We aim to build a community for a week where people camp together as a group, learn to take responsibility for themselves and grow and experiment in a safe and caring environment.
Everyone is welcome to come and take part in creativity through music, arts and crafts and friendship.
You will be expected to co-operate and share, to be valued and value what others give too.
During the week you will learn new skills, thrive in the outdoors and be close to nature.
How a camp works – Camps are a communal holiday for Staff and Children. They run well as a community when everyone in the group shares out the work and joins together in the activities. Everyone is expected to do his or her fair share of jobs such as water/wood fetching and cooking.
Camp sites are chosen at fairly remote places in the countryside There is often a stream or river nearby. Toilets are trenches properly dug in the ground and screened off to make it private. Disinfected water and soap and brush are used.
Groups and sizes – There are usually three groups, little group, middle group and top group. Each group camps in an area of the woods with its own staff members. At the beginning of a camp, the adults in each group will help the children to decide who is sharing a tent and then help them to put up their tent if necessary.
Cooking is done on a wood fire in the kitchen area with grids. We have a caterer who orders food and plans meals. Everyone is allocated to a group, called a clan which is a mix of children & adults. The clans make lunch, breakfast and dinner over a 24 hour period. Everyone will be on a cooking team for at least a day and you will be expected to help cook and clean up.
Equipment is available if necessary. We have tents and sleeping bags. Bring a sleeping bag and tent if you have one. Often it gets wet and muddy so changes of clothes and a waterproof coat and shoes or boots are advisable. You will get a full equipment list mailed to you by the camp organiser.
End of the day – There is a camp fire for everybody. Every night we sit round it, chat, have cocoa and biscuits and sing songs until bedtime. On some nights the top group are allowed to build a separate fire with their adults and sit around it after the younger groups are in bed.
Activities depend on where we are camping but can include swimming, walking, playing communal games in a field, developing outdoor skills, using maps, night games, making things with wood, painting, woodcarving and other craft activities. The older groups often go with their adults on an overnight hike where they carry all they need for the night with them and find somewhere to sleep out together.
Water & wood – Everyone is expected to find wood and/or collect water once a day if necessary.
Group cooking – We usually cook in groups one evening and each group goes off and makes their own fire and cooks their own tea.
Pea Fair – One afternoon everybody makes stalls and uses peas as currency to pay to have goes on each others games etc.
Show – On the last night there is a show when children and staff can do turns on a stage built by the children.
Meetings – We meet once a day so that the whole camp has the time to talk to each other about how the camp is going and agree on activities together. Everyone gets a chance to talk and be listened to.
