This week we had a secondary school youth group who travelled
all the way up from Hartlepool - which was an adventure in itself before even
making it to Camas. The group’s ages ranged between 12-16 years old, which was
quite a variation to the two adult groups that had been staying at Camas
previously. First impressions of the group were that they had a large amount of
belongings – I think they brought more luggage for 5 days than some of the
Camas staff had brought for the whole summer, however it is good to be prepared!
At first I think Hartlepool found the life of Camas very
diverse to their usual lives; with no electricity, meat-lacking meals and being
in a faraway land that is very different from typical civilisation. At the
beginning of the week I think the group found it challenging to be able to see
the depths of their sparkling potential at Camas, however once the group
started settling in and discovering more about Camas, you could really feel
their enjoyment radiating when partaking in the different activities we offer,
with climbing and kayaking and a competitive raft race bringing lots of
laughter, fun and happiness to the group.
The Camas challenge was the most beautiful night of the week
with the most amazing feast consisting of 5 different types of pizza - I think
some of the group were relieved to feed their cravings of meat with a mega meat
feast pizza. The decorations embraced an underwater theme, with lots of shells collected
from the beach, water coloured hangings all around the room and many different painted
sea animals hanging from the ceiling. Walking into the room was like swimming
into a different underwater dimension. Once the feast had finished, we moved
onto a stone painting gallery for reflection and then onto a game of sniper for
the entertainment. We trekked through the depths of the garden and into the
wilderness where we played an epic game of sniper (hiding in bushes, long
grass, behind rocks and within the heather and charging back to base before the
sniper could see us).
Thinking about the week it was a real learning curve, with
some slightly more challenging memories and some wonderful ones too. I think highlights
of the week consists of lots of fishing where the group really embraced and
enjoyed fishing in our beautiful bay. I think a personal highlight for the
Camas staff would be when the group taught us the cup song, a definite new
experience for many of the Camas team. I think Hartlepool would probably agree
that another memorable moment would be finding the lock in the upstairs rooms
and using it to hide themselves away when the word ‘chores’ was mentioned.
Thank you for coming to stay with us Hartlepool, you were a very
colourful group bringing a very colourful week! J
