on Compass) and not occasional helpers.

Here’s hoping to a good remainder of the boating season.

all the Best

Trevor Hall : Centre Manager

Robin Arundel fully functional again

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Robin Arundel and Robin Rescue

After quite a bit of repair work and cleaning Robin Arundel our work boat is Up and running again. She has a new starter motor, and we are gradually cleaning/sanding and resealing the seat slats.

On Saturday 17th April , we took her up through Teddington lock and towed back a couple of Skerrys for Skerrys4Schools and a Scout Home Counties gig for repair. The Work boat behaved herself well.

Seating slats - If anyone wants to volunteer to do the next batch... just let me know, we are about half way through the job

Maintenance work on the Boats

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Hercules sunk

Over the last few weekends I have been repairing damage done to Robin Arundel during the rescue of Hercules in the New Year Hercules sunk a second time, and I damaged the prop and mounting when we ran over a lose mooring line.

RA Whale Pump

Neale also been down to give me a hand by fixing the manual Whale Pump which got debris jammed inside. This pump is tricky to remove and service, but Neale has made things easier by re-tapping the holes so he pump can be dismounted in the future. Neale also helped replace all the other pump piping in the boat, as these hoses had become brittle with age

Robin Arundel jury rig fix

I have finally got round to re-epoxying the damaged prop thrust mounting in the hull , currently jammed into place with blocks of wood. Till now it had been too cold for the epoxy to cure properly

Main Salvage pump hose
Replacement Main Salvage pump hose

Gone Home :- Geoffrey Hall – member and former chairman of the 14th

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I am sad to have to report that my father Geoffrey Hall died peacefully in his sleep on Boxing day, he was ninety years old. He had been suffering from a bad infection, and was not really recovering.

Geoffrey was a Scout in the 14th Richmond Sea Scouts during the war years, his three other brothers were in the services ( Gordon, Peter and Kenneth). My father was always a strong supporter of the 14th , and eventually became Group Chairman for a number of years. He continued to support the Group as it transitioned from a Scout Group to the Boating Centre, and attended almost all the Christmas breakfast reunions right up to a few years ago when he became too frail, but he still was always asking about how things were going in the group.

Trevor Hall – Manager of the 14th Richmond Scout Boating Centre