18+ Camp 2007

The Calvert Trust was an excellent site for 18+ Camp. The accommodation was of a high standard and the staff friendly, helpful and full of life. The group was housed in a number of chalets over the site. These were very spacious and well designed for all the group. The only problem with the site was the pathway up the hill to the some of the chalets. It was a little steep & the surface a bit unstable.

The centre offered a wealth of things for us to do, but we decided to split the week between centre based activities and excursions. We did this to try and accommodate all of the groups’ interests and abilities. All of the activities had their moments. The sailing, out on Kielder Water, was exhilarating at times but peaceful at others. Archery was made even more fun by a bizarre game much like ‘pinning an arrow on the celebrity’. The climbing tower and zip wire saw a few wobbles and tears, but many screams of delight when people got going! The most astounding success was the King Swing, a sort of enormous trapeze that could be winched up to 40 ft. in the air and had to be ‘launched’ by the firmly strapped in ‘victim’. When people did this you could hear their screams of fear & delight from all over the site. Saying that, it did rely upon the ‘King Swinger’ remembering how to set themselves off swinging - Simeon forgot how to launch himself and had to be winched down and launched for a second time.

In the evenings we would congregate in the small bar for some drinks and would, more often than not, move into the sports hall to play parachute games, skittles, cricket or basketball. After some fun in the sports hall, we would often go back to our chalets, which were great for evenings in, watching DVDs and chatting about the day. On the Tuesday we all went out to a bird of prey centre and for a lunch at a pub on the edge of Kielder Water.

The bird of prey centre was a great success and almost tailor made for our group. There was a definite sense of wonder from group members. Stella, for the first time since we’ve known her, went silent in the presence of an eagle owl. (She did make up for this by singing – maybe screaming? – very loudly during the performance of ‘We Will Rock You’ and then making friends with the cast after the show.) In conclusion it was a very successful Camp and even the weather was kind to us. The entire group seemed to have an excellent time and everything ran very well. It was loads of fun & a great success!’