I have never seen Ross on Wye look so good. The weather was fantastic and the scenery beautiful. Also, thanks to Andy Greensmith, Suzanne Kuster, Charlotte Hudson and the advance party, camp looked pretty good too.
Once lunch had been made and the remaining tents set up, we had no problem encouraging the children to put on swimwear for the ‘Gunnel jumping’ and swim test. After everyone had been in at least twice, the canoes became a hindrance and 14 children at a time with personal floatation devices just had fun, which was great to watch. That was until my safety boat was attacked and I ended up swimming with them.
It took the smell of Tim Kenyon’s cooking to entice them back. With a well rehearsed menu everyone always eats well. From BBQ, to sweet and sour chicken, to chilli and rice, it is great to have a chemistry chef. Once again though it was the ‘mars stuffed banana’ baked by the fire that won the pupils over.
The full programme kicked in the next day with the Headmaster taking a day out of the office to run an Abseil, Climb and Cave day. Andy Greensmith and Charlotte Hudson took a group down the River Wye to Tintern Abbey, while Suzanne Kuster and I took a group Mountain Biking in the Forest of Dean.
The effort and determination from all of the children was an absolute joy. Most found that a particular activity took them out of their comfort zone, giving them a rush of adrenaline, and for some too many.
It might not have been the Canoe trip, due to the slow flowing shallow river, but what a fantastic area to sit back and enjoy the views…with a bit of paddling of course.
The Mountain Biking groups all had the opportunity to push themselves, whether it was just going down a steep drop, or tackling a red graded single track course. Several pushed a bit too hard, as Tom Benjamin, Adrienne Kuster, Jacob Bushell and Reuben Wilderspin found out, and now have the scars to prove it. If there had been a competition for ‘Best Wipe Out’ Jacob would have won, although Reuben would have taken ‘Most Wounds’.
The Abseil, Cave and Climb day was exactly as it sounds, non-stop. While one was going over a cliff edge and swinging into the mouth of a cave, others were climbing up an interesting chimney. Then all were lowered down again before crawling through a cave system, and somewhere fitting in lunch.
Back in camp, Mrs Kuster ran her daily ‘tent inspection’ and the Hibbert twins, Edward and Jack showed everyone else how it should be done, while Mr Kenyon watched the boys saw wood for the fire, competing against each other even in that.
I would like to thank all the staff for their enthusiasm and effort; it does rub off on the children and make a difference.
To finish, I saw a notice the other day which made me think of Year 8 Camp. It read “Life is a journey…enjoy it”
Alan Witcomb