Have you ever wondered if dinosaurs can do the Macarena? The answer is yes! On the dancefloor, a T-Rex jumps and turns in unison with the crowd to begin another round of mesmerising hand gestures and hip sways... ‘Hey Macarena! Aye,ah!’ Not bad for a prehistoric creature...but I’m getting ahead of myself – rewind to the beginning of another week at Heswall Camp...
Following our training day, our team of Helpers, and energetic Activity Helpers are ready and braced to receive the first of our 35 Campers for the important process of registration. Camp may be all about the fun but we take it seriously, so this activity takes time as we check in any medication that may be needed, and discuss everything from allergies, food likes and dislikes, to the names of favourite soft toys and any aids that might be needed for swimming. Formalities over, we break out the giant bubbles, camp poster art and playground games before tucking into the first of many tasty meals prepared by Chef Dave. We have a great mix of returning and new children and helpers this year, and it’s lovely to see the way our seasoned campers help to settle in first timers and form new friendships.
While our fantastic Heswall Heros support team clear away lunch, we have a choice
of activities to get stuck into - our friends from the Potting Shed are back with ceramic painting and the hall has been transformed into a gaming zone by Adaptive Gaming. I sneak a quiet 5 minutes to revisit Pac-Man and discover I’m just as bad as I was in the 80’s! I’m soon out ranked by several of our campers and admit defeat.
Our first whirlwind day ends with toasted marshmallows round the glow of the campfire (just what was needed on this hot summer day!) and inflatable guitars are passed around to accompany the singing. We learn the Makaton signs for ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay then it’s time for the ‘bedtime conga’, writing diaries (beautifully designed by Megan H) and lights out.
Time passes in a unique way at camp and a week seems both to fly by and take an age. Perhaps it’s because we pack so much into it, or because there is little opportunity to think about our day jobs and events in the outside world (no bad thing). Either way, we soon settle into a comfortable routine and get to grips with the specific quirks of wheelchairs, feeding tubes, communication devices and most importantly, the fact that bean juice must never touch the fried egg! (That’s just my personal requirement, don’t judge me.)
This year’s ‘Greatest Hits Mash-Up’ theme came about while discussing the tried and tested activities that we know go down well – and here is our top 5 countdown...
Number 5
In at number 5, it’s SWIMMING! We were able to arrange additional swimming
sessions this year thanks to Foxfield School, which really benefitted our campers with reduced mobility. We also took the coach to West Kirby for a group swimming session during which, one of the children told me they hadn’t been swimming for over a year. Free of his wheelchair, he swam off to join in a game of ‘splash the Helper’. There were further opportunities to get out of chairs and push the boundaries of confidence, thanks to the team at Barnstondale who supervised climbing wall, archery and shooting sessions. Two of our campers were still fizzing with excitement as they described how they’d been right up to the top of the wall.
One girl admitted she’d been scared at first but did it anyway... it turns out she’s also
a demon at archery!
Our charity has been supported by the generosity of the community and a small
number of donors this year, enabling us to ensure the camp is free to access for each
child who needs us. The Duchy of Lancaster Benvolent Fund donated £3,298 to enable us to have accessible coaches for our days out and swimming trips.
Thank you so much because you can see the benefit of days out from camp and the ability to going swimming.
Number 4
At number 4, thank you for the MUSIC! We love a good sing-along during the week, whether it’s around the campfire or in our dorms before bed (but not in the morning apparently ‘Sue – turn the music down!’).
This year, Steve and Zoe from Unbeatable Energy brought their stash of Boomwhackers back to camp for a dynamic percussion session. These are long, coloured plastic tubes which sound out different notes when struck together. Steve soon had us drumming out complex rhythms, while dancing and chanting – Aiya! (No dinosaurs were involved this time.) For those who needed a calmer environment, music therapist Rachel provided small group sessions, pretty much without a break all day Tuesday (sorry Rachel!). These were expertly tailored to the reactions and needs of the children she was working with. We often find that our neuro divergent campers respond particularly well to these sessions and this year was no exception.
Number 3
In at number 3 – ARTS & CRAFTS! We’ve already mentioned ceramic painting and our giant camp poster, but thanks to a very kind donation towards art materials this year, we also had a fantastic choice of ‘grab & go’ activities including pom-pom llamas, doughnut cushions, windchime painting and friendship bracelet making for all the Swifties among us. Heswall Hero, Val also brought in materials to make cards and decorate boxes and cups with sequins and sparkles. Rumour has it that pots of felt pens and canvases were smuggled into dorms for sneaky crafting after lights out – well, we’re on holiday!
Number 2
At 2 it’s .... ANIMALS! Who doesn’t love a good cuddle with a cockatoo, a lizard or a tenrec? (Google the last one, it’s super cute) Plenty of animals were on hand this week thanks to visits from A-Z Animals and Home Safari plus a day out at Chester Zoo. The animals from Home Safari received Royal Approval as their visit coincided with that of the Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside who was reportedly very taken with them. He was escorted round the huddle of tents and hammocks, set up for our day camping activities by Helpers Andy, Iestyn and Jojo, who all have Scouting/Guiding backgrounds. In the tent next to the animals, ‘boil in the bag camp-fire cake’ (invented by Jojo) bubbled away on the stove as more marshmallows toasted in the campfire.
We are very fortunate to have the support of the Lord Lieutenant, and this was his second visit to us. As a show of our thanks, we presented him with a scarf from Balliol College Oxford where he attended University and he was touched by the thoughtful gesture.
Number 1
Finally – in the top spot at Number 1 it’s... GUNGE! Or basically any form of silliness that involves getting messy.
This year’s gunge/water ‘event’ was particularly epic – possibly because we had a mini rehearsal during Bonkers Bingo on Monday night! The evening began as you’d expect with an inflatable dinosaur ambushing another inflatable dinosaur on stage, who then revealed himself to be Vinny, nattily dressed in a gold sparkly jacket and matching hat. Pretty standard so far. Bonkers Bingo however includes forfeits (don’t ask me to explain the rules, as far as I can tell there were none!). All of these seemed to end with a camper ‘decorating’ a Helper with squirty cream, chocolate sauce and sprinkles – until they looked a bit like the ice creams we enjoyed when the Showtime Ice Cream Van visited the playground – they were certainly just as messy!
And so, to the main event...Helper Dougy ‘organised’ (I use the term very loosely) this and asked campers to vote for their top 5 Helpers to be the poor victims. They duly sat in chairs taking turns to answer fiendish quiz questions, while our campers formed a disorderly queue ready to tip a cup of fluorescent, lumpy goo over their heads when they inevitably failed. Most of said goo ended up down Camp Leader Sophie’s front and Andy’s neck (his lack of hair obviously providing nothing for it to ricochet off!), much to the delight of everyone.
As intended, the session soon disintegrated into chaos as a breakaway group on a nearby balcony poured water on the crowd below. Another group staged an ambush with a trolly full of water balloons and someone else found four stray cans of mega foam which were duly unleashed to add to the mayhem(who, me? Couldn’t possibly have been!)
Only slightly regretting our life choices, a sopping wet, gooey group of Helpers then set about the mammoth task of cleaning and drying a sopping wet, gooey group of campers before everyone donned their party pants for the end of camp BBQ and Disco... which is where we started this story!
Back on the dance floor, the dancing, inflatable dinosaur has now been joined by an inflatable shark, two butterflies, Mario and not one, but two Luigis, who are yelling ‘Agadoo-doo-doo’ while frantically pushing pineapples and shaking the tree – just one of the many classic floor fillers being cranked out by the awesome DJ team at The Hive.
Meanwhile, the Magic Mirror Photobooth is in full swing at the back of the hall and the dinosaur is now patiently queueing for his turn, sporting giant sunglasses and a purple wig. All too soon we gather in a circle for the finale and kick our legs up (if we can) to New York, New York ...
As the last chorus fades out, the confetti canons erupt and just like that, Heswall Camp 2024 draws to a close... (for the campers that is – the Helpers spend the next 24 hours trying to scrub 60 litres of gunge off the playground...)
In the words of that Greatest Hit, We Did it Our Way and we wouldn’t have it any
other way!
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