ArcticQuest2026
PROJECT UPDATE 1st October 2025
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Hi folks,
With six months to go I wanted to give a clear update on where we are with the project. Three key issues – the voyage, the dates and the cost. The Voyage: We now have a full voyage proposal and quote from our tall ship partner Oceanwide Expeditition. The Dates: Regrettably the only way we can now make this work is to change the dates of the expedition to later in April 2026. The Costs: As you probably know we still have a significant shortfall in group funds by around £30,000. We are proposing a supporting loan to help with cashflow from the County Trustees but the team of 20 will be responsible for working together to pay this all back by the end of 2026.
Please take the time to carefully read the update information below and if you wish there is also a copy of the full project plan. Then please respond to the following survey. It is essential that all 20 participants complete this ASAP. By midnight on Friday 3rd October at the latest. Under 18s please share and discuss these answers with your parents.
Yours In Scouting, Alan Noake (GLOBAL PROJECTS)
THE VOYAGE
The primary objective of the project has always been to undertake an adventurous expedition ‘Under sail in the Frozen North’. We understand and respect that this was one of the key reasons why most participants signed up for this experience in the first place. There are only a limited number of tall ship options available in the Arctic Circle. Early on we identified two ships that could potentially provide the sort of adventure experience we were seeking.
The original budget and costings were based upon early discussions held with Swan Expeditions who own the Noorderlicht tall ship. However, after nearly a year of very promising correspondence with their sales manager he left the company. He clearly hadn’t done a proper handover to his fellow Swan Expeditions staff members. By the time we realised he had left the company they had regrettably taken another booking for April 2026 and were unable to offer us any alternative.
So, at the end of 2024 we therefore resumed discussions with our ‘back up’ provider – Oceanwide Expeditions who own the s/v Rembrandt van Rijn. They gave us an indicative quote for chartering the ship however it was considerably more than the quote we had originally had for the Noorderlicht. With some adjustment of the figures we still managed to make this work within the planned budget.
Oceanwide also explained that a special licence would be required from the Norwegian Government to carry out landings from a tall ship from the waters around Svalbard during April. They had some concerns about our proposed voyage dates (Friday 10th April – Friday 17th April 2026) being so early in April and have also subsequently lost another client’s contract immediately after our voyage which has significantly impacted their scheduling.
THE DATES
Negotiations have continued during 2025 and after much detailed discussion we have now finally received a full proposal and quotation from Oceanwide. (See appendix G). However, the bad news is that this proposal is based on the condition that we accept a change the dates for the voyage to Friday 24th April – Friday 1st May 2026. Whilst this now necessary change of date may not present a massive hurdle to those taking time of work, we realise it might be significantly more difficult for those of university age to adapt to these new dates.
Some redeeming good news is that in the circumstances we have managed to negotiate a £9,000 discount which will help ease the previous tightening of the budget just a little and ensure a better level of contingency for the project.
THE COST
At the time of writing the team have reached just reached over £90.000.
JUST GIVING VIEW (AS OF 30/10/2925)
Reconciling the accounts with County Office up to the end of October 2026 the actual project income to date amounts to £92,375.72. A non-trivial amount. However, to reach the £133,320 total required to properly implement the project a further £9,939.93 still due in from individual fundraising/payments and a further £31,004.35 from group fundraising efforts.
Despite some sterling group fundraising efforts from most of the team to get to this point this is still a very concerning shortfall six months before the proposed expedition. The climate for fundraising generally is tough right now. The charity sector is currently facing a “big squeeze” due to financial pressures and increased competition. Many organisations are contending with donor fatigue and declining donor numbers, especially in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.
We have been implementing an ongoing group fundraising plan (See Appendix F) however time is now running out, and it falls to the following few methods to bring in any final group funds by the end of the year:-
- Group JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/arcticquest
- Merchandise sales (including badges and bears) and food concessions at events.
- Final Annual ArcticQuest Online Auction – December 1st – 10th 2025.
- November 22nd Grand Quiz. [PROPOSE CANCELLING DUE TO NO TAKE UP]
- Dec 6th Ollie Breed’s Fundraiser Event.
- Ongoing Grant & Corporate Sponsorship Applications.
Being realistic we are still going to be looking at a group fundraising shortfall of around £20,000 – £25,000 by the end of the year. On that basis we are approaching the County Trustee board for a £25,000 loan to be paid back by further group fundraising and/or individual participants by the end of 2026.
Below is the fully updated project plan as of 1st October 2025…