Senior Camp in North Yorkshire

“North Yorkshire? In May? Take a Warm Coat” was the advice we received when planning this year’s Senior Camp. For those whose children went however, our visit to “God’s Own Country” could not have had better weather.
The camp started at 06:40hrs on Monday 22nd May, when Chris Evans kindly enrolled Heritage School into the ‘Good Morning Chris’ club on Radio 2. Thereafter it was all go, with days starting at around 06:00hrs and finishing around 23:00hrs for the adults every day.
This year we camped at the Kettleness centre owned by Cleveland Scouts. It is a truly beautiful setting on the North Yorkshire coast overlooking Runswick Bay, a beach on which we spent a lot of time.
This was the biggest ever Heritage Summer camp, with over 60 children and 10 adults to supervise them. Activities included 5 Duke of Edinburgh practice expeditions, white-water rafting, pony trekking, indoor climbing, fish and chips by the beach, a visit to the Yorvik viking centre in York and endless games of ‘throw the whistling torpedo thingy at Mr Appleyard’ – a game remains a mystery to those of us who have never played it.
As we all sat by the campfire on the final evening, the warm Yorkshire sun (yes, really) setting to the west and adding a wonderful pink glow to the undersides of the early evening clouds over the bay I reflected on the following:
Each year we create new anecdotes and memories. Some of which you will have already heard and some of which will come out in the weeks and months to come.
Each year we see a discernible, positive impact on individuals and groups. This manifests itself in many ways – an increase in self-confidence, strengthening of friendship groups or just people helping each other to find a lost sock. This creates more rounded individuals who are more resilient and self-sufficient, skills which modern society and the workplace require.
Finally, each year we seek to improve upon the last camp. So make sure your children are there next year because it may be the time that we absolutely nail it!
The School Summer camp programme started 7 years ago with a simple vision to provide an affordable outward bound experience. This vision can only be delivered with the co-operation of the wonderful staff and increasing numbers of Parent Volunteers for whom we can all be very grateful indeed. We could easily use commercial providers for the camp, probably tripling the cost. The question in my mind is would the camp be three times as good?
Thanks to (in alphabetical order): Mr Appleyard, Mr Bell, Mr Duckworth, Mr Fletcher, Mr Hulett, Dr Martin, Mrs Oakley, Mrs Puckett, Mrs Robson, Mrs Scarlatta and Mrs Zaldua