Camp Journal - York, England

Last Week of Camp ...

This session of Village of Camps has 74 campers in comparison to 140 in previous sessions yet the number of kids participating in talent night did not vary by much. Acts included magic tricks, dancing, singing, guitar playing, acrobatics and skits. Leonie from Blue house wowed us with three great songs with the help of Rachael Duddy and Steffan on guitar. Also from blue house were Alex and Mikel who displayed such amazing talent in both break-dancing and Judo and won the talent show prize for their age-group. The winner of red house, Ben, treated us to some delightful tunes on the piano. And in yellow house Marcin stunned the audience with his acrobatic routine to the tune of the Pink Panther. It was not only the campers that got involved in talent night, surprisingly enough some of the counsellors have talents too. Rachael Duddy played some wicked tunes for us on the guitar and piano, Steph Stinson exercised her vocals, Rob showed us some unbelievable magic tricks (Hollywood here we come!) and Neil and Bushy displayed their natural talents as clowns throughout the evening. I was very impressed with the confidence of the kids who got up on stage and also with the support and responsiveness from the crowd.

Good work everyone!

Robyn Bell

Week Review

This week has been an exciting and tiring one!

Monday involved many ice breaker games and problem solving tasks, which bought the group together as a team.

On Tuesday we had another day of blinding sunshine, and went on a trip to a high ropes course.

The sunshine remained through Wednesday, which saw the campers playing games on site like dodge ball and basketball.

After a good night sleep, we were ready to tackle the rock climbing wall in Durham on Thursday, all the campers rose to the challenge and scaled the high artificial wall, hopefully this will stand them in good steed for the outdoor climbing next Wednesday. 

Today involved a high paced game called underwater hockey, which involved the use of masks/snorkels and fins, all the campers loved it, as it was something new and exciting. Following this was orienteering around the huge campus of Thorpe Underwood.

Finally the sun has arrived to stay, boosting the energy of the campers and staff to kick off an awesome final week!!

Creative Arts ...

Well, the last session is upon us here at Village Camps and the Creative Arts Programme has been busy amazing the rest of camp with all of their talents!

This session is a smaller group with only 6 artists ranging from 10 years of age to 17! For Yulia, Paolina, Audrey, Michael, Leslie, and Marie-Laetitia this past week has been a busy one with all their art projects and an excursion!

The first day of camp the students were given a chance to view the amazing facilities and artwork located here at Queen Ethelburga’s College and then draw in their sketchbooks to capture their surroundings on paper. They then began sketching out ideas for a painting. The next day the students worked on their canvas painting and these were hung in the accommodation block for everyone to view. Numerous compliments have been given to the artists for the stunning work seen.

On Wednsday the students began their class on making sculptures and learned to make abstract cardboard structures that stood independently.

On Friday the three-dimensional lesson was continued with students making ceramics and working with mod-roc/plasterine. Some of the campers were a little daring and decided to have their face plastered to make a mask! 

On Thursday, the artists took a break and went to Manchester to the Lowry Centre. Here they had the opportunity to see art and make art. The Lowry is noted for allowing young artists to make art while on hand with drawing tables, drawing horses, and a painting room for all visitors to walk in and have a lesson! The campers took advantage of this opportunity and made art as we walked through the Lowry. It was an amazing time in such a beautiful building.  Unfortunately, a lot of the photos turned out a bit fuzzy due to the “No Flash” rule on site, however, the day is sketched out on paper and etched in their minds!

Chris-Tina, Creative Arts Programme Coordinator