WEC Camp 2007 – Week C
After a really hard week B, those organising camp decided I needed a break and so gave me a really pleasant break for week C – “Site Manager”. It was a nice title, but in reality it meant that I had to make sure that the site was kept clean and tidy and upright. This involved emptying lats and bins, tidying up the field, tent and bed maintenance and making sure the tents stayed up in bad weather.
I had never been the site manager before, and so was a little bit nervous about what the role involved and how and when to do some of the jobs. Thankfully Jonny stayed on for a few more days from week B and helped me out which was really useful. Thanks Jonny!
Being site manager was quite different to being a tent leader. You have no direct responsibility for kids, and so don’t need to watch them all the time. The jobs that you do can be done in your own time, and the only fixed things in the day are mealtimes. Emptying the lats forms a fairly major part of the perceived role, but in reality it took around 90 minutes in the morning during the morning meeting and about 60 minutes in the evening during the evening game or the meeting. It was quite strange having so little contact with the campers, as during the games and meetings I was occupied, and the only time I saw the campers was at mealtimes. I had to keep asking them their names, and even then at another mealtime I would come across kids that I had never seen before!
I spent some time loitering and being available for when people needed help with moving stuff around the site and mending beds and tents, and it allowed me to relax somewhat when compared to the previous week.
It was really nice to have my own tent and own personal space, and I would sometimes just sit outside and watch the world go by. My tent was officially the games chief’s and I didn’t take the sign down, so I might even look official sitting there. Last week (B) the site manager’s tent had a name of ‘base camp’ and was the centre of quite a lot of light amusement, including the lilo sandwich. 
This week my tent had all the games equipment in and so the fun never ended. On changeover day I was let out on terms of my probation with Jon, and bought a bell. After fixing it to my tent, I then had a door bell. It quickly got annoying though (see picture for details), and I unfortunately forgot to take it down at the end of the week and now have no idea where it is.
Because of my unique and amazing singing ability, I was chosen to represent the camp in the morning wake-up call with Ray and Michael. Armed with megaphones and some lyrics that had been hatched up the previous evening, Michael would beam out “For your delight and delectation, a song by Andy Deakin as doh, Ray as ray and me as me” (Geddit? doh,ray,me… Thats about as tuneful as we got!) and then proceed to sing an amusing and custom made adaptation to a musical themed song. Sometimes they would be met by a loud applause, occasionally we would hear heavy snoring even after the tuneful performance.
The weather on week C was quite varied, but it was much damper than the previous week. At one point much of the dining tent was under a small amount of water, and I had the pleasure of collecting hay from a nearby field with the help of Jon, Abby and Barry the barrel. The hay was then deposited on the floor of the dining tent to soak up the moisture, giving it a similar appearance and smell to a stable.
Despite empting the lats and other fairly unpleasant jobs I enjoyed the whole week and was very thankful of the few bits of rest that I got and the friendships I developed over the week. I was given a massive insight into the running of camp, and what goes on in the kitchen and behind the scenes, and think it was a week of my life that I will not quickly forget.
