| You are here: Home > Photo Gallery > Carry On Camping |
|
|
Photo Gallery - Carry On Camping
|
The Carry On Camping group, which is supported by the Settlement's Community Work Team, went to Unity Farm, near Brean. Maggie Reardon, of the Community Work Team, went with them - she wrote a brilliant diary during the trip - read it below!
Click on pictures to see full size version (in a separate window).
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
by Maggie Reardon
After a few inevitable difficulties, we managed to pack everything in the van and minibus (it is funny what people bring to camp!), and arrived safely at Unity Farm. Unfortunately our pitches weren’t together, but we successfully negotiated with the Warden to use 6 pitches instead of eight by pitching the three big tents across two pitches.
Once the pitches had been allocated everyone set to work. Unfortunately, while we were busy, our little wanderer Curtis disappeared having followed a remote controlled car. After searching for him ourselves we reported to the wardens and he was found safely! Needless to say, Curtis was watched very closely after that incident!
The camp was all set up and sorted by 4pm. Everyone was hungry by then, and pot noodles were very popular. Some unexpected guests arrived in camp, Rachel and Chantelle with their babies. It seems their caravan was dirty and totally unsuitable - they wanted to go home but, after some discussion, it was agreed that they could stay in Sue’s tent as there was plenty of room.
It rained a little in the late afternoon, everyone wandered off to find supper and visit the club. I found a cheap take-away food shop - Zoe and I ate, and then played cards in the cook tent, went to bed at 10.30pm.
Late night munchers left the cook tent in a mess and were noisy!
Woke up to a beautiful day - warm and sunny! The bathroom block is very impressive, showers are very hot early in the morning, there are also bath tubs great for the little ones.
I realised the fridge is actually a freezer, so we need to keep turning it off as the food is freezing. Debbie cooked breakfast, bacon and egg sandwiches all round. The teenagers were told about the cook tent being left in a mess and the importance of keeping lids on food boxes. I also asked if they could remember to talk quietly as sound carries at night.
I managed to get a refund from Unity Farm for the 2 unused pitches, and the group decided to buy funfair wrist bands for the older kids, and tokens for the little ones with the refund money. Everyone very happy (especially the teenagers).
Most people went swimming in the afternoon. Zoe went horse riding on a very large shire horse called Noodle. Some sunburn sufferers, but not too bad. Every one chilling out, although everyone’s scared to death of the wasps!
Very bright and sunny start. Zoe and I went to Burnham-on-Sea for groceries for the planned BBQ for Reece’s birthday. A big group went to Weston but the weather deteriorated and threatened rain all afternoon.We managed to have the BBQ and gave Reece a card and a small truck for his birthday - 3 today! It was hard work to light the BBQs in the wind, but burgers and hot dogs and party ring biscuits and birthday cake was enjoyed by all!
The rain held off until 11pm - but then it was torrential! Sue, Maureen and Karen did not fare well - their tents were flooded and all the bedding got wet. Maureen and Karen slept in the car, while Sue slept in a chair in the tent as she was worried about the babies…but they didn’t wake up!
I got out of bed about 1.30am once the rain had stopped to discover the flood - so the kettle went on and hot chocolate and soup were distributed. I spent the remainder of the night chatting to Roshell, Ricardo and Jordan until they settled back to bed at 4am.
I saw the sun rise, smoked too many cigarettes and drank too much tea!
I mopped out the kitchen tent - not too bad! I am writing this at 5am and the seagulls are starting to wake up - they are very noisy. Clear sky now –hope it’s a warm day so everyone can dry out.
I love camping!!!!
The day was very thundery - it rained heavily almost constantly. Maureen left in the morning as the stress and the damp were affecting her asthma. The laundry facilities were poor as machines were broken, and it looked like the drying of the bedding was going to take all day.
We discovered that the groundsheets in the flooded tents had been left out all around the tents which explained why they had flooded. It was good to know the reason - our mistake, and not faulty tents!
We decided to ferry the little ones and their mums to the play barn at Warren Farm. I organised a taxi and managed to get the driver to come right into the yellow field to pick them up.
Sue, Karen and I tried to salvage the tents. They worked like Trojans and were in the laundry from 2pm to 6pm drying out sleeping bags, towels and clothes. As the day didn’t improve it was difficult to mop up with the rain almost constant. It seemed to clear up around 4pm in time for the little ones to return, but the storm came back! Every one was stressed, some wanted to go home but finally at 6pm the sun came out and we all went to the club. There was a great magic show and the food was excellent. Everyone in better spirits especially as we saw the stars in a clear sky at 11pm.We all slept much better!
The Gazebo is not a good cook tent especially in the rain. I lost count of the number of times it got mopped out!
We woke up to sunshine today it looks very promising. Everyone has decided to go to the funfair today at 11am.
I had to insist that Sue goes to the doctors today as her fingers are very swollen and cracked, and they look infected. We headed to Burnham-on-Sea on the 10.30 bus and managed to see a doctor before noon, who prescribed steroid cream and warned Sue to never let her fingers get that bad again! We stopped to dress her fingers and had tea cakes and a cuppa before heading back to camp.
It was good to get away from camp for a couple of hours!
On our return we quickly made sandwiches and drinks and headed off to find the group and have lunch. It was getting on for 3pm and I was quite stressed worrying about the little ones being hungry and mums having to shell out more money for food. I worried needlessly as they had all snacked.
When people didn’t appear to take notice that the sandwiches had arrived I am afraid I rather lost it for a few seconds and had to leave the area to calm myself down! On my return I apologised for being so cranky and I guess the strain of the last couple of days was showing!!! And the sandwiches did get eaten!
Anyway the remainder of the afternoon was spent experiencing the rides, everyone was happy and enjoying themselves. I noticed that during the afternoon the wind had picked up, and by the time we returned to camp it was blowing a gale!
I realised I couldn’t see the top of the gazebo and as we got closer we found it had in fact disappeared halfway down the field saved only from further travels by the extension cord attached to the lamp which was still plugged into the mains box on our pitch. What a sight - our kitchen exposed for all to see! Goodness knows how long ago it had happened!!!!
That evening the whole group went out for a meal together, it was quite a feat to get everyone out of camp for 7pm, but we did it!
It turned out to be a great evening, the bar/restaurant we visited actually closed the kitchen for an hour after receiving our orders as there was soooo much to cook! Our thanks to Debbie for taking on the ordering and working out the cost for everyone. She so deserved a drink after that!
The entertainment was terrific that night and Debbie, Andrew, Kirstie and Tony were game enough to participate in some hilarious games. But the star of our group had to be Shardoney who got up onto the stage, full of confidence and answered some very dodgy questions about her daddy! The bar was full of holiday makers from either Bristol or Birmingham, and throughout the evening we were encouraged to compete against each other to see who could cheer the loudest - I think that is when I began to loose my voice!!! The teenagers had left after they had eaten, the embarrassment of watching parents make fools of themselves was too much to take. But I think they had some goodbyes to say to newly acquired friends!!!!
Everyone was up and at it early as we had to get off our pitches by 10am.
The warden suggested we put everyone’s gear on my pitch so we weren’t holding up the expected 150 new campers he was expecting. Although inevitably it was chaotic everyone did their best to be ready for the buses. The transport arrived at 10am and with a struggle we did manage to get all the gear either in the goods van or on the mini buses - it was touch and go! All the families were home safely by 1pm and the goods van deposited the equipment shortly afterwards.
It was an exhausting day but everything went smoothly and was a fitting end to a great camping holiday experience!!!!
