INTO THE BLUE...

This had all the feeling of a great Victorian, heroic, failure.  Immersing oneself into the deep blue ocean in an attempt to swim beyond the rocks that mark the end of Camas bay seemed a slightly foolish thing to do and as the swim went on and on, and the end of the rocks never seemed to get any nearer, and the waves got choppier, the spray higher, and a mouth-full of salt water splutteringly more frequent, it might have seemed that discretion here really should have been the better part of valour.  But take heart mon brave, great adventures come through perseverance: stiffen the sinew and set one’s face to the task.  

Kathy Galloway is currently leading the week here at Camas.  I was invited to sit in on the reflection session at the end of the day where she asked us to reflect on our day and to consider something we had learnt.  I had learnt three things: how long I could survive in a wet suit (I was in the water for about an hour and a half), how far I’m able to swim – there is something wonderful about being out in the middle of deep water completely immersed in one’s surroundings (and no way out!) and the value and importance of support and friendship.  Accompanying me all the way were Rosie and John in kayaks.  Without them it would have been a very long lonely swim and I’m not sure I could have got that far.  While I glugged down salt water they spoke to me of the islands they could see, the rainbow overhead, the golden eagle and the seal who came to see what all the fuss was about.  My only regret was that it was hard for me to keep a conversation going!

Equally in support was the food that awaited me when, with claw-like hands, I managed to get out of my wet suit.  Thank you to Danielle for the chilli and to Rob for the porridge cake; I think this is probably the most welcome tea I’ve ever eaten.  It’s amazing how after a couple of cups of tea and sitting round the fire in the common room one can feel right as rain in no time!  I think that is something of the magic of Camas.  Thank you to you all.  It was great to be there and I’d like to come back again for more aquatic adventures in the future if that’d be alright?  Have that kettle on!

Dave-Sacristan, September 2012

Olympic Games at Camas!

On the 14^th of July we got a new exited bunch of teenagers from Glasgow coming to stay the week at Camas. This week we were going to go over to Iona for some fun Olympic Games with the rest of their families who were staying there. But before that happened on Wednesday we were doing all kinds of fun, and interesting stuff in the rain. A walk up to Trig Point, abseiling and kayaking were done with an impressive amount of enthusiasm considering blanket rain.

Then came Tuesday night when the older teenagers from the group sat down with their leaders and some Camas staff to prepare the great Iona Olympics! Have you ever done a Rowing competition indoors? Well, I can proudly tell you that we have! Though it didn’t include boats but instead plastic cups, jugs and of course WATER. So how do you play this game you might wonder? That, I’m going to tell you.

The Iona Olympic Rowing Challenge

Divide into teams of at least 5 people; sit down on the floor with a plastic cup in each hand. The person in front has a bucket, or similar, filled with water in front of them. The person in the back has 2 empty plastic jugs behind them. Give the teams about 2-3 minutes time limit. The game begins by the person in the front fill up the cups with water, and passes it over their shoulders to the person behind them trying to fill up the other persons cups without spilling any water on the floor (or all over themselves). The rest of the team keep on going in the same way until the last person who have to carefully fill up the plastic jugs in the same manner as the other team members have filled up each other’s cups. When this is done, the person first in the line can fill up the cups once more. The team who has most water in their jugs by the end of the game have won the Rowing competition!

Amongst the games we also came up with; Over-Under Relay, Net volley ball, Orienteering and the Nun-Run (like hundred metres but around the Nunnery on Iona) who finished off the Iona Olympics for this time.

Thank you all for a great week here at Camas! I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! 

Linnea

Coasteering adventures

New week, new youths! A group from Glasgow came to take over Camas for an exciting and adventurous week filled with new experiences.

We spent time in the Art room doing loads of fun stuff. Felting, marbling paper, wrote our names on the beams in the ceiling and quite a few fell for the art of making friendship bracelets, especially the leaders (who made friendship bracelets not only for the youths but also for the youth’s friends and family!!). 

Coasteering  was a new concept on our rota for this week. It includes getting into wetsuits,  buoyancy aid and helmets and then head out, not completely fearless, to the islands in front of the Camas buildings to climb around them on the rocks and in the water. To finish the whole thing off, you simply jump off a big rock at the end and go for a swim. After you've done that, you come into the common room for a nice evening in front of the fire.

Monday night just after 9 o’clock we suddenly had dolphins in the bay, jumping and playing around, it was a nice view as the sun was about to set soon afterwards. A few were very interested but most of the people hanging around were playing ping-pong and pool instead. 

Tuesday afternoon we all headed out for a walk to Market Bay and Wild Camp. Exciting times! Football on the beach, swimming in the sea and marshmallows around the campfire could life be better? Well, the next morning we woke up to glorious sunshine and bacon rolls! Lucky group (and staff) who got something else than scones for breakfast! 

This group also had the pleasure to wear our new fancy wetsuits that we got earlier that week, for the first time! I must say that they all looked very stylish. Wearing brand new wetsuits comes with one obligation though: jumping off the pier into the water for a swim in the sea, which they did with laughter and style!

The week ended as usual with the Camas Challenge and loads of fun games, some of them which I think they learned during the week.

Thank you for a great week with loads of fun guys! Come back soon!

Linnea

BIGG DAVE!!!!!!!

This being my fourth year coming to camas I am beginning to feel somewhat of a camas veteran, and with some members of our group coming for a 7^th 8^th and even 9^th year running, we know the drill of how it all works.

Or so we thought………

After a fairly smooth journey from our home in the midlands, everyone was eager to get to camas, so when we walked over the final hill (on what seems to be an ever longer track) and the buildings came into view their were ear to ear grins from everyone, however there was a change about the place and the more beady eyed of the group spotted it right away…. What had been the dining room for oh so many years had been ‘converted’ into a sitting room, this led to the next question of where is the dining room? It had in fact been moved upstairs to what was the games room, so then where in the world was the pingpong table? Which we were quickly told was now in the art room. After a short while of getting over the change, camas life settled in around us and we settled into it.

Sunday came around quick and we split into two groups ready for climbing and abseiling and team games. There was great success on the wall this year with almost everyone reaching the top, and the abseiling went off without a hitch. The team games were full of excitement and fear as the snake goddess (who shall not be named for her own safety) wasn’t letting anyone off lightly. During this game started a love story that lasted the week between Keith (a rubber duck) and one of our own members who were never parted until the end of the week (which was very sad indeed, a bit like titanic and chicken run mixed together but sadder) at the end of the track.

The week went on fast, and before we knew it it was time to go camping on market bay, where for the first time we got to experience…. ‘THE LOO WITH A VIEW’ which did indeed live up to its name but nobody stayed long enough to enjoy the view. The camping was great fun, and will leave some fantastic memories for all.

Suddenly it was Thursday which meant one day left!!!!! Thursday started with some great news for the A level candidates with A grades flying around left right and centre. Of course all these results were overshadowed by the greatest and epicest of things that is the CAMAS CHALLENGE (said with the voice of the X-factor man), with fajitas cooking in the kitchen, thoughts being provoked in the nets and some serious and I mean serious red hot dancing, this camas challenge was one to remember!

 Friday’s early morning call came and the realisation that this was the end settled in. The rain came down hard but this did not dampen the spirits of this awesome community, after some very emotional goodbyes to some truly inspirational and great people the bus pulled away and that was the end.

Until next year…. Good bye. Joe

'You don't know man, you weren't there!'

This week belonged to a group of community member’s kids. I say belonged because most of them had been coming since they were wee babies (well almost) and pretty much owned Camas.  It was a joy to see how much they loved the place and how many memories it held for them.

 We had a fun week, the usual hectic mixture of climbing, abseiling, raft-building and kayaking. We were also lucky enough to see basking sharks at market bay and in the sound of Iona. The wild camp was a wild success. The potatoes were cooked to perfection, there were songs sung with beautiful (erm) harmonies, and many an anecdote shared with the staff. We also played a succession of more and more inventive games of Mafia. Some of my favourite characters of the week included Susan the Speech Therapist (who had a lisp), Andrew who was a Doctor/Policeman and also retired member of the Mafia, Barracuda- a husky voiced fish with a Mexican accent...and many more which are far too rude to mention here. We had a great time with the camas challenge which was Olympic themed, and included an epic Camas take on the Hunger Games (no competitors were harmed!). Once we had survived bulldogs and ultimate ninjas, the evening culminated with a simply stunning reflection of a journey through our time at Camas.

Thanks for all who came, it was a really special week full of laughter and friendship.

Provenmill at Camas = Banter Central

The second week of July brought the arrival of a youth group from Provenmill in Glasgow, who also brought a lot of energy, enthusiasm and Pepperamis! It was certainly a fantastic week for all and the staff were certainly sad to say goodbye to the epic banter, hours of table tennis and the beautifully crafted friendship bracelets.

In between all the above activities, we also made time for some climbing feats on the quarry face, leaping off the pier into the deep sea below and also an adventure to the tidal island of Erraid, where one of its beautiful beaches was treated to a top quality football match, much as Market Bay was later on that week (as well as a jellyfish fight!)

As if that wasn’t enough, the week culminated with a fiercely contested raft race which was a great exhibition of the groups engineering and knot tying skills. Then to round the week off we had a fantastic Camas Challenge celebration, with what can only be described a colossal amount of baked goods: pizzas galore, garlic bread, cheesy bread and chocolate birthday cake sensation. We then put our very well fed selves to the test with a series of hilarious games, including ‘Egg’, the object of the game being to make other people laugh by jumping up and down shouting ‘Egg’. Thank you for the food, the great new game and a week of all round fun!