Venture Camp 2006

Venture camp 2006 spent the week at The Bendrigg Trust in Kendal, Cumbria, a site we had been eager to visit for a number of years due to it’s excellent reputation. Sam had managed to book the centre for the week in August, and visited the centre with Paul where they had made the trust very aware of our group’s requirements and had together with the site staff planned a basic itenary for the week.

The centre was every bit as great as we had imagined, the staff were fantastic, nothing was too much trouble, and they went out of their way to make the holiday as rich as possible for each individual child.

We arrived on Saturday 5th August with an extremely excited group of teenagers. The centre staff greeted us and showed the children to their rooms, soon bags had been dumped and all the children were running / zooming around the site exploring what it had to offer. The theme of the week was Cowboys and Indians and everyone was split into three groups- the Outlaws, the Bandits and the Gunslingers. The first evening the centre opened their tube slide and the ropes course, the tube slide was particularly popular, a dark, speedy and very scary trip down the side of the hill which was always accompanied with plenty of screaming! Joel in particular loved the slide and must have been down seven or eight times which provided an excellent workout for volunteer Richard who had the job of pushing him back up the hill each time!

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were spent in activity groups rotating through three activities- rope (climbing, abseiling and zip wire), canoeing and caving. These days in smaller groups provided the opportunity for strong friendships to be formed and huge personal challenges to be met. The rope day was spent on site and there were a variety of climbing and abseiling walls to challenge all from the most timid to the bravest most athletic climbers. Some children climbed without their wheelchairs, pulling themselves up through arm strength alone and scaling the walls that many of the non-disabled children were unable to climb. The zip wire was particularly popular, especially with Haroon who has never been able to do any of the ‘rougher’ activities, but this did not deter the Calvert staff from making it accessible to everyone- they spent a good forty-five minutes, harnessing him up in a way that was safe, comfortable and wasn’t attached to any part of his body. The look on his face as he zoomed down showed how much it meant to him to be able to do it and was a hugely emotional moment to all that witnessed it. Haroon had loads of goes, and did so again later in the day and later in the week!

On the canoeing day the group canoeing took the minibus to lake Windermere where they all roped the boats together as a team and canoed down to an island in the middle of the lake. There were loads of different types of paddles available, so no one had an excuse not to help with the rowing! Lunch was a picnic on the island, and the afternoon was spent sailing back with a stop at the jetty for ice cream. All groups arrived back at the centre on their canoeing day rather wetter than when they left!

The caving day was also a great experience for all groups- the cave was split into two sections, a larger show cave that was accessible to everyone, (yet still pretty scary for most!), and some really tunnelled caves that required lying down and pulling your way through in complete darkness so everyone was challenged. Whilst those who wanted to did the advanced caving the rest of the group made their way back slowly through the larger cave marvelling at the beauty or scaring each other with cave-troll stories! The three activity days were rounded off on Tuesday evening with a campfire, complete with marshmallows on sticks and campfire songs. It was also at this point in the week where volunteers and children paid tribute to Sam and remembered how much she had done for PHAB, and this camp in particular, and took time to all reflect on our own personal memories. We know that it was Sam who made this camp happen and that she would have loved every second of it.

Wednesday the whole camp went together for a trip to a local wildlife park that was a huge success with everyone- it was a fantastic place to visit and there was loads to see and do- a great success for all! The evening comprised of archery on site and orienteering where groups of four competed to find all the locations on their map around the site.

Thursday was our big day out and after a bit of a lie-in we headed down to Southport on the minibuses with much singing on the journey. Unfortunately the tide was right in so we didn’t go on to the beach but spent the day shopping in the town and then some time in the amusement arcades on the pier. All the children were given a pounds worth of coppers- so much time was spent on the two-penny machines trying to become rich! Late afternoon we met up with senior camp on the pier and had a lovely time having fish and chips together, many of the children caught up with friends and volunteers they had been on previous camps with, and many tales were swapped about each of the weeks so far. A fantastic time was had by all; all too soon it was time to wave goodbye and head back to the centre for an early night.

For the last full day on the Friday the children were given a choice of activities, so they could have a chance to revisit something they had done earlier in the week or have a more chilled out day at the centre. Some people went caving again, some (of the brave) went and abseiled from a huge viaduct bridge, others stayed on site and did some more climbing and zip wire or used the centres infamous caving system ‘bendy pot’ or made decorations/ totem poles/ wigwams in preparation for the evening's party.

The party was Wild West themed and the dining hall was transformed into a saloon for the occasion. Costumes were amazing and all campers were awarded with a sheriff’s badge and a wanted poster bearing their photograph. Music was also country and western themed until Warren and Stanford took over the DJing!

Saturday was our last day and we sadly had to leave the centre. Everyone had a job to do and soon the place was almost as tidy as when we arrived! As we bundled on the coach sadly waved goodbye and many sleepy campers made their way back to Birmingham.

Venture 2006 was a fantastic camp. The kids were amazing and integration was better then I had ever seen it on a PHAB camp- everyone treated everyone else equally and many many friendships were formed. The site and staff were amazing, we provisionally booked for next year as we were so impressed and it definitely the best site we have been to for Venture in recent years. State of the art tracking and hoisting systems meant there was little or no need to manually lift the (often very heavy) children we take, and the rooms were designed so it was easy for disabled and none-disabled participants to share easily. The most impressive thing of all was that the activities challenged all participants and all could feel proud of what they had achieved. An amazing week.