Camp America

I’ve camped a lot over the years. When our children were younger, a camping holiday to Wales, (usually in the rain), was the only way we could afford a holiday. At the time camping was less trendy and the price for a pitch was very cheap.

This prompt also makes me think of all those forced to camp due to being displaced from their country, so I’m grateful that all my camping experiences come from a choice I was privileged enough to be able to make.

When I saw this prompt though the first thing that popped into my head was my experience with the organisation Camp America. I worked with them just before I went to university and spent a long glorious summer (about four months in total) as a camp counsellor, lifeguard, and swimming teacher. This photo shows me in all my Baywatch glory. (I’m in the Manchester United shirt, they also used to win games during this era 🙂).

Effectively living outside for nearly five months was an incredible experience. We stayed in unheated wood cabins that served as our living quarters, and where the children also stayed during the week. I remember the rhythm of waking: initially cold and bleary-eyed, but soon feeling ready and resilient. To maintain fitness, the lifeguards had to swim across the lake at least once a week, and a lot of my time was spent standing guard on the water platforms, baking in the sun. The smell of the trees and fires remains with me, the smell of rain and earth. The sounds of children shouting and laughing, of the staff hanging out after hours, joking and supporting each other, are still vivid.

It was my first taste of independence, my first significant time away from home, and my first trip to America (a place I had never dreamed I could visit, growing up in a boring suburb, and the outlook for most of my schoolmates was manual labour, drugs, or crime, sometimes all three). In many ways, it changed me. I found out that I could do many things, I could make decisions, travel alone, fall in love, learn how to use a washing machine (thanks Jim!), and teach children. The world’s horizon broadened because of this experience. It helped form the person I am still becoming.

When I look back now, some of the setup of the camp was a safeguarding nightmare (a large part of my career has been involved with the safeguarding of children), and I recognise now that I was just a kid myself who needed more support in some aspects, but I’m so glad I did it and will carry those experiences and friendships forever.