Carry on Camp Cando 2014

Camp Cando and the Pirates in the Forest

Astro Communications has been a supporter of Camp Cando as sponsors for some years and we had attended one of their barbecue nights. Also, Steve Hodges ran the Lincoln 10k Road Race earlier this year to raise money for Camp. We had always been distant supporters rather than getting involved with Camp. Until this year!

Last month Steve Hodges and I had the great privilege of being able to spend some time at this year’s Camp as helper/counsellors. Camp Cando is a grass roots voluntary organisation for young people with a complexity of special and behavioural needs. Every year Camp Cando give a group of young people from London, the opportunity to spend a life enhancing and fun week away from home in the summer.

“… (I) was extremely impressed with the excellent level of care and attention from the team of volunteer helpers.”

I was certainly conscious that we had a lot to live up to. I had been to Camp before as a guest at the end of camp barbecue and was extremely impressed with the excellent level of care and attention from the team of volunteer helpers. I hasten to add that I am not easily impressed with the care of young people with special and behavioural needs as my elder adult daughter has autism so I have been around people with special needs for over 20 years. I also know how difficult it is to find respite, especially with the level of care I witnessed at camp on my first visit.

I have to admit as the camp time drew closer I was feeling a mix of excitement and apprehension in equal measures. The organisers have several meetings with the volunteers and with the teenagers to ensure everyone knows what is expected of them and to ensure each young person’s individual needs are communicated to the team. Unfortunately, due to a number of family issues and commitments combined with work commitments I managed to miss all of them. So, my preparation was via email and although I knew a few of the people involved my preparation as a result of my own poor timing was virtually non-existent.

“…I was feeling a mix of excitement and apprehension in equal measures.”

During the week before Camp I received my joining instructions for the Sunday morning to arrive before the mini-buses arrived with the teenagers. I arrived with my clothes (several changes for each day – just in case), a sheet, pillow and a sleeping bag. By Saturday evening I was good to go and just wanted to get to Camp. If I get the opportunity to do this again I think I would prefer to arrive the night before as talking to one of the other long-term volunteers he mentioned being ‘in the bubble’ and staying ‘in the bubble’ for the week and on reflection I can really see the benefit of doing that.

I arrived on Camp and was shown my bed which I would be sharing with Steve Hodges (fortunately not at the same time). I had a little time to review and understand the schedule and noticed I was on duty that night so no beers to calm my nerves until Monday evening! I was then put to work setting up the badminton nets which saw almost constant use from the moment the youngsters arrived to the time they left. I then had some time to study the case notes for each of the young people in our care while we awaited the arrival of the mini-buses which were due at 1pm. However, due to a pick up problem the buses were delayed for an hour giving my novice nerves the chance to get the better of me.

Even though I have spent so much of my life around people with special needs, I felt way outside my comfort zone and was apprehensive about what the next few days would bring. But, as I finished my brief tour of the Camp site the mini-buses arrived and I was in demand to play badminton and to kick the occasional football and throw and catch a rugby ball. Some of the teenagers had been to Camp before and got straight into the flow while for others the experience was new and alien to them. As much as I was outside of my comfort zone I couldn’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for some of the young people coming along to Camp and maybe being away from home for the first time.

“…I would move close enough to throw him the ball so he could catch it without risk of injury. He would then return the ball with a kick Jonny Wilkinson would be proud of.”

I spent an hour or so playing badminton with some reasonably accomplished players (by my standards they appeared to be world class) I spent another hour or so playing a very tiring game of one-on-one rugby. This had a fairly simple set of rules: I would move close enough to throw him the ball so he could catch it without risk of injury. He would then return the ball with a kick Jonny Wilkinson would be proud of. Sometimes it went high into the trees where I at least had an opportunity to catch it. And other times it would fly way out of the compound down the road or into the woods where I would faithfully retrieve it like man’s best friend. What is fantastic about Camp is that everyone is looking out for everyone else and after a few hours of fairly intense exercise (by my standards I hasten to add) I was flagging. One of the younger helpers spotted this and offered to step in to give me a well needed break.

A short while later several of the helpers took the teenagers for a walk in the forest. We got ‘misplaced’ a few times coming to dead ends and having to double back on ourselves. When we eventually arrived back at Camp there were a couple of treasure troves loaded with all sorts of pirates’ paraphernalia including hats, neckerchiefs and eye patches. I arrived back with a young man who insisted I don my pirates’ accessories including an eye patch. My companion urged me to get into the spirit of the occasion and handed me a stick informing me it was a telescope and asked me to look at the enemy ships approaching. I held it up to my unpatched eye and peered into the forest as instructed and informed my captain that the enemy were indeed approaching. He looked puzzled and said “That’s strange! Ships approaching from the forest?” How silly am I?

“He looked puzzled and said “That’s strange! Ships approaching from the forest?” How silly am I?”

Pirates were the theme for the week so the arts and crafts session was a sea of treasure chests, ships and crocodiles all made from egg boxes and drinks cartons. The helpers and the youngsters were getting really stuck in although some of the helpers including myself seemed to get more paint on ourselves than on the egg boxes. Nevertheless, it was a serious job requiring care and attention to ensure the items were painted leaving no gaps.

Shortly after the arts and crafts session we were preparing for our first meal at camp. After helping with the distribution of food and drinks I sat down to one of the best Sunday roasts I had enjoyed in years. No school dinners here, just excellent home cooking. I enjoyed it more as a result of the full-on day which was physically draining and even more so emotionally. After dinner, I was back in demand to play badminton until it was so dark I just couldn’t see the shuttlecock any more. Luckily, this coincided with bed-time.

“…I sat down to one of the best Sunday roasts I had enjoyed in years. No school dinners here, excellent home cooking.”

I was called to help settle three of the teenagers and get them into their beds for the night. The helpers really were taking on the role of mum and dad for the week and the level of genuine care towards the teenagers was amazing to see, especially given my own experiences of trying to find good respite care for my daughter. I was now feeling incredibly tired, even though I am used to going without sleep for long periods in my day job, this came as a bit of a shock. So, the thought of a night shift ahead of me was really daunting.

As the night shift started I expected to be on a rota for the whole of the night but it seems I had a lucky introduction as within a couple of hours our guests were asleep and the two of us on night shift for the boys could get some rest. The female helpers didn’t have it anywhere near as easy being kept occupied almost until breakfast.