In addition to our annual Summer Camp at Llandudno in May, we also held a Joint Summer Camp with 1^st Kidderminster in July. We were originally planning to return for the second time to the Far Forest Centre (shown right) in the Wyre Forest, where we held our Easter Camp for the first time this year - however the Centre was not available at the time. Instead we held the Joint Summer Camp at Milton Hall Baptist Church, the home of 1^st Kidderminster.

The events of the camp

On the Monday evening members of 1^st Lye joined members of 1^st Kidderminster at their home at Milton Hall. Many of the members had brought various games and games consoles with them, and as such in one room we had a variety of games consoles set-up including two PlayStations 3s, and PlayStation 2 and an Xbox 360, as well as pool, football and tennis tables, while in another room around 12 desktop and laptop computers were available to play continuous multiplayer battles of the original Halo. Later in the evening we held devotions, followed by a supper of crackers and hot chocolate.

We caught the train from Kidderminster train station on Tuesday morning to Bournville, which involved a short walk across Birmingham when changing between its Moor Street and New Street Stations. When we finally reached Cadbury World we had just over an hour to wait for our booked tour, so we first spent time at the picnic/play area. The tour then involved walking and watching various exhibitions about the history and development of the popular confectionery producer as well as looking at various parts of the manufacturing process; we also saw an extra tour about the development of the popular Dairy Milk, and then had the option to taste a small amount of fresh (still liquid) Dairy Milk chocolate, optionally with something else, ranging from marshmallows to pop corn. In the afternoon we headed back on the train to Kidderminster, again changing at Birmingham; once back at Milton Hall we again played on the various games, had our dinner, played more games and later held devotions and had our supper.

Kidderminster's local Glades swimming baths were only a short walk away on Wednesday morning, where we spent much of the morning swimming. While we were no longer swimming in the afternoon there was certainly not an absence of water for the rest of the day, as we headed to Habberly Valley for games, such as capture the flag, but with the twist of water pistols; those who'd been prepared with their own pistol for the camp generally had the fire-power advantage, but those who hadn't were also provided with pistols. After exhausting our water supplies in the evening we dried off and headed back to Milton Hall where more gaming, lunch, devotions and supper ensued.

On the Thursday morning we packed up, and said our goodbyes (with most of us not seeing one another again till September, and even longer for others), before members of 1^st Lye headed back on the minbus to the United Church.

Photos

Click the play button below to see a slideshow of photos taken by Graham Knight.

You can also manually view the set, by clicking here.