Voyageur Council Venturer Advisor’s Forum

Meeting Minutes for October 3, 2006

Scout’s Headquarters - National Boardroom

Final

Name	Group	Name	Group
Al Mcphee	1^st Metcalf	Iain Holness	Nepean Area DAC Trng
Alan Clapp	8^th Orleans	Jim McQuaid	112^th Nepean
Alan Griffin	112^th Nepean	Jim Montgomery	1^st Glen Cairn
Andy Walsh	25^th Nepean	Jim Smith	27^th Nepean
Bill Bowman	1^st Nepean	John Dougherty	Odawa Area DAC Program
Bob Viney	25^th Nepean	John Stalker	1^st Valley Highlands
Catherine Snedden	7^th Kanata	Justin Braganza	28^th Ottawa
Chris Tyler	1^st Manotick	Ken Shore	137^th Venturers
Christiaan Burchell	1^st Nepean	Malcolm Volmer	29^th Nepean
Claudio Mota		Nick Wise	137^th Venturers
Cyndy Courtland	1^st Valley Highlands	Paul Bellinger	Lost Childrens’ Services
Dan Karwowski	1^st Glen Cairn	Phil Edens	VRSC / LCS
Dean Smith	2^nd Orleans	Ray Renton	1^st Dunrobin
Doug MacKinnon	112^th Nepean	Steven Smye	1^st Wakefield
Doug Proud	1^st Greenwood	Stewart Ross	Nepean Rover Crew
Dwain Leblanc	25^th Nepean	Terry Graham	1^st Manotick
Eric Hansen	VRRRT	Tim Redpath	1^st Stittsville
Erin Pate	VRRRT Admin	Tim Taylor	123^rd Ottawa
		Wally Gale	14^th Gloucester

Opening: Bill chaired this meeting and round table introductions were held for new members.

Regional Items:

Food Drive: It is on November 4^th, things are up and running and coordinates for each area will be on the event calendar shortly on voyageur website. Already on the site is a reference to the youth coordinator for any youth that wants to participate at the sorting station and for any advisors accompanying them. If there are any questions, Phil’s name is also on website link. Shifts to be determined once they see how many are involved. The station is on Michael street as usual. Stores will be covered from 9 to 5. For store registration, go through the area coordinators.

Service Corps: Remembrance Day is on a Saturday so there is hope for more participation this year. They are asking that youth and leaders come down to the Cenotaph at 9:30 am at Sparks and Elgin to help distribute Pamphlets and flyers and help out in any other way as asked.

There is another event on November 8^th; The Candlelight Service will be held this year at Landsdown Park in the salons. Veterans will be coming in and require assistance to get to their seats and with help holding candles. Participants have been asked to meet at 5 pm, with the service at 6 pm. The service is expected to take about 1 hr.

For both events, the full brown scout formal uniform is required.

VRRRT: The next VRRRT meeting is at Rovent in the mess hall at OPE for 10 am on that Sunday. Senior Venturers are invited as well. It is encouraged that Rovers and all senior Venturers come out to meet each other and Eric. VRRRT is also looking at having a Christmas retreat and they are looking at making it an annual event.

CJ2007: Youth interested in being involved in the leadership team can register as individuals. The cost is $50 plus the food package of $230.

Venturer Cabin: This is a facility for scouts, Venturers and Rovers, on O’Briens’ lake at OPE. It is a ¾ km hike in and sleeps 14. The site has a kybo, a wood stove for heat, a propane stove for cooking and a propane lantern in the kitchen. Rent is a minimum of $50 for weekend or $7 per person. It books up quickly from the late fall to winter period so if anyone is interested, book through the office. Note they have groups coming up from other councils as it is very popular.

Training:

Plans are continuing for the Senior Section Woodbadge or Part II and although they have enough numbers, there is still lots of room. Don’t forget you need the paperwork in for your woggle at least before you attend the session. If you are registered for Part II don’t include your fee when registering for camp as it is included in the course fee. As of today, 5 registered.

As for a Basic or Part I session, there is none scheduled at this time but as soon as there is enough demand identified they will schedule a course. Iain Holness will pass this on to other DACs and when a critical mass is identified, they will schedule something. Iain started a list at the meeting.

If looking for checklists for basic, they are on the resources section on the Voyageur website, and under announcements on VAF website.

Events Past:

Couch Rally: There were problems with group pictures not coming up properly and one group walked away without leaving pictures. They found there were 2 groups registered ahead, and the rest were last minute showups so they need better planning for next year. The thinking is to put it on during the spring to give Guides time to get involved. There were 50 participants for the day and everyone managed to finish the rally. The youth had a fun time. This was something new for the crew and they had some good lessons learned. The challenge this year was the city; they were ok to go ahead with no permits but there were no complaints so we are ok going forward. Another lesson, an advisor be there to make the call on apparel worn by scouts (there was some sloppy dressing). Also they need an advisor with each group to protect the reputation of the group and prevent a group for acting out.

Five dollars of the fee was handed back to the youth for lunch and the other $5 is off to the crests as it is a big one for this year as in future it will only be a flash badge with the year. So now there is $240 towards the next rally. It is anticipated the next rally will be $5 or less.

There have been suggestions that next time they have a BBQ dinner while looking at pictures, or bus everyone to a location and put on a BBQ and a movie, e.g. run the event for 4 hrs, go home, change and meet back or hold the dinner while counting pictures so people are not hanging around with nothing to do. The planners are also thinking next time to try and make it a full weekend event. If there are any questions or concerns, send them to Eric and he will keep planning.

They held off on crests until they knew the total number of participants but they should be in by the November meeting. For this year, Jim’s group won, 27^th/29^th Nepean.

He talked to the manager of the scout shop so that for the December VAF the store will be staying open to allow us to shop when we come for the meeting. Also going to see what he can do for different specials and he will try to get flyer out to us by the Nov. meeting.

OPE Mini work weekend: Thanks to 14^th Gloucester who did incredible amount of work to get the place shut down after summer and ready for the winter season. The weather was great and it went very well.

Venclimb: Those who stayed got a full couple of days of climbing in although on the 1^st day it poured rain until 10:30, but the rock was dry by about 2 pm. On the second day they were not able to accommodate everyone as one of the cliffs was a waterfall from all the rain. Note there is a bunch of gear left over so see Christiaan to get your gear after the meeting.

Thanks to Christiaan for hosting the event. He was presented with a token of thanks (gift certificate from MEC). Christiaan also wanted to give thanks the Laframboise, the farmer who owns the property … and wanted to put aside a couple of dollars to the Access Society.

Badges were ordered for those 93 initially registered. Jim M handed out sheets on registration, participation and fees. The 21^st was the last communication on participation but when everyone got to the site, there were different numbers (those who registered that did not show, those who showed who did not pay). So when he did the math, it still worked out sort of, the bills were all paid, but there is money still to be collected. There is still the remaining question on what to do about registration vs participation so Jim asked that we decide as a group here tonight as to what to do. Resolution of the VAF is that for those who committed on the 21^st were to pay up. If there were still concerns, talk to Jim.

For subsidy funds on ropes etc., go through Jim Peverley to get the money and the allotment. Budget year is September to September so there is not a huge rush, but get your receipts into Jim and talk to him in advance so he is aware of the request.

Joint Council: Stephen and Angela talked and in October there will be an excursion to Saunders farm on the 27^th, from 6 pm to 10 pm. The cost is $15 per person. The September event took place as expected with a good turnout and all went smooth. Bob has asked companies to continue using the parental consent forms that we have been using to prove parents know their child is there as he has no other way to keep parents informed for this age group. Of course still use the outdoor form for your group committee. The Winter camp is planned now for the 1^st weekend in February.

Crazy Canuck: Bill noted it was very successful, with nine teams participating. The event was planned for 5 hrs but the fastest team came in around 4 hrs and the slowest team in at about 6 hrs so the timing was about right. Some considered it a race and some not. The event was moderately challenging until the portage and then it became very challenging which was tough on the smaller youth. Canoers had a tail wind until they got to the point. Youth passed on thanks as they had a ball. In return Bill would like to thank all the volunteers for their help. The winner was between 123^rd Ottawa and 14^th Gloucester who will argue among themselves as to the true winner.

Lessons learned: There was a bit of a bottleneck at the rappel station so next year they need more volunteers helping out there. They had the gear but not the people and lots of participants arrived at the same time. Also they ended up running out of time for the event, i.e. showed up to rappel after the limit to finish before dusk. The evening meal was rushed due to the volume of other groups at the camp, i.e. everyone had to eat in shifts. This year they also did something different, added an “Observe and Record” event. However some raced through and some took it more seriously and found some of the 26 objects. So next time the planners will try to balance this by deducting minutes for what they miss or whatever. One team got lost on the hiking section but got picked up by the support team. A number of cycling teams got confused when they visited the Venture cabin part of the trail.

Rovent: The cost is $28 per person. Erin will email the package if asked. It is also up on the VAF website. Registrants will need to have the forms in to her or in the mail by the 13^th so she can give the total numbers to Marilyn. The key is to let her know. There was about 80 people registered up to the point of this VAF meeting. Tim noted that Marilyn wanted to say that no vehicle of any sort will be allowed on the Clements field as the fields are getting badly eroded by vehicle traffic. People can park on road by Clements and get gear in quickly to the site and then move the vehicle to the upper or lower parking lot (i.e. don’t leave the car there while your group sets up). The camp needs to keep the road clear for emergencies. People are to set up on the Clements and Scouts (or Brownsea) fields. The suggestion is to park across the road from Hanna road to leave lower lots free for more junior campers. Also it is handier to the orchard. Participants can camp anywhere within the area as there is no structure but keep your group compact as there are lots of people there.

Ottawa River Cleanup. Ottawa River Keepers did this last year. This year it is on Oct 28^th at Bates Island, show up at 8 am. Jim will be bringing boats PFDs, throw bags, etc. When the cleanup is done, then anyone can play in the white water. There will likely be about 20 boats available for use. The NCC is supplying all the equipment (bags, etc.). The planners have gridded the islands and each group gets a grid section to clean. The location of Bates Island is around the Champlain bridge. There is no requirement to pre-register. There is lunch and the event is expected to go until 3 or 4 pm. Also it is on the website, Laurel has prepared an information sheet.

Iain Holness had another note: There is a youth leadership training course that camp organizers are asking the youth who are doing an offer-of-service to get under their belts for CJ next year. The DCC for training has asked the DACs for training to do this. The Course leader, John James, is to put together a training team to run this. The objective is for youth to train youth. There is a curriculum set up to do it and now they need Venturers to flesh out the training teams. It is a weekend course. So now we are to go back to our companies and think which Venturers are good to be on this training team. This will be dealt with separately from the pre-camp and they are still sorting out timing. Look for youth who are good at doing demonstrations and have a tendency to be instructors, outgoing and gregarious. The intent is to develop leadership skills in youth. A question raised at VAF is whether youth can go that are not going to provide an offer-of-service for the camp. There is no answer for this as yet but the thinking is first priority is for youth going for offer-of-service.

Next Meeting: November 7th, first Tuesday of the month.