Welcome to www.lordamory.org, the home of London's only floating campsite. If you are from a youth organisation and are interested in camping on the ship, please visit the camping pages. For international visitors looking for accommodation whilst staying in the UK, visit the accommodation section. (Also known as International hosting) For comments and suggestions concerning the website, please email the webmaster at webmaster@lordamory.org  For additional contact details, simply click the "Contact Us" link below. We hope you enjoy your visit to the site, and continue to visit regularly.

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A fleet of over 100 craft are available from canoes to large motor craft, and can operate within the dock complex and in the tidal Thames. The base is manned by a team of volunteers every weekend in the season from February to November, and rescue cover is available for all customers who visit the base.

The DSP is managed by a committed team of volunteers, who devote much of their time to helping run activities, administration and maintenance. The management team is as follows:

Crew that work at the base undertake many activities, and most are trained to run water activities and weekends. At present, we have 2 keel, 6 kayak, 3 senior kayak, 6 dinghy sailing, 3 senior dinghy sailing, 10 power and 1 advanced power instructors, all of whom are home grown. We regularly run training weekends open to all our staff, so that they can improve upon their qualifications, allowing for a greater variety of activities.

The base not only comprises of the headquarters training ship 'Lord Amory' moored by the dockside, but a modern out-building. This serves many purposes, including housing modern shower and changing facilities, dry storage for our smaller boats and two large workshops in which craft are repaired. This is undertaken by a team of maintenance crew, who voluntarily attend the base regularly (at least once a week) to help put their skills into action. This method allows us to continuously maintain our craft to a high standard, whilst having a permanent team ready to fix things when they go wrong.

Finally, a great success of the project has been the quartermaster's scheme, which has been running for several decades. The scheme provides assistance to water activities with young qualified volunteers, who usually attend another youth organisation such as scouts, guides or cadets. They are fully trained and have excellent opportunities to gain qualifications whilst in the scheme. When they reach 18, and can no longer be a part of this scheme, most choose to stay on as crew. This provides the Project with a continuous, steady flow of qualified young adults which can assist with the running of your weekend.

Our District Uniform

The uniform worn by members of the DSP is not very different to that of the Scout Association's own uniforms. Quartermasters wear a red tee-shirt or sweatshirt with a large chest printed logo, along with a white scarf with the group badge sewn onto it. In addition, they must also wear smart black trousers and shoes for formal events such as colours. Crew uniform is very different, with all members over 18 wearing a navy polo shirt with a small embroidered logo. A sweatshirt, jacket and fleece are also available. All members wear bright red baseball caps with "DSP Staff" printed on them when running water activities, enabling them to be highly visible to visitors.

Outside Activities

Apart from manning the base throughout the year, the quartermasters and crew often get together to improve their group and communication skills. Water activity weekends, barbeques and camps take place. The scheme is also starting to develop its role within the new scouting programme, namely the setting up of an explorer and network scout unit.