What do you get when you take 41 young people on a bus to Wakefield for a 6 day camp? Loads of fun, new friends, great food, bucket-loads of activities, new experiences, a break from shaking and talk about earthquakes, great weather and one very cold lake! Well at least that’s what we experienced during our stay at Bridge Valley Camp in sunny Wakefield!
Our six day camp mixed together students from ranging from years 7-9 from Sumner, Redcliffs, Woolston and Linwood and offered them a laundry list of activities to try; Paintball, rock climbing, abseiling, go karts, quad bikes, off-road vehicle rides, kayaking, raft building, archery, target shooting (to name some!) and a range of free time activities such as bmx, hydroslide, flying fox, basketball, foosball and more.
Needless to say, there was plenty for the kids to do!
Our goal with the Getaway camp was give these kids a chance to get out of Christchurch, leave it’s ongoing earthquake related problems behind and to offer them a fun, engaging and exciting camp experience. Feedback from both the kids and their parents suggests that the camp succeeded in it’s endeavours and requests for a similar camp in the future are already being made.
This camp experience would not have been possible without the incredible financial contributions from both the Todd and Tindall Foundations and the support of Ritchies Transport Holdings in offering us a discounted bus fare to get the kids there and back.
We also owe thanks to The Roxx Climbing Centre, Hollywood Cinema (Sumner), Charlie’s, Hoyts, Alpine Ice Centre and Canterbury Rugby for generous contributions towards prizes and treats for the kids.
All in all we had a really enjoyable and positive experience and look forward to opportunities to run similar camps in the future!
For more photos and videos check out our page on Facebook.
