ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE |
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Exarchate of Parishes
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| EPISCOPAL VICARIATE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND | ||
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CHILDREN’S CAMP 2007: 26 July - 8 August A Fantastic Summer What more is there to say about the famous Orthodox Children’s Camp in Wales that is not already common knowledge? The Beale family, our generous hosts, were kind enough to put up with our boundless energy and raucous noise once again as phrases such as ‘best camp to date’ were carelessly thrown around the field by leaders and campers alike.
Deacon Peter Scorer was even kind enough to host a few singing lessons for us. This year saw all the classic activities emerge such as football and frisbee as well as many new things such as the ‘Camp Shop’ which allowed the tents to earn points to buy themselves midnight feasts and a few cheeky sweeties! However, the summer camp stands on certain traditions such as Camp Olympics, sketches, entertainments and an ever-changing Theme Day that took us to sunny South America this year. The theme day featured a particularly colourful carnival that showed all of the campers putting on their craziest costumes! Deacon Peter also demonstrated his fearsome barbecue techniques in the evening leading to a truly delicious banquet. Lydia’s ancient temple cake was almost too excellent to eat! There were other highlights such as a Russia vs. Mexico ‘luchador’ wrestling entertainment match and the special adventure game ‘Montezuma’s Revenge’. A few children made some memorable comments about theme day: “I knew I was going to win. “ – Reece, Littlie And in the words of Kirill, a Middlie first timer at the camp -
“At first I was so tired and so scared. But I wanted to try. So at first the leaders were carrying me but I got down and marched right up that hill! I was the first littlie up the Sugar Loaf! And on the way down, I was always at the front. It was so exciting! I am so brave.” BB, Littlie
Father Alexander hosted lessons on early Church history for the Middlies and Seniors whilst Deacon Peter taught the Littlies. Even the leaders enjoyed sitting in and participating in the lessons as dates, places, apostles, bishops and emperors were bounced around the ‘classroom’. The children enjoyed sharing their knowledge with one another, and just a few also enjoyed showing it off!
Bishop Basil arrived for the feast and seemed to enjoy it so much he graced us with his presence for another two days! Thankfully, he was able to join in the great Camp Quiz around a roaring bonfire as that famous lifeline, ‘Ask the Bishop’. The beautiful weather remained with us throughout the rest of camp, allowing us to make full use of the utterly freezing yet ultimately refreshing river swimming hole, and whole-camp games such as Tenniquoits and Prisoners (a form of extreme dodgeball) have never been so engaging or dramatic. The previous Tenniquoit champion, Misha, was even able to retain his title in a legendary match against the versatile Jason. Many other activities were enjoyed by all, including lots of artistic initiative by Patsy and Anna Fostiropoulos. Stone painting, icon painting and flag making were definite high points for the camp aesthetics. At the final dinner for the leaders, one could taste the sweet tang of success over all the delicious food Deacon Peter had prepared for us.
On one hand, we were lucky that the weather gave us so many opportunities for sun-fun, including a mighty water-pistol battle the likes of which the camp has never seen before, but on the other, the combination of such a dedicated team of leaders and organisers together with such an awesome set of campers made this year’s camp a winner in every sense of the word. Special mention must go to this year’s co-ordinator, Michael Fostiropoulos, who as well as James Taylor, Sergei Vishnevsky and Anya Keenan ended up staying a whole week longer in that wonderful field, which isn’t quite so wonderful when you have to put up and take down an entire campsite.
Many other leaders came and went due to busy schedules, but one cannot help but rely on the dedication of characters such as Anna and Eleni Fostiropoulos, Dora Mandrigin, Tom Walker, Lydia Smith, Leo Grant and especially first-time leaders Irina Miller, Mattie Dwyer and Alex Borodai. Irina was presented with a special ‘Penguin Princess’ costume which is just one of the camp’s unique ways of saying thank you. As always, the technical side of the entire venture was held together by the ever-vigilant administrator/ safekeeper/washing-up master Irina Scorer, who has allegedly not lost a pen for forty-five years. She would like to report that as last person off site, she still managed to find eight pegs in the ground. We still have a lot to learn! “The worst part is leaving because you miss everyone so much. But, you kind of get used to it!” – Marina, Senior Joshua Walker P.S. from Deacon Peter Scorer: One essential ingredient which made this year’s camp so successful was omitted by Jo Walker. This was his own untiring contribution to running so many aspects of camp life: games, entertainments and above his unique and wonderful sense of humour. We all owe him many thanks. I should also like to take this opportunity to thank many others who made it possible to run this camp: Garth and Tamara for the loan of their 4 wheel drive; Robin for letting us use his Subaru; Peter and Felicia for use of a barn to store our equipment during the year; Steve and Philip for driving the van from Devon to Wales and back; the many helpers who turned up to help unload the camp equipment. Deacon Peter j |
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The campers are categorized into ‘Littlies’ aged 9-10, ‘Middlies’ aged 11-14 and ‘Seniors’ aged 15-16 who get to stay up a little later and eat sandwiches. (It is an enormous privilege.) After a dreadful few days of constant rain, the skies cleared for the rest of the two weeks and gave us endless blazing sunshine under which to enjoy all kinds of energetic games as well as many hours of sweet sunbathing. The beginning and end of camp was marked with the Blessing and Thanksgiving services as every day was started and ended by the singing of prayers in the chapel. 
The annual ‘Big Walk’ was an exciting adventure. Michael’s rather unique route led the campers through the dense undergrowth of South Wales to the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain, a location familiar to many who visit the area, but none were prepared for the terrifying descent that awaited them! Little BB, a first time camper and the youngest member of the camp this year, had a few words to say on the walk-
Modest indeed, but the fearless determination of BB shows just a little of what the walk and indeed camp is all about, facing your fears and testing your limits! The other campers certainly agreed that the epic walk was an integral part of the character-building camp experience. 
On the second weekend, many visitors arrived from the annals of camp history to celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration with us, including Julie Clark with her daughter Fiona and Aelred Hookway, veterans from the dawn of camp, all of the Scorer children and their families at one time or another, Jonathan Behr with his new fiancé Kara and Greg Crow and his brood. Greg was an integral figure in organising the camp in its Wern Watkin days, and his children Ben and Martha boasted constantly of their intentions to not only join the camp next year but to become leaders straight away! There was no option but to unite the ‘old school’ and the ‘new breed’ in a volleyball match of epic proportions between the generations! After two grueling sets the young bloods showed they had the skills to pay the bills, although perhaps certain members of the clergy are still sore on this point.
