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The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 8:53 pm
by Ian
Here is the latest news regarding children’s activity for Sunday morning (22 June) at Stourport.

After lots of negotiation, we have finally hired a Pirate Ship to pick up at Lickhill Manor and take a boat load of kids down river to the Hampstall Inn, and back. The ship will leave the jetty at Lickhill at 10am, arrive Hampstall 10.45. There will be onboard stories and tales from Captain Jo Pigeon, and “music, singing, and lots of fun!” (it says here).

At Hampstall there will be an organised treasure hunt, which has been arranged by the ship’s crew. The ship will then depart Hampstall at 12 noon, arriving back at Lickhill 1pm.

The crew will all be dressed as pirates. Kids are encouraged to dress accordingly. Minimum age is 4, maximum age is 13. The ship is licensed for 50 children, and up to 10 adult supervisors. We need a minimum of 5 adults to make things legal.

The hire of the ship is £500. Kids will be charged £10 each, volunteer adults will go free. Tickets will be served on a first-come basis at the Bongo Shop on site from Friday morning.

So the question is: who wants to volunteer to dress up as a pirate and supervise a bunch of screaming kids for 3 hours? PM or email or post here if interested (me hearties).

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 8:59 pm
by mobilecat
It sounds wonderful except that I would not be happy leaving my child in the care of parents I dont know and I can't imagine other people would either. I assumed if I booked my child on this I (or his dad or both of us) would take him as a family event which I thought this was going to be. I imagine all the parents of especially the younger children will feel the same way. I know my son would be gutted if he knew other children were going and he wasn't but he wont be going if we wont either. I think this needs thinking about. Other poeples parents are not police checked and should not be supervising children who are not their own and dont know them. It needs to be a kids and parents activity, not a certain number of supervising adults to kids they dont know.

Any thoughts?

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 9:26 pm
by Ian
Phil, the guy who runs up and down the Severn doing this for a living, is fully registered.

If you are unhappy about letting your children out of sight, why not volunteer to be a supervisor?

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 9:28 pm
by Ian
Thanks to the 2 volunteers, Dave & Ann =D>

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:03 pm
by beachguild
Hi Ian
No worries on volunteering. If any parent has worries similar to mobilecat I understand but would point out that Ann (she is going to be the one with an imitation parrot nailed to her shoulder :) :? ) is CRB checked in connection with our local after-school-club, Nibblers (references available if required). Perhaps we could have another volunteer that is CRB checked with a similar organisation - there must be plenty of you out there. That should allay most parents fears I hope.

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:14 pm
by B*Witched Blingo
I'm CRB checked if I can help.. Mother of 3. Gonna book in tomorrow by phone for the Blingo Squadron. But we can't get there by Friday Morning for tickets which is a shame.. I have to work with teenagers till dinner time.

I thought tho' that CRB applies only to your current position and must be resubmitted for each case. But that may be for paid employment only... Food for thought... Sorry to complicate such a wonderful experience for the children..

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:20 pm
by roosteruk
mobilecat wrote:It sounds wonderful except that I would not be happy leaving my child in the care of parents I dont know and I can't imagine other people would either. I assumed if I booked my child on this I (or his dad or both of us) would take him as a family event which I thought this was going to be. I imagine all the parents of especially the younger children will feel the same way. I know my son would be gutted if he knew other children were going and he wasn't but he wont be going if we wont either. I think this needs thinking about. Other poeples parents are not police checked and should not be supervising children who are not their own and dont know them. It needs to be a kids and parents activity, not a certain number of supervising adults to kids they dont know.

Any thoughts?
Sorry Cat, take this whichever way you want, but this is a regular organised childrens thing.
The staff will have had to pass a vetting process due to todays society so there is one hurdle covered.

Cotton wool and apron strings and all that, but do you spend time getting to know the teachers, teaching assistants, caretakers, dinner ladies, etc, etc before you would let your little un start a school?

Todays society does not teach kids to harden up, become self dependant and learn life. That's why there are so many youngsters getting into trouble. Parents deny emphatically because they brought thier little uns up by holding thier hands at every oportunity, thier little Johnny/Jenny would never do that, well it usually is them. Its called rebellion, I know, I have a son who went off the rails at school for a short time. Being born with a heart murmer and asthma, he was mollycoddled to the hilt, then in the early years of high school, he rebelled coz he thought we would always back him and he would get away with it.
I learned quick, apologised to the teachers, then left them to it and he soon calmed down. He is now doing brilliant in school. Out of all 4 of my kids, I thought he would be the one that went onto drinking in the street, vandalising things, etc, but he is a star. He is doing well in a local Junior Amature Rugby League Team, receiving an award for top tackler last week at his presentation and the team (after only forming last year) have won thier league and gone up to division 2, a great tribute to the dedication that these youngsters have achieved.
I am proud of all 4 of my kids, but our Roo has a bit more praise, because he turned himself around after realising he would not have his hand held forever.

I am sorry for the tone, but todays parents are too untrusting and overprotective. I know your kids are the most precious thing you could ever possess, you just need to let them off the leash once in a while.

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:23 pm
by roosteruk
ChellandAdy wrote:
I thought tho' that CRB applies only to your current position and must be resubmitted for each case.
You are correct Chell.
I have just asked Caz, she is CRB checked, but would require a resubmission for other area's.

Karl

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:29 pm
by Ian
Well, all I can say is that if this is not resolved very quickly indeed, I will not be stumping up the £500 advance fee and the pirate ship shall be cancelled.
:(

I have emailed the company running the ship for clarification.

By the way, I agree with with Rooster about the mollycoddling and over-protection, but I don't want to get this thread sidelined. I've got a pirate ship to book (or cancel)!

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:35 pm
by roosteruk
If you are CRB passed and volunteer. Caz is sure it is not transferable, but she will ask the Headteacher at her school tomorrow.
She has just passed her NVQ2 as well, so is safe to look after your precious cargo ...hehe...ship...cargo... :roll: ...never mind.
We are trying to sort out going, so Caz will volunteer, to baby sit for your kids if her CRB cannot be used by the company running the trip. She is allowed to Baby Sit for you if you ask her and any other trusted parents.


Ignore the chains and cane she carries and the small handcuffs...the knife in her back pocket is not that real and the bottle of whiskey marked pop shouldnt do too much harm..... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:45 pm
by John the sparky
quite agree Ian, and £500 is alot of money to pay out..... for that money I'd expect (possibly wrongly) for it to be all above board....

as I said, I'd quite happily let Ella go.... but I'm a bloke, and Lucy is at work... so can't ask her opinion!

I wouldn't want Ella to go if it was a dodgey shambles.... but I don't think that is likely to be the case.... I'm sure Ian didn't just pluck the first boat owner with fancy dress....

so thanks Ian for the effort, and fingers crossed


John

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:32 pm
by mobilecat
I wasn't trying to start a row or even a debate about who should or shouldn't take our kids, whether they should be police checked or if the staff running the trip were capable and safe to look after our kids. I am not suggesting that the company are not above board in any way.

What I was saying is that I had clearly misunderstood because I thought this trip was going to be aimed at children with their parents and that it clearly was something else alltogether. I was also saying that if parents are volunteering to supervise other people's children, do the parents that are handing over their children, know who they are handing their children over to and the answer to this is NO. This is not a question of being untrusting or overprotective. There are hundreds of people coming to the meet who have bongos. Do we know them all - NO. If you are prepared to hand your child over to someone you dont know then that is your choice but its worth thinking about.

If the company regularly do this for their business and do it properly then not only will they have crb clearance (like I and many other people do have incidentally) but they will have it for every member of staff that they use and they will be able to cover the safe adult to child ratio on their own OR they will expect parents to accompany and be responsible for their own children.

I was just drawing to people's attention that effectively if this is how the trip will be organised then the adults either have to volunteer to look after other people's children or not go at all which I would think lots of parents (and children) would not be happy doing.

Personally I think it would make sense to see how many children we have (to make sure we have enough children to make it viable) and then ask that younger children are accompanied and that the children whom are a little older go unaccompanied if appropriate. It is only one solution and I am sure there will be lots of other suitable alternatives.

In answer to some questions;
-no my child is not molicoddled and if he was, that would be my business
-yes I am very careful who looks after my child and I think thats a sensible approach
-yes I certianly took the time to check out who looks after my child at school and at after school club.

Ian I dont see that there is a problem or anything to resolve. I am simply suggesting that people consider how this will work and if they are happy then great, if not, thats their choice.

It sounds to me like a great trip and I know for a fact that my son would love it. He loves boats, water, pirates and treasure hunts. Would I feel comfortable supervising other people's children that I didn't know - no I am afraid I persionally wouldn't. Would I be happy that parents that I didn't know supervise my child - no I am afraid I personally wouldn't. Would my son be upset if he couldn't go - yes of course!!

Like I said - I am not after a row I was just responding to Ian's posting.

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:35 am
by John the sparky
I've checked with relevant people :shock:

Lucy is happy, and Ella is excited about it :lol:

I hope it is going ahead now!! [-o<


John

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:09 am
by Ian
To be on the safe side, I am checking with the Severn Boat Company about their accreditation, but I can't imagine there will be a problem. Also, there was an emergency policy review meeting of the Pirate Ship Organisational Committee this morning when the following motion was passed.

"Adults will be allowed to accompany their children but must pay the full child fare of £10".

Re: The Pirate Ship

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:47 am
by mobilecat
Ian wrote:To be on the safe side, I am checking with the Severn Boat Company about their accreditation, but I can't imagine there will be a problem. Also, there was an emergency policy review meeting of the Pirate Ship Organisational Committee this morning when the following motion was passed.

"Adults will be allowed to accompany their children but must pay the full child fare of £10".
Sounds very sensible to me =D>