WEC Camp 2007 – Week B
Week B started really well. After getting up early to collect a parcel, its contents were broken. I then tried to burn a DVD on a computer, and after spending three hours burning, the DVD was apparently blank.
I got a lift from Bulstrode in a friends car, who was travelling down at the same time as me. After being on the road for a couple of hours, the engine cut out and the engine wouldn’t restart. After waiting over an hour for a RAC guy, we were told they they were all busy and that a local garage would send a van out. We were eventually recovered to the nearest service station where the car was inspected and the timing belt was found to have gone. In laymans terms that means that the engine is kerput. The car was taken back to where we came from and I had to look after three kids and Bob at the service station.
I knew that there was a minibus scheduled to drive past where we were in a few hours time, and so I tried desperately to contact the driver. After trying many phone numbers I managed to get hold of him (Thanks Lynne for the number!) and arranged for him to pick us up.
The minibus did arrive after a few hours, and after a few more hours travelling (and getting lost a little) we got to the warrior camp field. By this time it was going dark, and my village quiet time was well underway. I chose to stay well away and sat down for a few moments, drank tea and ate food.
I would like to say that it was all uphill from there, but I was village leader and my village was quite a challenging one. I had three nice but pesky boys in my tent, including one French lad (Ben) who tended to have at least one tag-along of his little brother. There was another tent without a leader, and the third tent had Bob as a leader and three troublesome lads in.
Sitting at the breakfast table one day I decided to move a tray of bacon, which was perhaps a bad idea as it was rather warm. I spent the next half hour with my right hand under cold running water, and then found the sympathy of the kitchen team. They applied some much needed burn cream which worked wonders, and also decided that I needed a sling. It was quite amusing, and it certainly got the sympathy vote until people realised that it was a joke.
Each day we played wide games which the kids love, and the leaders like. They are always great fun and pretty much just involve running around madly trying to catch anyone you have some kind of playful vendetta against. Occasionally when there are some team tactics and games are taken seriously there are issues of collecting gold (tent runners) or dynamite (tent runners) or water in cups. During one such game I decided to fall over on a fairly sharp stone and make a deep gash in left hand. It hurt a little.
Throughout the week we had a football tournament, where teams of leaders and campers adopted a country and played football against each other. In my first game I pulled my right thigh muscle quite badly, and so was out of the game. I tried to play again but made it worse, then decided to give it up as a bad job. Later on that day I was limping and playing handball, and sprained my left ankle. I felt like I was going through the ‘Father Abraham had many sons’ song. Right hand (burnt), left hand (gash), right leg (muscle pulled) left leg (sprained ankle). I think the next line in that song is something like ‘Chin up’ so I wondered if I should wear a pre-emptive neck brace but couldn’t find one in the first aid kit!
There were quite a few new leaders there this year, and I tried to make an effort to get to know them all. Many of them were outgoing which made it much easier but I felt I got to know most of the leaders on the camp much better than I have in previous years, and they are all really cool! There are a couple of leaders that are also going to be studying Warwick next year, and that is quite exciting.
The weather was also brilliant most of the week. It was sunny almost all the time and still warm when it was overcast and wet. I don’t think I ever wore my coat all week, although I probably should have. The view from the field was really amazing, as you could see the beach, the surf on the sea and even some more land across the water. Some suggested it was Wales, France, and one boy even thought it was America. I suggest we need to teach kids some basic geography.
Our trip day out was to Woodlands, which was really cool. One of the kids that I went around with from my tent had been there before, and knew the best rides. 
He was able to give us a whistle-stop tour of all the park while everyone else was busy consulting their maps. After visiting some of the outdoor areas, we ventured into the big blue barn where we stayed for the rest of our time. 
The big blue barn is amazing! I had so much fun in there, and for almost an hour the leaders played tag which was awesome, but pretty exhausting. Caffeine pills were the answer to exhaustion on this occasion.
We had invasion in the village on one of the days, which both the kids and leaders tend to like. Some of the leaders set off dressed in many amusing costumes, and the campers ventured down into beer to spot the fakes. Armed with the question “How much does a tail of a goat cost?” the campers trailed around the village looking for suspects. We found quite a few, and many of them made us laugh lots.
Throughout the week the leaders had a pool ladder. Through some ’skill’, fluke, mismanagement and careful avoiding of leaders I managed to finish second on the ladder. I did beat the winner (Chris) twice, but he might have beat me three times.
Despite the challenges, I was really encouraged through the week by the strength and patience that God gave me, and was thankful of the other leaders that I know I can depend on and cheered me up when I needed it.
