**BOAT LAUNCH – SATURDAY 8TH JUNE**

Come along and join us for the official launch of The Smiling Ben on Saturday 8th June, at Margate beach at approximately 11.30am (exact time tbc).

Bring along some food and drink if you’d like and just enjoy a day at the beach, there will also be a chance to have a go in the boat if you are interested but if you’d just like to watch then that is fine too!

The Holy Trinity Sea Scouts were a very big and important part of Ben’s life, he joined them as a Cub at age 7 and was still involved with them helping out as a leader at 19.

They did a lot for Ben in his time with them, and Ben is sorely missed by them all. As a tribute to him, they decided to buy a boat in his memory. With money that was already saved, plus the proceeds raised from the Pavillion Tribute Night for Ben they were able to buy a big red shiny boat :-).

The next thing on the agenda is to get an engine for the boat so we can get it on the water for all the young scouts to enjoy. The engine that the scouts are interested in is the biggest, fastest and loudest one available, as that is the one that Ben would approve of the most! The price of this is approximately £3500, and this needs to be raised before the engine can be bought.

If you have any ideas or would like to fundraise for this, or if you would like to make a donation, then please email me at sam@benmaitland.co.uk. Remember that although this is a boat in memory of Ben it is not only about that but also about providing local young people with entertainment and things to do.

I will update this page with any fundraising event details or sponsorship pages as when they occur :-). So if you are raising money and would like to me to post a link to your donation page then let me know!

Thank you again in advance, we and the sea scouts appreciate it very much.