Scouts Afloat

We have received a rather nice message from the Milford and Keyhaven Sea Scouts, who are thrilled to announce the arrival of 4 new dinghies on Monday to kick start the sailing season.

These dingies have been purchased thanks to the excellent support of the local community at a number of fundraisers, such as; the Community Centre’s First Friday Lunch Clubs, where the WI kindly donated the proceeds of their raffle, The Milford on Sea Music Festival Committee and Waitrose green token scheme.  They have also been fortunate to have been in the thoughts of members of our community that have supported them in their Wills and donations rather than flowers

The Sea Scouts have also been brilliantly supported by Topper International, who gave a substantial discount on the dingies to enable the troop to get on the water this season.

The troop leaders are now able to provide our local young people with an opportunity to learn to sail in our beautiful coastal area. The colony offers scouting skills for a whole range of ages groups, which can only be acheive through enthusiastic volunteers.

For the small group running and working with the Sea Scouts, it is quite an achievement to have raised the level of funds that they have, and the generosity of the village just goes on. They send their heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped them along the way.

 

The Sea Scouts can never have enough support or volunteers, so if you would like to join them any areas such as; fundraising, organising the weekly meetings, hut maintenance or have invaluable skills in camping, kayaking, sailing or powerboating they would love to hear from you.

 

If you would like to help, please contact: Amy Cullen on amynaturally@hotmail.com or pop in to see Nigel Harper at Milford Models and Hobbies.

Having reached this excellent milestone, the fundraising is not yet over, as they would still like to purchase some new trollies, a safety boat and general sailing equipment.  

 

To continue the fundraising, they are holding another event, this time 'An Evening of Sea Shanties' on Friday 10th May at the Village Community Centre. Tickets can be purchased from the Community Centre Box Office or at www.moscommunitycentre.org.uk.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

This could be my big moment..........

 

Thinking about it, I consider myself to be a bit of an 'old sea dog', as I have been across to the Isle of Wight on the ferry more than once, and was once master of a hire boat on the River Stour for over an hour. (Why we were late back to the hire point is another story.) 

I have heard that the Sea Shanty evening will feature some 'professional singers', but I am sure that it would be greatly enhanced if I took centre stage for a couple of 'shanties'.  To prepare I have been rehearsing in the bathroom, in spite of my wife banging on the door asking me to be quiet. (They were not her exact words!)  I have to say, the more rum I drunk, the better my singing got.

Having got my set perfected, my wife insists that 'Michael row you boat ashore', 'Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside', and Rod Stewart's 'I am sailing' are not sea shanties. My wife has never captained any sort of boat, so I am not sure how she would know? Sometimes I wonder who the master is in our house.

 

Ah, my wife has just reminded me, ....she is.