Junior Camp 2010 - 'Secret Agents' - Report
Want to know what 'camp' is like? Read on and check out the pics on scrapbook
Message from BIA.... Saturday 29th May 19.30hrs
Hi everyone! We’re just settling down with our tuck to watch ‘Stormbreaker’ which is a good film to watch when you’re training to be a secret agent. This afternoon we all attended a ‘briefing’ in Room 8 by the Director of the BIA (Stu) who told us what we needed to know about ‘Agent X, Andropov and potential moles and double agents. We all received our own BIA Passports which contain info about our rooms, daily routine, codes, agent-speak, disguise and our own photos of course. After arriving safely last night we were given our rooms, unpacked and went outside for a while before supper & bed. The earliest anyone was awake was 6.45am but we didn’t get up until 8am in time for breakfast at 8.30am. The rain didn’t arrive today until after lunch which meant we could walk the grounds and play Danish Long Ball before Stu took our room and team photos (see pics). Following a buffet lunch of sausage rolls, tuna, cheese, ham & egg sandwiches, crisps, fresh fruit etc. we began our team competitions with football and non-stop cricket before the rain came. The briefing was then followed by a giant game of cluedo using rooms in the house before tea of chicken pie, chips & peas with chocolate cake & custard for ‘afters’. And so our first full day draws to a close. The weather could have been kinder but then it could have been a lot worse too. Tomorrow promises to be better and Monday better still. The lads have been kept busy and nobody has mentioned home yet – which means you’re missing them more than they are you! A good first day as we settle into our holiday home from home. More news will be posted here tomorrow evening – news of the activities field with more pics. BIA – over and out.
Message from BIA.... Sunday 30th May 19.00hrs
Another busy,busy,busy day. Colder than yesterday too, but a great day anyway and as the sun has finally come out, we’re all outside playing team competitions – football, non-stop cricket, uni-hoc and footy rounders. After breakfast and room inspection (better marks than yesterday) we headed out to meet Tom and Steve who were to be our instructors as we’ve been in the activities field for most of the day and as you’ll see from the photos, we’ve stacked crates, climbed the wall, slid down the zip wire, completed the low ropes course, hid in the tunnels and slid down the waterslide. We only came in for a Roast Chicken Sunday Lunch, which was popular (see lists below) and to get a shower after the waterslide left us just a bit wet! We’re stopping for tuck before more team sports and indoor games/songs before supper and bed. Here are our favourite activities and meals so far: Ellis DK: Team comps, Free-time, Activities field & Chicken pie with chips. Luke W: Climbing Wall, Crates, Zip-wire & Sunday Lunch. Myles DK: Non-stop cricket, Waterslide, Zip-wire & Sunday Lunch. Matty R: Team Comps, Table Tennis, Tunnels & Breakfast. Chris M: Climbing Wall, Crates, Team comps & Sunday Lunch. Sam B: Climbing Wall, Tunnels, Zip-wire & Sunday Lunch. (Sam also mentioned Su & Natalie) James D: Tunnels, Zip-wire, Team Comps & Sunday Lunch. Dominic M: Waterslide, Free-time, Football & Chicken pie & chips. Michael J: Crates, Zip-wire, Danish Long Ball & Sunday Lunch. James W: Climbing Wall, Crates, Zip-wire & Chicken pie & chips. Sam S: Climbing Wall, Waterslide, Team comps & Sunday Lunch. Thomas R: Zip-wire, Low Ropes, Waterslide & Sunday Lunch. Oliver H: Climbing Wall, Zip-wire, Waterslide & Sunday Lunch. Daniel I: Waterslide, Zip-wire, Non-Stop Cricket & Sunday Lunch. Ben M: Crates, Waterslide, Zip-wire & Sunday Lunch. Josh W: Activities, Team comps, Football & Chicken Pie & chips. Bradley V: Climbing Wall, Crates, Football & Sunday Lunch. Thomas A: Zip-wire, Free-time, Climbing Wall & Sunday Lunch. Ryan J: Football, Waterslide, Low Ropes & Sunday Lunch Joseph B: Tunnels, Low Ropes, Crates & Sunday Lunch. Josh R: Danish Long Ball, Crates, Football & Sunday Tea. Bailiegh M: Waterslide, Team comps, Tunnels & Sunday Lunch. The staff and seniors are enjoying camp too although Nick & Matty were late for breakfast and the seniors (Callum, Luke & Hoff) are finding the pace a bit tiring at times . Tomorrow promises better weather and loads more things to tell you about. We hope you enjoy the photos. Bye from camp for now! BIA – over and out. Message ends...
Message from BIA.... Monday 31st May Happy 9th Birthday Myles!
Hot, hot hot!! With the sun finally arriving at camp we made the most of the great weather and re-arranged our programme to spend almost all day outside. Room Inspection followed Breakfast and the marks were pretty good again with just a few points separating the three rooms. Team competitions took a twist today with Josh Wright’s team (MI5) winning their 4th match out of 5 before crashing to 3 straight defeats. Dominic’s team (Mossad) taking over the lead by 3 points. Lunch was corned beef pie, jacket potatoes and beans followed by trifle – good grub when you’re full of busy. After lunch we introduced the lads to what was for them a new game – Kubb and paired Mossad with MI5 and Michael Jordan’s CIA with Sam Spindloe’s KGB. MI5 and CIA won through to the final which followed KGB’s win in the 3rd/4th playoff. In a tight and changing game, CIA came from behind to beat MI5 despite Josh’s team having a couple of chances to win earlier in the game. Kubb proved to be very popular and the lads have asked to play it again. (The staff beat the seniors in a ‘friendly’ played straight after the final). Free-time finished our afternoon off before tea of pasta with a Bolognese sauce, garlic bread and salad followed by chocolate cake. You’ll remember we asked the lads to bring a teddy with them and after tea the lads searched the grounds as we’d hid them in the trees before we finally came inside for tuck shop, showers and a film – National Treasure. More codes, and puzzles to solve – for Nicholas Cage this time – we were too busy eating Myles’ birthday cake! And so with the turn of midnight we’d reached half way at camp 2010. More news to follow.... BIA over and out. Message ends. Message from BIA.... Tuesday 1st June – where has the sun gone?
Yes it’s raining this morning and the Anchors are due to visit today. Andi was up early to get to Hartlepool via Peterlee to pick them up by mini-bus and whilst they were travelling we set off for Prudhoe Waterworld by service bus. £74.40 return is a big fare and the driver was pleased we’d worked it out for him. The pool was great with wave machine and water slide keeping everyone entertained – especially the wave machine which had us all getting ‘swished around’ in the shallow end as the waves came crashing in. Now we know what our clothes feel like on a 30 degree wash! Our visitors arrived with Elaine, Alex and Joy and had a guided tour around the house and the grounds by Matty and Nick before playing games before eating their packed lunches. Our lunch was spicy chicken wraps with potato wedges & salad followed by yoghurt & shortcake biscuit. This afternoon everyone joined in for relays on the front lawn, and then we split up into 2 big groups for non-stop cricket and football. At the moment we’re still outside as it’s dry, the Anchors are just about to go on a scavenger hunt with the Juniors playing DLB. [The lads have been brilliant, we’ve not had any tears and nobody’s shown any signs of being homesick either – we’re all too busy. Thanks for the messages you’ve been sending us too]. The Anchors had hot dogs before leaving us after a busy day at camp. Thanks to Andi who drove the bus and to Elaine, Alex and Joy for staffing the visit. More later tonight. BIA over and out. Message ends.
Message from BIA.... Wednesday 2nd June
Great weather and great day out at the Life Centre where we saw lots of monsters, costumes and props from DR WHO. You should have seen the faces of the people who were in the 100m long queue as we went straight in with our group host (it pays to book ahead) and got straight on with our tour. There wasn’t just the DR Who exhibition to look at but it was our priority and we saw plenty of Cybermen and Darleks before looking around the centre itself. We had a choice of meal and the food was good – but not as good as Broomley’s. Most of us joined a queue to see live science experiments in a show which included mixing fuel and oxygen before lighting it in a water cooler bottle and one that made large smoke rings using a dustbin. We visited the shop to buy presents and sat out in the sun in Times Square before walking back to the rail station and our journey back to Broomley. There was just enough time for some free-time games before tea – chicken curry with rice, naan bread and sticky toffee pudding & syrup. Two more team competitions followed tea, then we got dressed up for our Casino Night. James Bond always seems to win but we learned that the majority lose everything although Ben Mincher bet his last £100 on 35 Red and won over £20,000! He had the chance to clear his brother’s debts at the end of the night but decided not too – brotherly love eh? We finished a long day with our first game of Man Hunt. BIA over & out. Message ends..
Message from BIA.... Thursday 3rd June
“Don’t stop me now, cos I’m having a good time, I’m having a ball.” Sorry we’ve not updated this report for a while but we’ve been really busy and yes we’re having a good time. Stu played the Queen song and the lads sang it before going out to complete team competitions. As the weather was again great we divided the day between organised and free-time activity (during which time we also collected firewood) and the lads challenged the seniors to a game of Kubb. With the later team taking an early lead the juniors looked out of it and Nick through at the King for a win but missed. This gave our young heroes a chance and they slowly turned the game around and some 45 minutes later won the game. We had Pizza & Chips with Ice Cream for lunch and this afternoon divided into our four teams for ‘The Code Breaker Challenge’. Stu had put together a series of codes to break and we ran all over the grounds to decode them with the use of our Agent Handbooks, radioing in to ‘control’ with the answers before being given the location of the next code to break. Once we’d got all 10, we sat down to complete 5 sentences that told us who Andropov was, who’s body had been found, who the mole was and what Codex was. All important stuff when you’re at Secret Agent Camp. With the sun still shining, we had another play on the waterslide before our barbecue tea of burger, sausage, chicken, salad and an ice cream. And so our last night at Broomley arrived. We played Man Hunt again before meeting around the bonfire for our presentations. Room Inspection was won by Room 10 (Bailiegh, Dom, Matty, Luke, Ryan, Myles and Thomas) and Team Comps by Mossad (Dom, Bailiegh, Ellis, Daniel, Sam, Chris). Everyone received a passing out certificate from Stu before we all ha chance to say what we’d liked doing this week. Many would like to stay longer and everyone’s had a great time. BIA over & out. Message ends...
Final message from BIA.... Friday 4th June 11am.
The weather’s great and we’re all outside playing a big game of Non-Stop Cricket. We’ve packed our bags and the staff have also packed our equipment ready for departure just after 2pm. We’ll be walking down to the station to catch the 3pm train and we’re due back into Hartlepool for 4.15pm. Your lads have been brilliant and a credit to you. Some have had ‘their moments’ but we expect that and it’s part of growing up. They’ll all be tired and ready for a hug and they’ll be just a bit older, taller and more confident that they were last Friday. It’s been a great week. There’ll be more photos posted here soon and a full presentation on camp at our Open Night next month. See you Friday 11th at BB. This is not just the BB it’s The 8th Hartlepool BB!! Message ends..