I read in an other thread about costs of a dining in night and trying to keep things as cheap as possible.
I am interested in hearing about the general costs that squadrons charge for events like weekends, or fun nights.
I have always been of the make to get it as cheap as possible for the cadets/parents. However after a recent discussion with other sqn commanders and then my cadets it seems as if I have been wrong.
Usually I aim about £20 for a weekend camp an evening activity about £7-8.
Yet other sqns/ organisations as paying £30 for a weekend and anything up to £25 for an evening activity
As a rule, we don’t charge extra for events that we run on a parade night. I’m of the opinion that any cost of equipment and/or venue hire for routine training should be borne by sqn funds. Any social (pizza nights, bowling)events are either fully paid for by the tea bar profits, or subsidised by Sqn Funds.
Average cost for our weekend camps is about £15, with any unspent money returned to the cadets at the end of the weekend.
For us it is a balancing act… We don’t charge to make a profit we charge to cover costs. Depending on the type of weekend we will sometimes fund so much of it especially if it helps run a quality weekend or activity whilst keeping it affordable.
We charged £60 for 5 days last week, and they’ll get £10 back. None if that is profit, it’s all gone on:
Food
Canoe hire
Climbing hire
Entrance to 2 attractions
Fuel
We worked hard to keep costs down, and we had enough people take it up to make it a success. They’ve asked for us to charge more to give them more activities next year so we’ll consider that.
We try to keep costs as low as possible, we don’t make any “profit” however we do tend to build a small surplus in for emergency costs which then if unspent is used to pay for maintenance/replacement of equipment. (Literally £2 or £3 per head which is reinvested in whatever activity has taken place, so if it’s an Expedition it goes on expedition kit). I think it’s important to run as cheaply as possible and if there is money left over refunds need to happen.
Parade night activities it depends what it is, AT where we are bringing in outside skills I expect the committee to subsidise to keep cost reasonable. We subsidise our docials from the canteen. We always do something fun after Remembrance Day as a reward for all the hard work they do in advance, this is fully funded by the Squadron.
Our Weekend Camps tend to come on at between £20 & £30 depending on what we do and what skills we buy in. We have started to build t-shirts into most camps now too.
T shirts that is something I’m not too keen on…
I know of a weeklong blue camp that the CC decided a month before going to ask cadets who wanted a t shirt or hoodie and dished them out when the cadets arrived and when you looked at all the pictures it was as if there was a line between the have’s and the have not’s. I know that was never the CC’s idea but when it was about £45 for both it’s quite a bit to pay out as well as camp and spending money.
Throwing a £45 bill at parents a month before maybe a very big strain on family finances in particular if they have been saving all year. Surely it would have been better if they had a generic white T shirt purchased from a local supermarket.
For a weekend the costings are based on the activities but depending on the sort of things we are doing and distance which has a bearing on the fuel costs, we have a starting point of £20. The cadets get their money’s worth.
However we tend to subsidise through CWCs and uniform staff invariably absorb expenses and we have staff who are qualified, which hides a cost others might not be able to. When I think of what we paid for things from the school for our kids I what we charge to do the same sort of thing in the Corps, we lose sight of what the ‘real costs’ are. I still remember the look on one parent’s face when I explained about annual camp (the way they used to be) and said it was £25, they’d paid £100 for a weekend through the school.
Parents at my school happily pay £140 for a Bronze DofE exped (training and exped) and £220 for Silver exped. We charge £20 for a Bronze DofE which we do locally and up to £50 for a Silver, which goes out of area. Someone at school said I could make over £100 a day if helped out, but they’ve not asked and I’ve not offered.
Our socials tend to be £5 which the CWC insist on to ensure cadets turn up, after we got caught for a BBQ, where only 8 from an expected 34 turned up. There is only so much you can eat or take home. A trip to the local climbing wall is 75% subsidised by the CWC.
In 30 years I’ve never known a parent say anything we do is expensive. In fact it’s more like how do you do it for so little.
I think some of the way we charge goes back to the old CILOR days, where we were able to claim money in lieu of rations for staff and cadets for IIRC for anything lasting 48 hours (so a Bronze DofE) which was a real money spinner. We’d do up to Silver and only charge £5, knowing that any costs could be recouped later. The time period was extended to 72 hours and eventually withdrawn completely.
I have to admit the t-shirt thing passes me by as well. But if it’s something you want to do, factor it in beforehand.
That is the easiest thing to do. If you’ve got enough or have a regular supplier you’ll probably get a discount anyway so £10 might easily disappear for that.
I used to do that for work, but personally haven’t for the squadron. There was a fashion for it at wing AT camps with a quote attached reminding people of the week (and ensuring they aren’t the same) which seems to be popular.
We budget in fuel costs but will ask for an accounts 4 payment to cover it if we can. This is getting harder and harder so costs will go up in future, but in all honesty some will be subsidised by the civcom.
We have an annual Sqn dinner dance, the meal costs £22 we charge cadets 17 and ask adults to pay 27 this subsidizes the cadets. We use fundraising to pay for the disco man and the port sherry and orange juice. It is always the best night of the Sqn’s calendar.
On remembrance day the local Sea Cadets offer a dinner for just £10, with three courses and unlimited drinks! It’s a nice dinner with the mayor there, and they hold a nice auction at the end too. It’s events like these that bring the cadets together, lets them relax and have some fun.
No rights or wrongs in this it’s what works for your Sqn. Tee shirts are fine if they are asked to buy a Sqn one I’m not a fan of one for every event. I’m very aware for some families £50 for a week’s camp is great value for others it’s breaking the bank and I would hate RAFAC to turn into the have and have not