CAMP DIARY:

This page will be updated every day with news from Junior Camp at Broomley Grange.

Friday – Stardate 23:05:08

   
‘Space camp’ started with us all boarding the train to Stocksfield via Newcastle and everyone enjoyed the journey ‘up North’.
After a short walk from the station, we arrived at Broomley to be given our rooms and we soon unpacked. The new boys couldn’t believe how big the house was and how much space they were going to have to play in.
After this we had a game of football which was designed to tire us out before supper and the first chapters of our bedtime story – ‘George’s Secret Key to the Universe’. Tomorrow we are going to be making made our own ‘ID Badges’ which show the rooms and teams we will be in for the whole week. The rooms are named ‘Discovery’, ‘Apollo’ and ‘Challenger’. We get to know our teams and their names later.

It’s going to be a great week at Broomley Grange.
 
Note: We will have difficulty uploading any photos from camp during the week. We hope to have some later on Tuesday.
All of the boys are settling in well and we’re keeping an eye on everyone, especially the younger boys and those who are away for the first time. 
    
  
Saturday – Stardate 24:05:08
  

This morning we went for a walk around the grounds so that we all could see just how much land there is around the ‘big house’ and we got chance to explore the ‘tunnels’ and play on some of the activity equipment. We later had some ‘free time’ and spent much of it in the playground. Although he’s only 22 months old, Harry McLoughlin is joining in with almost everything we do!

We were also divided into our games teams today – ‘Alpha, Bravo, Charlie & Delta’ and took part in the first round of our team competitions which are Non-Stop Cricket, Tag Rugby, Football and Uni-Hoc. Team Bravo have the early lead after playing four matches each and they are led by Joseph Willis.

With so much activity, we need plenty of food to keep us going so for lunch we had sausage & mash followed by cake & custard and for tea we had fish fingers & chips followed by yoghurt.

Tonight we’re doing some crafts that include a giant space mural which will include pictures of us as astronauts floating around in space with photos of our own faces behind the visors!

Supper and the latest chapters of our story will be followed by bed at 10pm.

Quote from camp: ‘it’s absolutely fandabidozy!’ Michael Jordan.
 
 

Sunday – Stardate 25:05:08

   
It’s a sunny but breezy day here and we’re already out playing non-stop cricket and football this morning. Everyone woke to see the sun streaming in through the curtains and after breakfast we got our rooms ready for our daily inspection. The rooms are:
 
Apollo 1 : David W, Josh W, Bradley V, Matthew C, Jacob M, James E, Kyle W, Ellis D, Thomas R & Aaron D.
Challenger 6 : Luke T, Cameron W, Baileigh M, Michael J, Matthew S, Joseph W, Jack B and Max T.
Discovery 10 : Ross G-S, Sam S, Nathan D, Daniel I, Thomas B, Ryan J and Luke W.
  
After two days of inspection, Room 10 ‘Discovery’ is leading by 2 points. Our devotions today focused on teamwork.
  
This afternoon we are going to be on the Zip Wire, Climbing Wall and in the tunnels again.
  
Quotes from camp:      ‘it’s excellent’ Jacob Mercer
                                    ‘beast’ James Edwards
                                    ‘it’s out of this world!’ Adam Parker 
    
This afternoon we split into three groups and were led by Kev Carter, Tom and Kevin (Broomley Instructors) as we had a go on the Zip Wire, Giant Cargo Net and the Climbing Wall. Everyone had a great time swinging, bouncing, climbing and abseiling with Nick also being taught how to belay the climbers by Tom.

We also had the chance to explore the Burnside stream and try out a new tunnel system that used to be a slide in a swimming pool. We then heard that later in the week we can have a go on the new Night Line course which involves following a rope blindfold through the trees!

Tonight we’re making kaleidoscopes out of ‘Pringles’ tubes before supper and an early night at 9.30pm. After so much activity and fresh air today, it won’t be long before everyone’s asleep!

Quote from camp: ‘everyone’s really enjoying camp and the seniors including Alex are doing very well’ - Stu ‘T’


Please note: Sorry but the payphone isn’t allowing outgoing calls, so we’re using mobiles tonight.

Monday – Stardate 26:05:08

  
It’s another sunny but breezy day today and we’re team building this morning with puzzles fro us to solve and the Night Line to ‘experience’ before lunch. This afternoon we’re going swimming at Prudhoe Waterworld and we’ll be travelling by bus to get there.
 
There were a few tears last night after some of the boys rang home. They were fine before their parents said ‘we’re really missing you!’ It might be true but a few teddies needed a cuddle before bedtime!
 
Everyone is okay again this morning and looking forward to another full day at camp.
 
More news later today….

This afternoon we walked down to the bus stop to catch the bus to Prudhoe and --- it didn’t turn up! You try to use public transport and it lets you down! Given the next bus was an hour later, we had to cancel going to Waterworld today but hope to go on Thursday now.
Instead of getting wet in the pool, we took a detour on the way back to Broomley and got our feet wet in the stream by the ford.
 
After a tea of chicken curry & rice (which went down very well) we’ve been watching a film called ‘Shark Boy & Lava Girl’.
The Anchors visit us all day tomorrow so we’ll be showing them around now that we know Broomley so well.
 
More news tomorrow – bye!

It’s a boy!!!

Congratulations are sent to Natalie and Robert (Kipper the dad) after the safe arrival of Keane who was born at 4.19am on Sunday morning weighing in at 10 pounds 4 ounces!

Both are very well and will make an appearance at Broomley on Tuesday when everyone will get to know for the first time. Natalie and Kipper wanted to surprise them all at camp, including Ellis who like Myles, has a new baby brother.

Keane is named after ex-Manchester Utd player and current Sunderland manager, Roy Keane. Well, Kipper is a Man Utd fan after all!

We wish them all the very best and send them our love. 
 

Tuesday – Stardate 27:05:08

   
Rain……and…..baby!
  
We knew the dry weather wouldn’t last all week but it was a shame that the wet stuff arrived on the day of the Anchor Boy visit. We did manage a few more of our team competitions before our visitors arrived and the first surprise was Natalie, Myles and Kipper coming up the drive with baby Keane. Much excitement followed with Ellis getting a look at his new brother for the first time.
   
With the arrival of the Anchors, we split into team for relay races before the rain came and we went in for lunch of Chicken Wraps with the Anchors eating their packed lunches. In the afternoon we did some crafts including making ‘space communicators’ and ‘alien monster faces’ before we showed the new lads around the grounds. All of the Anchors loved crawling through the two tunnel systems before they left us at 4.15pm.
  
Last night the rain stopped so we played ‘Man Hunt’. 20 acres of fields and woodland is a great place to play a hide & seek game!
   
Supper and 5 chapters of ‘George’s Secret Key to the Universe’ followed before bedtime. We need to be up early tomorrow as breakfast is half an hour earlier. Night, night. 
    
   

      
An early start today with breakfast at 8am as we’re walking down to the station to catch a train to Newcastle. By 10.30am we’ll have arrived at The Centre for Life, where we’re booked in for a full day of activities based on a healthy lifestyle and of course – space exploration.
   
We’ve now had over 160 ‘hits’ on this site since camp began and we know you’re enjoying reading the updates, so thanks for visiting. More news will follow tonight. 
   
  

  Our day out at the Life Centre was a great success and we spent five hours there! After walking the short distance from the station, we were met by Mr Morgan who had put a programme together for us and we started of by watching a film about space exploration and astonauts narrated by Ewan McGregor. After a visit to the shop we had lunch in the cafe before taking part in 'Fit for Life' - a fully interactive and very active exhibition that's great for kids of all ages.

Tonight we're planning on watching a film and having a quiet night - we'll need it after all of today's activity.

See you here tomorrow - bye!

P.S. We hope you like the new photos.

Thursday – Stardate 29:05:08

    
Our last full day at camp began with another good breakfast before we prepared our rooms for inspection for the last time. By the end of tonight we’ll know who won Room Inspection for this year. We’ll also find out which team won Team Competitions and we began this morning by playing our final games of Uni-Hoc, Football, Tag Rugby and Non-Stop Cricket.  

  
After we’d finished we collected firewood for tonight’s presentations around the bonfire.
  
We had Corned Beef Pie for lunch – which meant Kev ate a Veggie Pie outside the Dining Room as he thinks it’s the work of the Devil, before walking to the bus stop once again, this time for a successful visit to Waterworld. We reckon that by the time we’ve walked for the train home tomorrow, we will have covered 10.5 miles this week, so we shouldn’t have put on any weight! Not easy with Broomley’s food.
 
Going swimming has been a feature of our camps over the years – in fact we’ve been going since the pool first opened and it was good to get to wet in the wave pool and slide down the slide.
 
Tea tonight was a bar-b-cue of sausage, chicken drumsticks, burgers, potato wedges, salad and doughnuts.
 
Quotes from camp: ‘it’s excellent’ – everyone is saying this! When we’ve asked the lads if they think there’s something special about being at Broomley, they all say yes. They’ll have plenty to tell you this weekend!
 
Our last night here will be a sad one but we’re also looking forward to meeting our families again tomorrow. Our final news message will be posted here tomorrow morning.
 
Bye from camp! 
  

Friday – Stardate 30:05:08 

It’s raining! Which is okay at the moment, as we’ve begun to pack but we really want to get outside this morning for one last game of Danish Long Ball and a bit of Free-time play, while the staff pack the equipment away.

It’s been a great week and there’s much to tell you all when we get home – the staff however will be getting some extra sleep in over the weekend!

Presentations were made to the following last night:

Team Competition Winners: Team C = Charlie. Each boy received a space themed pencil case set.

Room Inspection Winners: Challenger 6 : Luke T, Cameron W, Baileigh M, Michael J, Matthew S, Joseph W, Jack B and Max T. Each boy received a pen with a spinning top.

The seniors also received small gifts to say thank you and to remember camp by. Adam, Ben, Liam, Nick and Alex now have some ‘space figures’ to play with!

Everyone also received a certificate telling them that they’d successfully ‘passed out’ of space camp in magnetic picture frame. Something for the fridge door perhaps?

And so we’re close to the end of Junior Camp 2008. It ends when we get back to the railway station at 4.13pm when you’ll see a group of very happy but tired friends get off the train. The lads will probably be leading the staff by then, so spare a thought for them too as you welcome your boys home.

What next? Well we’re back to BB on the 6th June, when we’ll begin our preparations for our Open Night on 4th July where one of the items will be a slideshow of photos from camp. Please put this date in your diaries as we’ll also be announcing the Boy of the Year Awards and the Pineapple Award.

Finally – Camp 2009? If you’re still in Year 3 – Year 6 next year and would like to go again or for the first time, now that you’ve seen just how good it is, details will be announced in January. Before that, we have a joint weekend away with the Company & Seniors in October.

With very best wishes from all at camp and ‘the 8th’

Thanks for visiting these pages this week. With over 240 hits in just one week, they appear to have been a great success.
  

Pre-Camp Info from January 2008:

This year will see ‘the 8th’ spend its 27th successive Junior Section Holiday at Broomley Grange in Northumberland and from our experiences of the previous 26 we can guarantee a very happy week of fun, games and activities. This really is the highlight of any Junior Section year so we do hope that every boy will be able to join us from Friday 23rd – Friday 30th May...  

Venue & Activities  

Broomley Grange is owned and managed by the North of England District of The Boys’ Brigade, situated between Newcastle and Hexham in the Tyne Valley. If you’ve not been before this is a truly great venue and one everyone wants to go back to – hence our long history with it.

 Broomley has been developed to include a range of activities designed to challenge and entertain young people of all ages. Add to this our own BB experience and expertise and you are in for a packed week of fun and activities with your friends! You can visit the website on www.broomleygrange.co.uk or check out this website for recent reports and pictures. 

Accommodation

There are four large dormitory rooms with bunk beds, all with duvets  and space for your own clothes. 

Each room has a carefully selected group of lads along with a room leader—usually a y6 boy who has been before. Private bathrooms are next to each room with cubicled showers and wc's.

Broomley was built as a private house in 1897,  so it has many rooms  including: 2 large lounges with TV, DVD, pool table, table tennis and table football; a large dining room  and a recently rebuilt conservatory.

Outside there are almost 20 acres of woodland and landscaped gardens at the top of a long, private drive.

Food

All of our meals are prepared for us by Broomley’s cook and we take into account specific dietary requirements. Breakfast consists of a choice of cereal, toast and croissants or fresh-baked bread buns with a range of jams. A two course lunch and evening meal provide us with enough energy to keep us going. We finish the day with supper of home made biscuits and a warm drink before bed. We never go hungry and we do encourage you to try some new foods. Broomley’s menu is based on many year's experience of catering for young people.

Programme

Our programme is designed to fit around a main theme with tried and tested activities in the grounds, indoor games, crafts and a certain amount of ‘free time’ every day. Add to this visits to places of interest in the local area and a couple of quieter nights either watching a film on a big screen or listening to bedtime stories and the whole thing comes together.
The aim is to keep everyone busy all week and we even include daily room inspection. Although you will be supervised at all times you also get the chance to explore the grounds with your friends.

The staff & supervision

Between us we’ve attended more than 75 Junior Section holidays alone and with an activities instructor, Nurse, mum, dad and Paramedic amongst us we’re pretty well covered! We are on duty 24hrs per day and keep an eye on each individual—just as a parent would. As a result of this we rarely have any major problems with homesickness. The biggest problem tends to be the parents missing the boys!
Further qualified instruction is provided for all activities that require specialist supervision and this is included in the cost.

If you've not been before - you've got to try it! There's a real buzz about 'the 8th' at Broomley and it just might be the best thing you ever did!