GRAC
The Gauteng Rover Advisory Council (GRAC) is an advisory council made up of all the Crews within the Gauteng Region. The Rover Advisory Council is responsible for the support and coordination of resources for Crews in its Region. GRAC forms a vital part of the support network for Rovers, not only providing support directly to Crews, organising regional Rover events, but also by representing their interests on Rovering that make decisions affecting Rovering at a Regional level.
The original Rover representative body in the Gauteng Region was established in November 1938 as the ‘Transvaal Rover Executive Committee’. After a change in terminology this body became known as the ‘Transvaal Rover Advisory Council’ (TRAC). With the reorganisation of regional boundaries, the committee responsible for the Gauteng region became known as the Gauteng Rover Advisory Council.
Events
GRAC is tasked with the organising and overseeing Regional Events and Competitions, annual events include:
| Event | Description | Approximate Date |
|---|---|---|
| Rover Day | A single day event intended to promote Rovering to Scouts nearing Rover age | Early February |
| Pop Bolton | The Pop Bolton 'Look Wide' Trophy is a Rover competition, traditionally held in the form of an 'incident hike' on the Saturday night nearest to the winter solstice. The competition is organised by a Crew, usually the crew that won the previous year's competition. Trophies are awarded for the overall winner (a landscape oil painting of a Highveld scene painted by 'Pop' Bolton) and, since 1997, a Spirit Trophy. | Weekend closest to the winter solstice |
| RoverTiki | A competition camp where Rover Crews build a raft from drums, rope and poles using pioneering. A Crew or team will stay on the raft for 24 hours and complete challenges whilst being judges by Senior Scouts.
The name RoverTiki is a portmanteau of Rover and Kon-Tiki. The first RoverTiki competition took place at Arrowe Park, Benoni in 2022. |
Mid August |
| Rover Day | An social event where Rovers compete as individuals in a number of categories. Founded in 2019 by Joshua Kretszchmar. | First weekend in November |
Trophies
In order to foster the interaction between Crews in the Region, GRAC has created and encourages Crew to partake in inter-Crew competitions that have floating trophies.
- The Blik
- Intended to encourage competition between crews. A crew wishing to earn the Blik must challenge the crew in possession of the trophy to three competitions, one of which must be chosen by the challenged crew. The crew that wins the challenge then becomes the holder. A crew can retain the trophy through a number of challenges if they are successful. The trophy is traditionally added to by the winner of each event with a memento from the challenge. Any activity that can be measured or scored in some way could be the basis for a Blik competition.
- Roving Tea Cup
- A purely social ‘floating trophy’ between crews. It is passed from one crew to another when the two crews meet for an inter-crew social of any form. Any crew can contact the crew currently holding the ‘Tea Cup’ to arrange a social with them. At the end of the social, the Tea Cup passes from one crew to the other. The intention is that this trophy should be circulated often, to promote inter-crew social activities.
- The Tyre
- is a floating trophy intended to promote community service within the region. A crew in possession of ‘The Tyre’ should try to dispose of it as soon as possible, by organising a community service event and inviting another crew, The Tyre shall then be transferred to the invited crew. In order to qualify as an event where The Tyre may be transferred, the event must consist of a minimum of 5 consecutive hours of community service and be attended by a minimum of either 5 members or 66 percent of both Crews.
Councils
| Year | Chairperson | Vice-Chair | Scribe | Treasurer | Social Media | Misc | RTC: Rovers1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Peter le Roux | Craig van der Bank / Richard Osmond | |||||
| 2015 | Tessa Naylor | Peter le Roux | |||||
| 2016 | Jearoid Harris | Inge Neumann | Kathleen Godfrey | - | - | - | Peter le Roux |
| 2017 | Jearoid Harris | Inge Neumann | Kathleen Godfrey | - | - | - | Peter le Roux |
| 2018 | Inge Neumann | Kathleen Godfrey | Tessa de Klerk | - | - | - | Peter le Roux |
| 2019 | Inge Neumann | - | - | Tai Goulding | Peter le Roux | ||
| 2020 | Joshua Kretzschmar | - | - | Tai Goulding, Helen Nel, Claire Smithard, Ioan | Peter le Roux | ||
| 2021 | Dawn Ledbitter | James Weetman | Tai Goulding | - | Ryan van der Merwe | Tai Goulding | Peter le Roux / Dawn Ledbitter |
| 2022 | James Weetman | Christine Young | Darlene Frost | Chris Hodgson | Ryan van der Merwe | Tai Goulding | Dawn Ledbitter |
| 2023 | James Weetman | Aiden Hewson | Darlene Frost | Ryan van der Merwe | Nikkita Miller | - | Dawn Ledbitter |
| 2024 | Thokozani Mkhatshwa | Daniel Hartridge | Daniel Hartridge | Jonothan Pienaar | Erin Delport | - | Dawn Ledbitter |
[1] Prior to 2016 the RTC: Rover Programme was known as the APC (Rover Programme)