Choir Camps

Choir Camp - August 1981 to Kelling Heath, in Norfolk

As this was our first camping venture, we limited the boys to those in Year 6 and above, although we did make one exception and allowed one year 5 boy to join us.

The 17 of us (13 boys and 4 adults) travelled in 4 cars, and Ken Barker took his trailer and a small caravan to complete the entourage. (More about Ken in the Character section...) Those in my car insisited on listening to a cassette tape of The Beatles - all the way there and back - and I particularly remember renditions of It's a hard Day's Night; She Loves You; Help! and A Hard Day's Night and Michelle. I think Mark Sanderson's group listened to a more sedate tape of the King Singers ....

Thankfully the weather was kind to us - as, not being used to camping, we later discovered that the tents did not have suitable waterproof fly sheets.

Each boy had been allowed to bring their own spending money - which they could look after themselves, or give to us to keep safely.

After visiting the amusement arcade in Cromer at the beginning of the week I discovered that one of the boys had spent their entire week's spending money in the arcade on the slot machines... He later went on to be a bank manager ...

The week at Kelling Heath proved enormously successful, with visits to Cromer, Holt and Norwich during the week. This paved the way to more ambitious plans for choir camping trips which would take place during the following years.

Following a successful first choir camp at Kelling Heath in 1981, it was decided to make more ambitious plans for the summer of 1982.

A short cine film clip taken during the 1981 camp at Kelling Heath can be viewed below.

Footage includes:

• The camp site at Kelling Heath

• Games on the beach and in the sea

• Cromer from the pier

These trips were in the days before Residential School trips were common place, and so parents were asked to contribute towards the cost - to mainly cover the campsite fees and food.

The 1982 summer camp was to Swanage for 12 days, with two days out to sing at Winchester and Salisbury (see Cathedral Visits).

Monday was spent travelling; Tuesday and Wednesday singing, and the remainder of the time spent on leisure activities.

On setting up camp in a field, we began to sort out the large mess tent which was to hold all the food, and was big enough for everyone to eat at tables with wooden benches each side.

Swanage Camp 1982 . Waiting at The Vista; The Old Harry Rocks (on a boat trip); Corfe Castle; The Mini bus.

A short cine film taken during the 1982 camp at Swanage can be viewed below.

Footage includes:

• Setting up Camp

• On the beach and in the sea

• Corfe Castle

• Boat trips, wind surfing and motor boats

• The final evening meal at 'Rif Raf's' restaurant

[Richard Tigerdine is pictured outside the restaurant - fourth from the right, on the back row,- between the two boys in red jumpers. Richard died in an accident as a young adult.]

• Packing up very wet tents

• Drying the tents in my garden at Pinchbeck

We hired tents from the youth service at Boston, and the Church Lad's Brigade allowed us to borrow their wooden tables and wooden benches.

We needed some hot water to start cooking the potatoes, so set up the gas ring, and sent one of the boys off to get some water from the tap in the corner of the field.

He came back with an empty container, and the message - "I can't find the hot tap ..."

Days on the beach were the easiest to arrange, and some of the most enjoyable with cricket, football, and times in the sea.

The boys all had to carry food on the way to the beach, and parents had provided tins with home made cakes etc.

One of the boys held the tin upside down, and a complete sponge cake, covered in soft icing fell out onto the sand. He asked whether it would be any good ... and we told him to leave it for the birds. I'm not sure what other holiday makers would have thought when they came across the cake..

Over the next ten or so years we continued to hold annual summer choir camps - several more at Swanage, several near Sheringham, one at Hemsby and one in Devon and Cornwall.

Photo above...Swanage in 1983

... and below a short cine film of this camping trip:

• Speed boats on Poole Bay

• Energetic games on the beach and in the sea

• Crazy Golf

• The Old Harry Rocks

• Lots of washing up

• More cricket (where Jennifer Chappell, myself and Ken Barker even had a go ..)

The following photos were taken at Sheringham - not sure of the year ..

The following photos were taken on one of the choir camps - but I cannot recall where these were taken or when...

Various memories from these choir camps come to mind, although I cannot remember in which year each of these happened ...

My mum and dad came on many of the choir camps as helpers, although sleeping in tents was not their favourite pastime ..

One night we were awakened to quite a commotion going on outside the tents. Apparently dad's rather old feather pillow had burst open in the tent, and he had awakened to a mouthful of feathers - which were then all over the tent ...

On another occasion we were woken up about 6am by a annoyed caravan owner adjacent to our tents. Two of the boys had decided it would be a good pastime to throw ripe tomatoes from our stock of food onto the nearby caravan roof (which was slightly down the hill from our tents.) The caravan owners were not particularly amused as you can imagine and the boys spent the morning washing the tomatos from the caravan.

One night mum woke me up to inform us that two of the boys had been 'playing' a throwing game inside their tent, and the aerosol involved had caused a nasty gash across one forehead. The rest of the night was spent in A and E.

Ken Barker had black hair that was going grey at the sides - and presumably at home he used to dye the grey hair to match the rest. Whilst on camp he bought some hair dye - and the next day, much to the amusement of the boys, Ken appeared with a bright ginger tinge to his normally black hair. However - I need not talk - as there was a trend at that time to use a product on the market called 'sun-in' hair lightener. I had the very silly notion that this would be worth a try on my hair ... After spraying this on, nothing much happened - so I sprayed on the rest of the can. Within a week my hair looked like straw, and was almost white. I never tried anything on my hair again - even to this day ....

On one occasion a group of the older boys decided to take Ken Barker's drink container to the pub. This container was like a round insulated barrel with a tap on the side - usually to dispense orange squash! At the pub they asked for it to be filled with beer .. It held about 8 pints I guess. They then brought it back to camp, and by morning the container was empty... Ken was not best pleased.

Whilst on a camp at Sheringham, a group of teenagers decided to go for a midnight adventure. This adventure might have gone completely unknown, if one boy had not decided to snitch on the others. I never did discover what they actually got up to, but thankfully everyone returned safely.

The one and only camp to Hemsby was memorable for all the wrong reasons... One boy developed chicken pox, and had to be taken home in the middle of the week. One day excursion was to Pleasurewood Hills - a theme park near Lowestoft. Following an extremely tedious journey - through heavy traffic around Great Yarmouth, we eventually arrived at the theme park. Once inside, the boys persuaded me, against my better judgement, to go on a spinning gravity ride. The idea was to stand around the sides of a large circular area. The structure would then spin until such a speed was achieved that you were pressed up against the sides by centrifugal force. The 'floor' then dropped downwards leaving you suspended - pressed against the sides only by this centrifugal force. When the ride eventually stopped, I apparently looked quite green - and spent the rest of the day unable to eat anything, and feeling very sick. That experience put me off any future fairground rides ...

The other memory of the Hemsby trip was the evening entertainment. This campsite had an onsite bar and entertainment room - advertised as 'family' entertainment. We therefore assumed(quite wrongly) that it would be perfectly suitable for us all to spend the evening being entertained in there. Most of the time the acts were fairly low-grade comedians, magicians and singers. However, unfortunately, one of the acts involved a rather raunchy stripper dressed in drag (who thankfully did not go too far). We hastily removed the younger members, but the older lads wanted to stay ... I think the events that evening probably widened the experiences of all of us..

The choir camp to Devon and Cornwall was something of a damp squib in more ways than one. The weather was attrocious - every morning starting with thick fog. Then, when it began to rain, the campsite (which was in a farmer's field) became like a mud bath. The farmer gave us duck boards to put down in the mess tent, and on one occasion we sat eating meals with water flooding under us. In the end it became so muddy that the farmer allowed us to use part of one of his barns. Days when the weather was like this became a problem. There is only so much time that can be spent in (wet) tents with damp clothes on.

We did our best to find things to do, but the weather certainly did nothing to lift the mood. I remember suggesting a number of places we could visit - none of which appeared that inspiring. In the end the majority vote was to go to to visit a lighthouse. After a tedious journey in the pouring rain we arrived, and the 'owner' of the lighthouse said we were welcome to climb up and see the workings etc. However, by then no-one even wanted to get out of the car in the pouring rain, so all we did was to turn round and go back again. We decided to lift the mood by ending the day with a visit to an indoor swimming pool - but when we arrived we found that it had a notice on th door - 'Closed ..due to bad weather'. That made me think that camping was probably not such a good idea in our unpredictable climate.

A short cine film of the 1985 camping trip:

(I can't be sure where this was - if anyone remembers, please let me know. It could have been in Norfolk ...)

• Ken Barker and the infamous 'boat'

• Outdoor pursuits in the woods

• Games on the beach

• More food .....

A short cine film of the 1986 camping trip:

• On the beach at Swanage

• Enjoying pedalos

• Speedboats on Poole Bay

• Packing up the tents

• The entire entourage lined up along the road

By 1994, schools had started developing their programme of residential outings, and the cost of the choir camps were becoming more and more expensive - and, quite rightly, everyone was becoming more Heath and Safety conscious.

It was then decided to abandon having choir camps, and instead we would plan single days out during the summer holidays.

We had a rather hit-and-miss arrangement of watching the weather forecast for the week, and then deciding whether or not to have a day out - and also which day it should be, if any. In reality this did not work very well, and the number of organised outings was quite low.

Please see the section 'Choir Outings' for more memories...