Reflection from the COs
Camp 2018 has ended and now just the long wait until Camp 2019 in St Ives.
Currently I am writing this while travelling home from camp, memories still fresh in my mind, clothes still have that camp smell and sleeping children dotted around.
In total we had 39 children attend this year’s camp in West Runton, Norfolk. All the staff put so much love, energy and passion into the planning and the activities, but why is that?
Well as our Adj (Mikey) said this year at Camp, it’s all about the memories. Myself personally i have so many great memories and moments from when I was a child attending camp. So the feeling I get from seeing a child loving camp and doing the silly things I did when I was their ages is so fantastic. I owe Belmont and Camp a lot, so it is only right we keep this holiday there for the next generations of Carey and Belmont Churches.
It made me so proud to see one of our 14plus do a speech at the camp concert about her camp memories from the age of 9 to 18. I look forward to welcoming her to the staff and no doubt continuing the trend of passionate volunteers who give up their time to help ensure camp remains one of the highlights of the year for so many children.
In short, it was a wonderful year, great to have so many new faces and it’s always heartwarming to see the kids loving everything from Hunt the Officer, sports, swimming, theme park day trip and the newly added Camp Bingo.
God Bless
Junior Lender Summary
What a week it’s been for the juniors. So many fun activities for them to participate in throughout the week and they’ve all been amazing!
Highlights include seeing the juniors impersonate frogs with their wonderful frog masks and tongues while trying to complete a series of games. Dylan, Nathan and Jacob were particularly incredible frogs.
On Wednesday night a trip to the woods saw the juniors meet Donkey Kong where they had to reach the checkpoint while avoiding his inflatable objects rolling down the hill towards them. Keon and Edward somehow managed to avoid being caught on all of their goes.
Next, one by one the juniors were invaded by aliens (the other juniors and Martin as well as an all staff alien invasion) and to remain alive they had to shoot the aliens. The only way to stop the all staff invasion was using a nerf gun that sent shockwaves through the aliens homeland. If you’re an alien, don’t try to attack Josh, Eloise or Anna because they don’t take invasions lightly as the staff found out.
An amazing way to end the programme was on Thursday with Ultimate Arcade, a series of 10 Arcade classics setup in the marquee. The 2p machine and toy grabber were particular highlights for the juniors with all succeeding.
From all the staff, thanks to the juniors for being enthusiastic and lively at all times, it’s made 2018 camp amazing. Hope to see you all next year.
Josh
Saturday PM
We waved goodbye to our site at 12. Matt kindly typed up his review of the concert.
Camp Concert
And so to the Camp Concert on Friday evening.
Featuring the usual mix of camp-related comedy sketches, songs (both excellent and poor), gymnastic acts, game shows and other uncategorisable curiosities. Highlights included Beth’s embittered gym instructor, Sadie’s song and the Chubby Bunnies game show.
There were a few acts that were confusing, although squad B and E’s “typical day at camp” was particularly strange, but other staff and campers were laughing.
The running theme of super heros vs. Professor Evil had a fair number of good jokes and a special mention should be made of Ben Storrie’s “Procrastination Man” who saves the day with the help of the juniors and kindergarten.
Concert rating 7/10 (rating is the view of Matt and not camp as a whole 😉 )
Saturday AM
That is it! Tents are being packed, the pots are clean, bags are being loaded. The Portsmouth crew are leaving in 15 mins, Hemel coach is arriving on site at 11.30.
Camp Concert was a smash again and we are having our talent spotter writing up a detail review which we will post later.
Norfolk has be amazing again, but we are so thankful to the staff for all their hard efforts to make it a wonderful week.
Most importantly, a bigger thanks you the kids. They have been a great bunch, all 39 of them!! I am sure they will tell you all about it as they hand over their washing.
See you all soon
Friday PM
We are just return back to camp after the last junior outing out to the town. Josh, who been running out Junior Programme wanted to share his highlights from the week, with so many to pick from what would he pick…….
“What a week it’s been for the juniors. So many fun activities for them to participate in throughout the week and they’ve all been amazing!
Highlights include seeing the juniors impersonate frogs with their wonderful frog masks and tongues while trying to complete a series of games. Dylan, Nathan and Jacob were particularly incredible frogs.
On Wednesday night a trip to the woods saw the juniors meet Donkey Kong where they had to reach the checkpoint while avoiding his inflatable objects rolling down the hill towards them. Keon and Edward somehow managed to avoid being caught on all of their goes.
Next, one by one the juniors were invaded by aliens (the other juniors and Martin as well as an all staff alien invasion) and to remain alive they had to shoot the aliens. The only way to stop the all staff invasion was using a nerf gun that sent shockwaves through the aliens homeland. If you’re an alien, don’t try to attack Josh, Eloise or Anna because they don’t take invasions lightly as the staff found out.
An amazing way to end the programme was on Thursday with Ultimate Arcade, a series of 10 Arcade classics setup in the marquee. The 2p machine and toy grabber were particular highlights for the juniors with all succeeding.
From all the staff, thanks to the juniors for being enthusiastic and lively at all times, it’s made 2018 camp amazing. Hope to see you all next year.”
Friday Lunch
We have just had lunch followed by our daily entertainment. This year it was a game called BIG numbers. Here is Jess and here squad view of it
“Big Numbers. Hilarious to watch the hosts”
“Involves everyone, thus a fun and friendly atmosphere!”
“Squads have to guess whether an unknown card has a higher/lower number than the known card and if they guess correctly they continue playing – aiming to win some good prizes!”
“Barryoke, Basically Karaoke (but with accompaniment from Barry) – it is lovely to see different members of campers and staff brave, showing off their voices with lots of enthusiastic support from those watching!”
BIG thanks to Paul, Jenny and Baz for the after food entertainment.
Friday Morning
It’s here, the last full day at camp. Let’s not be sad it is nearly over but happy it’s happen. It has been a great week and there are still loads of activities still to come; quiz, town trip, beach and concert!!!!
Now our belly are full with hot pancakes, we have the needed energy for Super Squad (Sports day) with Georgie and team).
Thursday Lunch.
We just had a shop brought Fish and Chips and been listening to the 14 plus wide game from last night. He is a view from Craig, the 14 plus leader.
“The Wide Game arrived at last! Eleven 14+ in two teams were dropped off in the wilds of North Norfolk. Their task was simple: navigate home, and get into the square without being caught.
Both teams were dropped off without a hitch, with no idea where they were thanks to some creative driving from our veteran drop off driver.
The staff returned to base, set up the square, and settled in to wait. The field was one of the best opportunities to get in the 14+ have had in years: long, narrow, and with multiple entrances through the boundary hedges. The seven catchers were nervous…
With 30 minutes to go, there was no sign. With 15, still no sign. With ten minutes left, scurrying was heard in the undergrowth. Sticks cracked. Was it a rabbit, or a member of the 14+? At 2 minutes to go, there were whispers in the hedges. They were here.
As a team of 6, the 14+ burst from cover. Three were tackled within seconds but, as they were escorted to the square, we realised that a further three has made it in! The highest number of 14+ in the square for years. SO WELL DONE…… Ben, Simon and James.
But where were the others? The game was extended by half an hour but still no sign. Sadly the other group took to many wrong turns and were timed out. Minibus lift home, back to site for hot cocoa and bed.
Three 14+ made it into the square. Will the record be broken next year? Especially with Sophie hopefully joining the staff team.
Thursday Morning
What a whopper of a day! Two quizzes with fantastic prizes – a test of cartoon and logos general knowledge, expertly presented by CO Warren.
Crazy sports in the marquee – speed rounds of Danish short ball with frantic crawling, showcasing an epic performance by Georgie with her crab impressions. The rain ceased and the sun came out – trips into town and to the fun fair, pasta and a variety of sauces for lunch, fish (or sausage) and chips for tea, plenty of tuck and wasps all round!
Post arrived for junior leader Josh – pants and a hair extension enclosed. Riveting ‘Big Numbers’ quiz show where Squad F won the top prize and mystic Jen correctly guessed the Queen of Hearts to support them in their journey. Followed by a Stella performance by Olivia singing beautifully, the well-known ‘A Million Dreams’.
Other than that plenty of choo choo and whoop whoop!!! – Jenny
Wednesday afternoon
We have asked our oldest 14 Plus Sophie to give us for insight from today’s hunt the office.
“Hunt the officer
After the long walk to town to kickstart our Hunt the officer journey we met Jessi the Mime, as fast as she liked she couldn’t outrun the pursuing squads.
Taking us to the front of the beach, an unusually placed car caught our attention and led us to finding Caleb, due to slow signing, we managed to get a glimpse of buzz lightyear but he got away for now undoubtably heading to infinity and beyond,
Continuing with our stroll we met snow (Beth)who seemed to be completely lost without her dwarfs, meaning she was a third dimple catch of the day.
Buzz’ infinity must have only been to the edge of a railing because we managed to find him again and corner him in collecting another signature.
Strolling up the high street a blast from the past meant we met a wild goose and marvick, struggling with the new technology of a ATM, collecting another amount f points.
From this point in town the squad picked up multiple signings from Tom who makes a wonderful woman, Mystic Gen and Cheeky Paul, Ehel/Irene (rhi and lynsay) Cowboy Paul.
We had a few more catches towards the end but a special mention to Barry who sat on the beach as an Octopus who couldn’t swim, The Queen of Hearts and Dick Turpin.
Finally congratulations to Olivia and Georgie the little old ladies and Elsa (Tommy) who sadly managed to slip through our beady eyes
Until next year – Sophie”
Now on to tonight’s Wide Game – Good luck to our runners.
Wednesday morning
Last night the camp took a trip to the world of the Jungle Book for the CO Mega Programme, otherwise known as the COMP. Juniors, Seniors, and 14+ worked together to complete challenges set by Mowgli, Bagheera, and Baloo with the juniors going ape for King Louie’s banana throwing challenge. A special mention to Nathan Moore who won moment of the day medal for his points scoring and enthusiasm!
After this the juniors went to bed and the seniors and 14+ played a series of challenging base games on their trek through the jungle. In the final showdown the 14+ teams took on Shere Khan, as well as each other, raiding opposition bases to collect water despite getting a persistent soaking by the vultures. After it was all over and the campers had returned to the man village the points were added up and Squad F declared Kings of the Jungle!
Tuesday
I can’t believe it’s Tuesday – we’re almost halfway through camp already! Time certainly does fly when you’re having fun.
Today started off a bit earlier than usual, due to our super fun trip to Pleasurewood Hills!! Before we left, we had all of our lunches prepared by professional sandwich makers, overseen by Katie. Over 70 sandwiches with a crazy amount of different fillings – a huge thank you to everyone who helped ensure we stayed fed throughout the day!
After our usual morning routine of PT and breakfast, we left for our big day out. As you can imagine, the coach and minibuses were full to the brim with excitement, from both campers and staff alike. The journey flew by, which was certainly helped by the endless sing-a-long sessions and a fantastic quiz with a sweet theme!
Once we arrived at Pleasurewood Hills, we were given a quick briefing, and off we all went to enjoy the day. In our groups we explored the park, watched some fantastic shows, rode on a multitude of coasters, and consumed a lot of sugar between us all! Quite the recipe for a fantastic day!
We all did so much that there’s simply not enough time or space to write it all down for you! In fact, we did so much that the coach journey back to the campsite was almost completely silent. Even the staff took the opportunity to get a quick snooze!
Once we arrived back on site we were served a delicious meal of chicken fajitas. We were even given the wraps and salsa to make them ourselves – there’s nothing like a DIY dinner! Even though things were running behind, everyone pulled together to make sure dinner wasn’t served too late and avoided any issues. Great work to everyone who stepped up and lent a hand!
The only other thing to report now is the result of today’s mealtime entertainment. Big Numbers, hosted by Cheeky Paul and Mystic Jen, said a big hello to Squad B today, who came away with 9 points! This meant they were the proud winners of a Moderately Good Prize, which I believe contained some biscuits… it could have been worse I suppose!
This evening there is an all-squad game, hosted by our wonderful Camp Organisers. Once we’ve got the results of the game we’ll update you all, and send out a big congratulations to the winners!
Watch this space for the next exciting instalment!
Monday Breaking News – A Spoonful of Sugar take their medicine as camp feels the love for sport.
Camp was at fever pitch in anticipation of the 2018 inter squad sports competition. Birthday girl Josie said “Sport is all I wan’t to do on my special day – I live for sport”.
Captain of pre tournament favourites ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’ Sophie was working hard to play down expectations saying “We are quietly confident but we will take one game at a time”.
Following a dramatic scoring scandal in the morning with Tent Inspector Chantal giving the 14+ girls a very irregular 12 out of 10 normal service was resumed with Mikey ‘the Math’ B acting as head umpire and scorer for the main event.
The tournament got off to a dramatic start with an opening point from Christopher paving the way for a comfortable win for a Spoonful of Sugar over a relegation threatened Be Our Guest side struggling to impose themselves on the VolleyQuoits competition.
Meanwhile in the Bench-ball Everybody Wants to be a Cat gave a feline roar controlling game after game with Nana bossing the midfield while Big Smoke called the shots in a solid defence.
The Bench-ball drama continued with hat trick hero Caitlin racking up big points for Can You Feel the Love Tonight with a late winner from Edward seeing off a spirited comeback from Be our Guest.
The VolleyQuoits game we’d all been waiting all season was the James and Sophie derby between A Spoonful of Sugar and Can You Feel the Love Tonight. It didn’t disappoint with Can You Feel the Love tonight coming out ahead in a topsy turvey battle. Winning Captain James said “It was a tough well fought match with Edward and Josh catching everything and Hannah and Caitlin scoring for fun.
The final game of Bench-ball ended in controversy when officials had to rely on the WAR (Warren Assisted Referee) system to determine that John has put a foot off the bench and on the floor in the dying seconds, paving the way for Do You Want to Build a Snowman? To pinch a win by a solitary point.
With the final games of the main tournament over Can You Fell the Love Tonight were crowned champions with James lifting the trophy. The winning captain said they were “Over the Moon”.
The fun continued with the Joan Benefit Game an annual fixture between the Carey and Belmont Veterans and the 14+. Kelvin was heard to say “You won’t win anything with kids” but was made to eat his words when he ‘dropped a sitter’ to hand the trophy over to a far superior 14+ side.
Beleaguered staff manager Warren dismissed rumours that his own job was under pressure but said “the occasion clearly got to us, it was a long hard journey and we were not fully match fit.” He defended his star player Porteous saying “Even camp legends can make mistakes – that’s the joy of top level VolleyQuoits”
Lynzy the tournament organiser said it was her proudest moment and was pleased that camp had captured the essence of sport.
She remains available to organise the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Paul – Belmont and Carey Sports Correspondent.
Monday
We have all just completed inter squad…… loads of fun was had, we are tucking into our lunch currently. Paul has written up a full sports match report which we will be posting shortly.
Plan for the afternoon, children are heading out for a town trip to Sheringham. Then before Dinner we have our first ever camp bingo.
Eyes down!!
Sunday PM
And good evening to you all!! As promised, here’s a little update about the super fun day we’ve all had.
After breakfast we enjoyed some morning worship, what with it being Sunday and all! This consisted of multiple songs, lots of interaction between campers, and some questionable acting from staff members… pretty standard really! We also collected a nice amount of money to donate equally between Cancer Research and Diabetes UK.
We then had a successful fire drill, with everybody getting into position rather swiftly, with no issues or dramas. Good job guys!
For lunch we had a delicious Sunday roast (minus the yorkshires!), with a surprisingly tasty vegetarian option. And kudos to the chefs for the wonderfully thick gravy!
Then we get onto the afternoon game. As mentioned previously, this was Beat the Benchmark, the all-camp game hosted by the famous gamesmaster duo, Paul and Jenny! Everyone was split into 8 teams, consisting of members from all the age groups – kindergarten, juniors, seniors, 14+, and staff. We competed in a series of mini games to win points, with a member of staff being chosen at random to set the benchmark target for the ensuing challengers.
These mini games included doing the limbo, throwing hoops into a bucket, and transferring an After Eight chocolate from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands. We also had to consume a banana within 15 seconds, test our knowledge of capital cities, and catch a ball with a certain number of claps beforehand. I think it’s safe to say that each team fought valiantly (well, most of them did!), and we need a special shout out to Beth, who didn’t manage to move her After Eight from her forehead, even after jumping up and down and shaking her head like a punk rocker at a concert.
The scores were VERY close, with only 3 points between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. But after being joint first for several rounds, team Funder Horns managed to secure the win at the very last second. Congratulations to them, and I hope they enjoy the sweets and chocolate rewards they received! And a big well done to the other teams, who really gave the winners a run for their money!
And now it’s time for us to continue with our activities, and enjoy the exciting games we have planned for the evening.
More on this tomorrow, so watch this space!
Sunday AM
Happy Sunday everyone!!
After the excitement of travelling to camp yesterday, we’re all getting ready for an equally exciting day of activities today!
But before we get onto today’s activities, we first need to talk about yesterday’s. After our trip to the beach and a dip in the VERY cold sea, we had a lovely summery dinner of sausage rolls, coleslaw, and salad. After dinner, our three groups went their separate ways for the evening programme.
The Juniors had a bit of an introduction game, followed by Mario Bros and Pacman. They achieved points by answering questions correctly, after collecting all sorts of Mario themed items. They demonstrated their remarkable knowledge of the campsite, and refreshed their memories about camp safety! We are pleased to announce that the winning team, with 78 points, was Boogie Box! Although I must admit, the fact that every single Junior remained in their tents all night with no issues is a huge achievement in itself! Massive well done to all of our Junior members!
The Seniors spent their evening exploring the magical world of Narnia. After they made it through the wardrobe blindfolded, they had to hunt for the White Witch’s Turkish Delight, and run away from hungry wolves using their general knowledge. They finished their evening by dressing up some unfortunate staff members as lions – we’re still trying to get the fluff out of our clothes this morning! The winning team here was Peter, whose general knowledge skills really helped them take a strong lead!
The 14+ enjoyed a Taskmaster-style evening, where they competed in different challenges to achieve points, such as building famous landmarks out of sports equipment, and guessing the different coins being dropped behind them. We have two special mentions here – two people that won a medal each for “Moment of the Day”. Congratulations to Callum for his incredible Mt Rushmore display, and Ben for his magnificent hearing skills! Good job guys!
Now onto today’s events! The day began with our usual PT session, which was led by the enthusiastic Jenny. In fact, she was so enthusiastic that the usual 15 minutes of PT only lasted for 5… but at least everyone seemed to enjoy it! The mindfulness and breathing exercises that finished the session off seemed to go down a treat. In an exclusive interview with Miss Jenny, she left us with the following wise words:
“It’s all about the exhale”.
After this (very!) brief PT session, the campers competed in our annual Sunday Potato Peeling Competition. The winners today were Squad D, led by Lucy.
During breakfast, while everyone was enjoying porridge and sausages (on separate plates of course!), we had the announcement of the tent inspection results. Our official inspector today, Chantal, was unable to find a single fault with the winning tent, and awarded them a solid 10/10! Well done to the hard-working 14+ boys! Let’s see if they can keep up the good work tomorrow!
Today we are all looking forward to morning worship, and the chance to put our vocal chords to the test. After this we’ll be moving onto our camp photograph – say cheese everyone!
This afternoon we have our all-camp game, Beat the Benchmark! We’ll have to wait and see what fun tasks our gamesmasters have in store for us later!
Naturally we’ll leave you with a quick run down of the weather so far – the heavens opened last night and surprised us all with a bit of a downpour, but today it’s looking a little brighter. Fingers crossed the sun makes an appearance!
That’s all for now, but we’ll keep you updated with today’s exciting activities in our next post!
Jessi (Head Chef)
Saturday 11th
Everyone has arrived, including our four campers for Portsmouth BB. Time to turn this field into our home for the next week. 1 small issue, where is our Marquee…… Don’t worry it is going up as we speak.
Great effort from everyone putting up tents!
Orderlies (Andy and Alex) are getting the marquee sorted, Meg, Barry, Tommy and Beth are ensuring the kitchen is prepared, the programme staff are discussing their first planned activity.
Most importantly our campers; have all located their tents and are unpacked. A few have located the sports tent and that recognisable sound of a football being kicked around.
We have switched the program up a bit, everyone went to the beach today and most braved the sea!! It’s a beautiful beach and people enjoyed topping up their tans or just building sand castles.
First up was Paul & Jenny with this years camp entertainment – BIG numbers – i already know its going to be enjoyable week and full of laughs. I look forward to see which campers come out on top. First up Sophie who Squad did well and won a mid range prize.
The juniors are in bed now, seniors are having their hot chocolate and the 14 plus are wrapping up.
Busy, but enjoyable first day! LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING WHICH TEAMS WON IN THE MORNING.
1 Week to go…..
I am ready, the staff are ready, so I hope you are ready. So just the small issue of packing now.
This time next week, the team will see many of you at Carey church between 7 and 7.30pm for the annual bag drop.
Remember to bring your kit bag, sleeping bag & cake!
On hand will be our Banker; Kelv, collecting any money for the Camp Bank, ordering your camp photo or 14 plus day trip money.
Our MO team; Meg will be looking after the medicines, collecting any outstanding MO and Consent forms.
They will be plenty of excited staff around to help and answer any last minute questions.
On the Saturday meet back at Carey at 7.30am with your pack lunch, where our Adj Mikey will be getting everyone ready for the journey to camp.
Remember stay tuned to this blog for daily updates while we are at camp!
See you soon, now where did I put my swimming trucks.
Warren
50 Days Until Kick Off.
So summer finally feels like it has arrived; the sun is out, the shorts have been dusted off, a few bbq invites have been sent and the World Cup is on. What more could we want?
Well it’s only 50 days until the highlight of our summer begins; Belmont & Carey Youth Camp and just like the world cup a lot of planning goes into our Camp.
We have selected our team’s base, the fantastic West Runton site in Norfolk. This is the second time we have stayed here and we hope it will be just as brilliant as the first time; with only a 5 minute walk to the beach and 10 minute walk to the top of the Beeston Bump it has every reason to be. These walks include picturesque views along the cliffs with amazing glimpses of Sheringham & Beeston Regis and, on a clear day, Cromer.
Some venues have been booked like our day trip to Pleasurewood Hills, located near the seaside town of Great Yarmouth – there is much to do and explore on this day, expect loads of fun on the dodgems, “Marble Madness” and (for the very brave) “Wipeout” – the tallest & fastest roller coaster in the East of England! We also hope people don’t get too soaked on Timber Falls log flume (and that it’s sunny enough so they dry quickly!). If anyone is looking for a more relaxed time then the children can also enjoy some fantastic shows with sea lions and parrots. So much to do in one day!
We have also planned an extra venue for the 14 plus on the Thursday – we can’t tell you much about it as it is top secret but trust me it will definitely be one to remember!
The groups have been selected, (we currently have our staff avidly planning the Junior, Senior and 14 Plus programmes).
The squads and tents formations have also been selected and campers can see these once they get their booklets.
The John Hay Shield has been engraved with last year’s winning squad and ready for the next Super Squad to win – children gain points throughout the week for potato peeling (which we hope you’ll agree is a very important skill!), table setting, squad sports tournaments and games. Good luck everyone!
Personally I cannot wait, I have been informed about a few of the games that are being planned and they sound as incredible and fun as ever – it will be an amazing week!
I look forward to seeing many of you at our parents evening on Friday 13th July, if not, I will see you just before kick off when we drop our kit off the night before (Friday 10th August) at Carey Church.
Warren (1/3 of the COs)
Belmont & Carey Youth Camp 