Longcraig Update – February 2025
Looking forward to 2025 Our online booking system goes live in just a few weeks. So, if you or your section or your Group has any plans for a water activity event – either at Longcraig or elsewhere – that is anything out of the ordinary for a regular activity booking – get in touch! By planning early, we welcome any suggestions for events or activities that we can support or indeed even run for you. This could be a special anniversary, or just a group day out by the seaside messing about in boats. How to get in touch? getinvolved@longcraig.info Longcraig Net Zero Project The solar panels have continued to generate energy for us every day through the winter – although at a much-reduced rate as the days are much shorter. During the very cold spell in January, the output fell even lower – we think this was due to frost build up on the exterior of the panels on the roof, so we need to watch out for that. But already, at the end of January, we are noticing the difference, and we are gaining enough energy to keep all the background things operating, and to provide a little bit of warmth when we have people in at the Centre. The next few months will see a rapid growth in the energy generated – if you’d like a quick tour of what we’ve achieved, please give us a call to arrange a visit. In just a few days from now, our total energy generation (since last July) will surpass 5 Megawatt Hours – that’s enough to charge up a small Electric Vehicle 100 times! Protecting our beach Although the daylight over the winter has been short, and we’ve had several spells of very cold frosty weather, we have kept on with improvements to our shore defences as time permitted over the past months. So far, this work has been successful and is much improved upon how it was at the end of the summer. We’ve been very fortunate that the sea that sometimes takes away our shoreline sometimes also helps us repair it, with large lumps of timber washed up during some of the winter storms. We are currently planning how best to prepare and locate the big one (10 metres x 40ccm x 40cm) which will be placed just in front of our buildings and give us much needed storm protection for many years to come. As always, we can still make good use of: – Heavy duty steel stakes (such as reinforcing bar) – Heavy duty pegs or pins (larger than tent pegs but same idea) – Topsoil – Grass or turf Please just get in touch if you think you can help with any of these ingredients used in the baking of a strong shore defence! Training Opportunities Here are details of some firmed training opportunities early in the spring this year: Paddleboard training /Assessment Day has now been arranged, this will be held as two One Day sessions over the weekend of 8/9 March 2025. The Assessor team from Lochgoilhead will be leading this event to support our own activities. The aim is to either assess for a permit or provide a suitable plan to each person to get one. Beyond that, we can offer courses in: Dinghy sailing Kayaking Powerboating Raft Building Marine VHF Radio Which can lead to national qualifications if you wish to gain one of those, and/or to a Scouts Activity Permit which then enables you to lead activities with your own groups of young people. Many aspects of seamanship such as: weather and meteorology; Tides and Currents: Basic navigation skills; knots, lashings and ropework. We can also provide course for Badges for Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers and Young leaders. These can in some cases cover the entire syllabus of a particular badge, and in many cases can cover one or more elements of a wider scope badge. There are many badge options relating to water activities – there’s even one for ‘helping out at activity centres’ which may be of interest! We strongly recommend having a discussion with us about what you might like to cover, how we can support that, and how best we can plan it in for next year – or even the year after! For information on, or to register an interest in, any of these courses please contact us at getinvolved@longcraig.info Volunteering? Last year we welcomed a good number of new volunteers to help us operate the Centre and to help deliver the activities that young people want. As the demand for our activities grows and we constantly seek to expand what we can offer, we need more volunteers to help us implement our plans. We now have a super-duper warm up to date activity centre to welcome volunteers into! We’re still happy to hear from any potential volunteers whether your interest is on the water or off the water supporting the Centre. Just get in touch for a chat, or come along to one of our Volunteer Drop In Sessions at Longcraig: Tuesday 25th February at 7pm Saturday 15th March at 1pm We’ll take care of the rest! Do please let us know if you would like to come along to any of these sessions. getinvolved@longcraig.info
Longcraig Update – November 2024
Looking forward to 2025 Our planning for 2025 is now under way. So, to help avoid disappointment, if you or your section or your Group has any plans for a water activity event – either at Longcraig or elsewhere – that I anything out of the ordinary for a regular activity booking – get in touch! Up to the end of this year, we welcome any suggestions for events or activities that we can support or indeed even run for you. This could be a special anniversary, Akela’s big birthday, a celebration of something special – or just a group day out by the seaside messing about in boats. Does your Group or your District have an ASU team – we might be able to help with arranging an activity day for the ASU – we don’t always exclusively do things for young people. No matter what your idea, get in touch and see if we can turn your idea into an event! For example, although we are not yet able to routinely offer our activities to younger sections (Squirrels, Beavers) we can do so, and sometimes the best way to approach this is through a Group event which could incorporate some boating activity for Beavers within it. How to get in touch? getinvolved@longcraig.info New Compass benefits Looking forward to the new Membership Database which is rolling out very shortly? One of the things it can make easier for adult members is applying for an Activity Permit. This is all done within the database online package – you simply click on the appropriate link, and it takes you through the process of making an application. Selecting an Activity Assessor will also be much more visible – suitable assessors will appear on your screen, and you just have to select one. Don’t pick the best looking one – all the assessors will assess people to the same standards and all assessments are now done in conjunction with another assessor – so there’s no Good ones nor Bad ones! The assessment process for Permits is not changing – it’s just the process flow that will be much more streamlined and available to all within the new system. New Tractor Our final acquisition of 2024 was a replacement tractor that we use for moving boats up and down the pier – especially our safety boats which we have to launch and recover every time we are running activities. This new Solis tractor replaces our faithful orange Kubota, which we acquired (second hand) in 2009, and which is starting to show some signs of its age. The new tractor was picked from around 6 different options and was selected on the basis of Best Value for purchase cost, equipment and features, trade in value for the old tractor, and overall suitability. It’s already been waxed in the hidden parts underneath so we can minimise the damage caused by the salty water atmosphere that we encounter so close to the sea. This tractor was funded by a generous grant from the Bells Nautical Trust and a further generous legacy from the Ken Thomson bequest fund, we are gratefully indebted to both funding sources. Neil welcomes the new tractor to Longcraig. And the old tractor bids farewell to its favourite view! Shoring up the shore defences Over the past few weeks, we have been busy protecting ourselves and Longcraig from the potential of stormy seas which from time to time attempt to engulf the shoreline around our building. For many years now, we have successfully kept those storms at a safe distance, by installing and maintaining a defensive barrier along the boundary between the beach and the grass areas to the front of our building. These defences need some repairs from time to time, and this year we have carried out some areas of refurbishment. These involve: large pieces of timber – we regularly find them washed up along the coastline and carefully retrieve the best of them. Here’s a view of a section we’ve just repaired: (you can see how close to the waves it can get!) Strong metal stakes to retain the timber in position – horizontally and vertically – so it doesn’t get washed out with the surge waves (this was why we were looking for things like old reinforcing bare earlier in the year: Heavy thick soil to infill behind the timber Turf or grassy vegetation to knit the soil together and spread a root system deep into the ground. Strong netting attached to the outer faces of the timber, then over the grass and securely pegged down to limit erosion by the sea and to keep the grass in place until it establishes its root system. Big thanks to everyone who has assisted with this over the past few weeks of settled autumn weather – just made it before the winter starts! As always, we can still make good use of: Heavy duty steel stakes (such as reinforcing bar) Heavy duty pegs or pins (larger than tent pegs but same idea) Topsoil Grass or turf Please just get in touch if you think you can help with any of these ingredients used in the baking of a strong shore defence! Training Opportunities Our training programme for 2024 has now completed, with the final course running last weekend – a Powerboat 2 course. All the candidates on this course were members of the Longcraig ASU, their funding of the course fees was supported by the SHQ Development Fund for adult training which is available to all adult members undertaking relevant training courses. We are as always grateful to SHQ for supporting training activities like this throughout the year! Here are the intrepid candidates last Sunday enjoying the Forth with just 4 degrees C around them! Still in the diary in early 2025: Paddleboard training /Assessment Day has now been arranged; this will be held as two One Day sessions over the weekend of 8/9 March 2025. The Assessor team from Lochgoilhead
Longcraig Update – October 2024
Looking forward to 2025 As 2024 draws to a close we appreciate that a small number of Groups were disappointed this year, due to having a few activity bookings cancelled as we did not have enough of the right kind of volunteers available on the day, or because the weather conditions were such that it was not safe to proceed. Although our 2025 booking system doesn’t kick in until early next year, we’d like to give anyone affected by these disappointments the early bird first choice of an activity slot for next year ahead of time. If your Group falls into either of these categories please get in touch to discuss what options are available for you: please contact bookings@longcraig.info in the first instance and we’ll help you from there. LONGCRAIG – NET ZERO – how it all works Last month, we announced the fantastic news that the Net Zero project at Longcraig, installed earlier this year, had gone live and was producing enough electricity to enable the Centre to operate. This month, as promised, we’ve got more detail about the systems we installed and how they all work. Read on! Main objectives The principal purpose of installing the renewables was twofold: To present a ‘greener’ appearance to the Centre and how it operates B) to reduce our annual bill for utilities (mainly electricity) following the exorbitant cost increases inflicted over the past couple of years. This is how it all strings together – Main power generation – Solar PV. The proposed panels were selected to combine a comfortable fit, without crowding, on the available roof space. Initial rough calculations estimated the roof could support around 16kW capacity, the supplier’s selected proposal settled at 15.84kW., based upon an installation of 36 panels each 440W. Generation capacity clearly follows both a daily predicted curve (assuming good sun conditions) and also seasonal variations which can be computed based upon location, roof angle, surrounding shade/shadow and other geographical factors. Bird’s eye view of Longcraig showing the solar panels fitted on the roof Theoretical daily power generation by month. (Ignore the consumption data, based upon standard consumption) Energy Storage: Electrical energy – Batteries: we selected 4 x 5kWh batteries totalling 20kWh which closely emulates the 21kWh expected theoretical consumption. The batteries have a maximum linking capacity of 5, so we retained the option to fit one further one in the future. Four batteries fitted neatly below the switchgear and power inverters Thermal energy – Hot water tank: power can be sent directly to the hot water exchange tank which contains around 300litres of water, which then transfers heat through coils to the domestic hot water outputs. Control of the energy applied to the tank is further enhanced by a Solar Boost unit which actively directs power when it is required or when there is surplus energy available. The Solar Boost box sends excess power to the water tank to heat up the water Direct feed – the PV energy drives directly to any building consumption required during generation hours. Heating – hot water: As part of the facilities upgrade, the incoming water supply was separated as it entered the building. One pipe goes directly to the kitchen, the other serves the cold water tank and thence the toilets and hot water system. The main hot water tank is described above, and supplies hot water on demand for showers, wash hand basins throughout the customer facilities. A separate 30 litre hot water storage device was installed in the kitchen, adjacent to the sinks, which provides almost instant hot water on demand. Whilst not an integral part of the renewables project, this enhancement avoids the need for the kitchen taps to ‘waste’ hot water from the old tank location, amounting to some 30 metres of piping each time the tap is opened. Rough calculations indicate a saving of up to £350 a year based upon energy prices in 2022 through this element alone. Kitchen water heater – right beside the sinks, stores up to 30 litres of water ready to use. Space heating – customer facilities: This is provided by way of an Air to Air Heat Pump, one external pump unit providing heat to 5 separate outlets covering the two main changing rooms, two toilet and shower areas, and the staff facility. The pump unit can generate just under 11kW of heat output, and is powered by the PV generated electricity at a maximum rate of 2.8kW. (an efficiency factor of 3.92) Each of the 5 outlets can be independently controlled for: temperature; fan speed’ horizontal and vertical air flow direction. Heat up time from cold is around 10 – 15 minutes. The external Heat Pump unit neatly fitted behind the toilets One of the five internal heaters Space heating – other areas: Providing Heat Pump heating to the kitchen, workshop and two upstairs training rooms was not going to be possible without installing a complete second Heat Pump installation. Because of the much more sporadic nature of the heat demand of each of the four spaces, it was decided to adopt a much lower cost, but more fuel hungry when in use, installation of Infra Red Heat bars in each room. Once again, each is independently controllable for temperature, and they can be adjusted to optimise the heat output to the areas where people are most likely to benefit. These heaters are quick to heat up, only warm the people in the rooms, and don’t clutter the floors! All of the heating is controllable by phone Apps, which can also set timers, over-rides, and instant adjustment through the WiFi within the Centre. So, what’s the benefits? Our shower areas and changing rooms are now warm! BUT, the warmth also helps dry them out, so they are much less damp and musty; the floors are easier to sweep out and when mopped they dry off in a short time. There is plenty of hot water to service all our showers, and it doesn’t run