The description
of this year's camp may be lacking in detail - I'm
writing it in January 2007 - a full six months after
the event. Still, you're only here for the photos anyway
so it doesn't really matter
Saturday 2nd July: Well, once the tents were up and
we’d eaten there wasn’t much time to
do a lot… Forgive me if details of the early
days of camp are a bit sketchy but (despite only
being a week ago) it seems like a long time ago.
Sunday
3rd July: We attended Carlisle Christian Fellowship;
then had our usual formal inspection. This is the
only time boys are inspected in their uniforms so it
is
the perfect opportunity to photograph them looking
all smart… unfortunately my cheapo camera chose
this moment to go a bit funny and the photos didn’t
really work. Sunday was also a chance for a long
drive into the Lake District for a bit of fresh air. Monday 4th July: Swimming, one of the staple ingredients
to any Ballywatt Camp. Its always a bit scary watching
our boys mingle with the locals but it always provides
us with laughs. This year it was the amorous attentions
of a couple of the locals to a couple of our boys
and the way our lads dealt with the unwanted advances… very
smooth indeed. A new one for us was LazerQuest. This
took place in a darkened room (so no photos) and
involved running round shooting everyone you could
see. Its amazing how purged you feel after taking
out all your aggression with a lazer gun. More shooting
each other later.
Tuesday 5th July: One of the highlights
of the trip – a
day trip to Go Ape. What is Go Ape? Well they have
a website you can go to for information. Basically
its an extreme assault course high in the trees of
a forest. If you can think zip lines, tarzan swings
and rope bridges and you’re on the right track.
This trip provided great fun and much amusement when
one us managed to do the scariest rope swing without
intending to. As you might be able to tell from these
photos the weather was horrible and we all got soaked
but it was great none the less.
Wednesday 6th July:
Carting. Always one of the popular events in camp Carting
has become an almost annual
event. Generally I like to sit this out (a) because
I can never find a helmet big enough to fit my head,
and (b) because I drive like an old woman (no offence
to old women intended) but this time I had a go and
actually did all right – Not as well as some
of the boys though who flew round the course with increasing
determination and decreasing lap times. Some of the
boys said that these were the fastest carts they’d
driven and they were certainly making the most of the
extra power (and I made the most of this to try out
some art photography – sorry if it isn’t
very clear)
Thursday 7th July:
Thursday was a big day. We held all the competition
finals (congratulations to Neil
(Darts), Lindsey (Connect 4), John (Table Tennis) and
Sam (5 years unbeaten in the swingball – is this
man invincible?) we also went Paint balling; or as
some of us bigger targets like to call it – legal
assault and battery. Two teams, a forest and some guns.
I’m not sure
why I seemed to get more hit than everyone else. Could
it simply be that I was a bigger target or were the
boys taking out some hidden frustrations, or was Adam
secretly bitter about the swingball final and had found
a way of venting? We’ll never know I suppose.
I was a little scared to take photos during this as
every time I poke my head round the corner of the tree
I was hiding behind I got shot - so no pictures again.
Thursday was also
a time to re-visit any of the local attractions we’d enjoyed before so it was back
for more Golf / Swimming / Carting / LazerQuest (delete
as appropriate.) The Annual (sort of) Variety Show
was another success… it was stunning… it
was a visual delight… it was another time my
camera broke down so I have no photos… sorry.
Each tent came up with an item to entertain us. Tent
1 carried off a hilarious version of moments from camp,
Tent 2 showed us the art of “calving” (don’t
ask) Tent 3 sang a beautiful (and corrupt) version
of a hole in my bucket called “There’s
a hole in our tent, dear Drew” and finally the
Junior Officers gave us a glimpse into the future and
how camp might look in 2025. I really wish I had photos
of these (well, maybe not of the calving one), The
night was capped with glamour and glitz at the Annual
End of Camp Award Ceremony. There isn’t space
here for all the winners but congratulations to tent
3 (led by veteran camper Willie [nickname] for the
best tent and football awards, to tent 2 (led by Ally)
for the Volleyball, Chris and Stephen for the best
players in football and volleyball, Andy for the best
orderly, Ally for the Quote of Camp, Wee Jonny for
the Food Critic of the Year, Andy (and Jacqui/Sara)
for the romance of the Year, Big Jonny for the Lookalike
of the Year (Tarzan – King of the Swingers) Drew
for the Trendsetter of the Year, William for the Driver
of the Year, Lindsey for the Shooter of the Year, Mr
H for the Target of the Year, David for the biggest
mouth of camp, and Chris for the Camp Character of
2005. Surprisingly the press ignored this glittering
event so if anyone has photos I’d love a copy.
Friday 8th July: There wasn’t really much time
for anything other than taking all the tents down and
packing up. Then the long journey home leaving nothing
behind but a few eerily extra-terrestrial shaped marks
and a sock.
Carlisle 2005 will go down as a good camp. The trips
and events were great and the boys bonded well as
a group. The spiritual side of the week was kept
well to the forefront of everything we did and the
staff worked hard to make sure everything went as
smoothly as possible. Many people deserve a lot of
thanks for the success of this week – too many
to list. If you read this and you were in anyway
involved… consider yourself thanked.
ojhgohgfs
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