Voyageur Council Venturer Advisor’s Forum

Meeting Minutes for December 6, 2005

Scout’s Headquarters - National Boardroom

Final

Name	Group	Name	Group
Al McPhee	1^st Metcalfe	Jim Smith	VRRRT
Alan Griffin	112^th Nepean	Joe Boudreau	1^st Greely Venturers
Anne-Marie Simoreau	28^th Ottawa	John Stalker	1^st Valley Highlands
Bill Bowman	1^st Nepean	Laurel Rosene	1^st Glen Cairn
Bob Dore	1^st Vars - Navan	Mike Jowett	27^th, Nepean
Bob Viney	25^th Nepean	Paul McCarthy	23^rd Nepean
Catherine Snedden	7^th Kanata	Phil Edens	VRSC / LCS
Christian Burchel1	1^st Nepean	Ray Renton	1^st Dunrobin
Dan Karwowski	1^st Glen Cairn	Rod Wilson	Rideau Area
Dave McOnie	104^th Ottawa	Sean Freill	Nepean Rover Crew
Doug MacKinnon	112^th Nepean	Stephen Smye	1^st Wakefield
Doug Proud	1^st Greenwood	Stewart Ross	Nepean Rovers
Jim Montgomery	1^st Glen Cairn	Tim Venus	23^rd Nepean
Jim Peverley	8^th Orleans	Wally Gale	14^th Gloucester

Presentation:

Ali from the scout shop described to the VAF the various types of camp stoves, primarily Coleman models. He discussed the merits of each model, common problems and repair practices.

Note that the Scout shop is an authorized Coleman repair depot and can help groups with problems with their stoves, either to fix or to know when they need replacing.

Past Events:

Food Drive:

Extremely successful, everything up 50%, $11,215 dollars collected, 700 participants collected. Food Banks are very happy. Sorting station ran very well. There was no downtime and was all sorted by 7pm so very commendable for the youth that was out. Next year are amenable adding another full shift if current shifts are full. The Super C store was included so may have additional stores next year and will need more groups to cover.

Candlelight Service for Veterans

Was held on Tuesday Nov 8, and was very nice had limited participation due to the late notice.

Remembrance Day:

This event was very well attended. Alan covered the ceremony. A lone cub put the wreath out at the decision of the Rovers/Venturers which made Alan proud to see the older youth caring of the younger youth. Next year we will ensure we all know where to meet. The meeting place is usually at the post office on the corner at Elgin and then they all assemble from there. This year some groups got separated and could not find the rest of the groups at the event.

Events to Come:

The [Adirondack] Winter Mountain Adventure:

Christian advised that people sign-up quick, as there are already 6 people registered and there is a maximum of 18 per trip. He needs to be firm to keep it controllable. The event is snowshoeing in the Adirondack Mountains, over a 4000 ft peak. They arrive at the huts on Friday night, and snowshoe on Saturday. If people want to do special activities on the Sunday, let Christian know ahead of time so that he can properly plan.

Dates: Feb 17^th - 19^th, and March 3^rd-5^th. Since this event is in the United States, they need the tour permits in a month in advance. Although do not need a passport yet, if have one it does make the trip much easier.

Note that this activity has both challenging and moderate hikes for various fitness levels. Christian usually has a pre meeting to talk about winter clothing and what to wear on the trail to help people be better prepared. There is a suggestion that this will be as part of Feb VAF. This kind of a talk is still worthwhile for general camping. If the youth want to come, that is fine.

Camp Slush:

It is back on this year at the base in Petawawa on March 10 or 11 to the 12th. Forms will be put on the VAF website.

JC Report:

The November event was good and they had about 50 people show up at the Mini Putt Putting Edge across just off Merivale near Costco. They had a lock down from 9 pm to 9 am during which they played games, ate and slept overnight.

December event is Kanata wave pool. This will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 pm on December 17^th. The cost is $5 per person and they hope to get a big turnout. All groups need to come with their forms. Note that the swim will be during public swimming time.

The Winter camp planning is going well. The theme is decades. However this year registration is limited to 80 people due to cabin space. The event will be held on Feb 3^rd to the 5^th. Note that there is a link from the VAF website to the JC website, email address at Joint_council@hotmail.com. The forms have been handed out at the meetings and have been sent out in emails to the members of Joint Council who are on the mailing list.

VRRRT report:

The VRRRT representative provided flyers on the RSVP camp which is coming up in May. It is still missing the cost but that will be in the registration package. Cost is expected to be close to what it was as last year, e.g. 15-20 dollars. It was noted that this will conflict with ScoutTrees and many groups need their ventures at home for this. The Executive then will look at alternative dates although the spring is already pretty crowded.

Service Corps:

Winterlude – There are links on the Voyager Council web site to register for the 11^th-12^th of February. There are also links to RSC site and the event is noted on the event calendar.

Keskinada:

There are opportunities this year to help out at the feed stations on Feb 17-19 up in the Gatineau. The Ventures provide the food and drinks for the 25-50 km racers. They plan to go up Friday night by skidoo or ski and camp out in the huts. This is a package deal and there is no access by vehicle to the sites. Generally everyone comes up together Friday night. The Central station is coordinated by Frank Ellis.

The other station needs volunteers still. There is room for 20 overall as there is a cap on participants. Details will follow once received from Kiskenata coordinator.

New business:

· Christian attends meetings with the Gatineau Park Climbing Coalition (to help to ensure we continue have access to climbing in the park). This coalition is comprised of many climbing groups and organizations and is about to sign an agreement with the NCC about access to the park. They have a code of conduct that covers many common sense items, e.g. minimize impact, stay on trail, respect others, leave no trace, etc.

• Christian proposed that we allocate some of the Venclimb funds to this organization. Donating money to the access fund will go towards doing trail maintenance and place anchors. Since we were saving some of the money to do this anyway, Christian is proposing giving $400 of the current $600 from surplus registration (a separate budget from rope replacement) to leave some discretionary funds for Venclimb.
• This proposal to donate $400 to this Coalition was accepted by the VAF provided recognition for scouts from this donation was received. A consensus was agreed, and it will be recorded in the minutes as such.

· A proposal to replace the relatively new Dunrobin ropes damaged during Venclimb was accepted, and Jim will get a cheque cut for it.

· Rod Wilson, Area Commissioner for Rideau wanted to recognize that Bob Viney completed Woodbadge 2.

· Stewart wanted to note that on January 28, 2006, there will be a Coaching and Mentoring Workshop course with a $15 fee. It will be restricted to 20 participants. Again, if anyone wants the CDs from senior section basic conducted during Rovent, See Stewart for price and copies.

Final agreement was to leave the January meeting as it is with Tim as the chair. The National Office will be open on Tues. and keys are available. Gord Kelly will pick up the keys as there will be a JC meeting that night as well.

Note that if anyone wants to see what the events are for the VAF, look to the website maintained by Bill Bowman at http://www.ncf.ca/~ad554/