Valley Venturers is Lower Hutt’s most popular, and coolest Venturer unit! Membership now starts in year 10, and you can stay, like most of us do, right until your 19. Venturers is very different to Scouts, and much more awesome! You decide the program and you run it, the leaders just watch and guide you - and make sure you're not doing anything unsafe or illegal. Kieran, our warranted leader, is our all round handy man working and studying as a quantity surveyor. Dave, the Zone Venturer Leader (who also regularly helps us out) is studying law and politics at Victoria University and is also a qualified outdoor instructor. We want to give you the best experiences possible with your interests and safety in mind. We just open the doors, you have to walk through them. Valley, as we are often known, has been running for seven years. We have had our ups and downs and even at one stage had just two members. However now we have a solid membership of about 25 people, which continues to grow. Check out our calendar to see where and when we are next meeting and feel free to come along to something that appeals to you. Contact one of our Executive members for more information.

What can I get out of Venturers?

Venturers offers two unique award schemes which you complete at your leisure. The first of these is the well-recognised Young New Zealanders Challenge (Duke of Ed). You can choose to either do it through school or you can also do it through Venturers. The cool thing about it is the invites to go on wicked tramps all over New Zealand and the usually free training towards your award. The other award is the “Venturer Award” scheme operating at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels. To start your Venturer Awards and be invested into a Unit, all you need to do is go to an overnight Venturer activity, complete an awards module (which we do regularly) and have someone explain to you personally their experiences of being a Venturer. Easy ay? For the next three levels there are several modules on a variety of topics to complete, but it is completely achievable and fun to do as you will be moving through the award scheme with a group of others your age. After completing the 'Venturer Award' scheme you can apply to become a Queen's Scout, the highest youth award in Scouting. This award is widely reconised by employers as a major achievement. Valley isn't all about award scheme though. Some Venturers choose not to focus on completing their award scheme and instead partake in the social aspect of Venturers. We run many fun events like Extreme Smoothie night, Boat Cruises, Fear Factor and even trying to break world records like time taken to build 1000 sandcastles. We also regularly attend activities with other Venturers from our own Zone as well as all around the Lower North Island Region (stretching all the way up to include Taranaki, Napier, and Hawkes Bay) in Regional events such as Survivor, Venturer Ball, and Flugtag/Fireworks Picnic.

How much will it cost me?

We collect minimal fees each term of $35. These fees go towards Regional and National levies as well as paying for other things such as the hire of the room for our meetings and any expenses we need to run a night. They can normally come out of your fundraising account but we do accept cash and cheques. Your first term with Valley Venturers is free, but you will need to pay before you can be invested. Ask us later about this for more info.

Interested in joining Valley Venturers? Email Ross at chairman@valleyventurers.org.nz