Well done to our Scouts Abbey, Imogen, Jack, Andrew and William who powered our Bursledon Gig “Sir Harry” in the Thames River Pageant in tribute to the Queen. This was a truely wonderful day and it was a great honour to be taking part in such a historical event. I was very proud of you all for completing the 9.5 nautical miles from Putney to South Dock under oars keeping to the pace of 4 knots and no tow! The “Sir Harry” crew must have been the youngest to complete the distance. A very big well done to all.

Thanks to those of you who travelled up to London on the day to support us. We did hear “Come on Netley Sea Scouts” on several occassions. We also met Ben Fogle and Helen Skelton. Pity no Blue Peter badges !

Updated : 1st July 2012

Pageantry on the Water

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Thames River Pageant

Sunday 3^rd June 2012

Sir Harry and Netley Sea Scouts

Little did I know, in October 2011 that the 4^th Itchen South (Netley) Sea Scouts would be taking part in the largest Pageant in history when I completed the form in to register an interest in taking part in the Queen’s Diamond  Jubilee Thames River Pageant..

We were in jubilation when an email was received on 30^th December confirming we had been accepted to take part.

The boat we were to row in the pageant was “Sir Harry”, built in 2010, and was named after Sir Harry Crichton, Hampshire’s first County Scout Commissioner. The group is honoured to carry his name as “Sir Harry Crichton’s Own”. Sir Harry lived at Netley Castle and was a good friend of Sir Robert Baden-Powell who stayed at the Castle on his visits to Hampshire. The Netley Castle boathouse was the early home to the Scouts water activities. It is now a private home.

“Sir Harry” is a Bursledon Gig of 15’ 2” LOA and can allow up to 6 scouts to row plus one coxswain. These boats are based on a design of a Falmouth Oyster Punt. One of these boats ended its days donating its body as a plug for Cygnus Marine’s CY15, built for years on the Fal. “Sir Harry” made its first outing for the 2010 Bursledon Regatta, where several of these craft meet to race on the River Hamble. These craft also compete at The Hamble River Raid and Netley Regatta. The boat was named by Mr Eric Woodsford an old Netley Sea Scout from the 1920’s at the Jubilee Sailing Trusts Pumpkin Festival in 2010.

The 4^th Itchen South (Netley) Sea Scouts can trace its roots to the early days of scouting, the group was formed by September 1908 and registered in June 1909. The first Chief Sea Scout was Admiral Lord Charles Beresford who was a cousin to Sir Harry. It is difficult in the midsts of time to ascertain when Sea Scouting started at Netley.

The most difficult part of the preparation process was the crew selection. Eventually the crew selected were five Scouts and two leaders : – Abbey Robins, Imogen Beesley, Jack Simmons, William Garrod, Andrew Pimm, Carl Robins – Scout Leader, Kevin Earl – Group Scout Leader.

On Saturday the boat was trailered up to its launch point in Chiswick at the University of London Boat Club, where Sir Harry was removed from its trailer ready for launching, and the trailer towed across London to the Surrey Docks ready for recovery the following day.

Sir Harry was launched at Chiswick on Sunday morning at around 1000 with the assistance of the Maori team from New Zealand. The University of London Boat Club was the base for all the New Zealand teams taking part in the Pageant, and we were honoured by a visit from the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. Unfortunately the Scouts were stuck in Putney, some four miles down River, unable to get to Chiswick.  “Sir Harry” was towed to Putney Embankment by the team “Young Kiwis”, who were rowing a boat from the Docklands Scout Project. We are deeply indebted to the “Young Kiwis” who helped out with the tow. At Putney Embankment our Scouts boarded Sir Harry for what was to become the largest Pageant in history with a 1000 boats taking part to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. It was a short row to Battersea Bridge and the start of the Pageant, where we passed the Queen who was on board the “Spirit of Chartwell”. This is where we saluted her Majesty the Queen. We then had a 9.5 mile row to Tower Bridge and beyond to our destination at Surrey Docks.

We were encouraged by the cheers of support for us. Now and then we would hear a cheer and shout from the masses of spectators assembled on the banks, “Come on Netley Scouts”. “Sir Harry” is very identifiable with “Netley Sea Scouts” in big letters on the side of the boat. We knew some other members of the group were coming up to cheer us on, which included Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. They came up by train, being looked after by Jan and Christina our Cub and Beaver leaders respectively, together with some parent helpers. They all had a great time despite the long wait in the heaving crowds, and the soaking rain on their way back to Waterloo Station. The cheers of support were appreciated, even though we couldn’t identify them amongst the sea of faces on the embankment.

Whilst rowing we met and had a chat with Ben Fogle and Helen Skelton from the BBC, rowing a Thames Skiff. We enjoyed the sights of London from the River and the whole atmosphere was wonderful. We eventually passed the HMS Belfast and soon under Tower Bridge, with a further 2.5 miles to go to the Surrey Docks, where we had to lock in. This was the most gruelling as we had to maintain the 4 knots with the wind increasing and was more on the bow, it had also started to rain as we passed under Tower Bridge. A PLA launch was near by keeping an eye on us, encouraging us along, and when the Scouts were offered a tow, it was declined. This spurred them on to complete the distance under oars and pick up the pace. I was very proud of them all. They must have been the youngest team to have completed the distance without a tow. We also made it into the Guinness Book of Records (together with the other 999 boats) for our participation in the largest pageant.

We eventually made it to the lock gate at South Dock, and had a long wait to lock in due to the numbers of boats. We managed to land the Scouts ashore into the care of our shore support team. This enabled them to change into dry gear and warm up. We eventually retrieved “Sir Harry” at the Surrey Docks Water Activity centre for our tow back to Netley. We eventually arrived back at our Netley boathouse at 2300, ready for the “Netley Knees Up” Diamond Jubilee celebrations the following day.

We would like to give our thanks to Mowgli and 4^th Streatham Sea Scouts for their hospitality. They had two gigs in the manpowered section. We also owe our thanks to Erfaan and Richard our shore support team, without their support we could not have managed this event.

Also visit the Scout Association Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/scoutassociation/posts/111381235668137

There is also an article on the Hampshire County website http://www.scouts-hants.org.uk/

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