Jack Roberts Camp 2008 “Medieval Spectaular ”
The Jack Roberts Camp for Youth with Disabilities the Medieval Spectaular 2008 kicked off on the 12th of January this year at its home for the past 43 years, the Oakbank Racecourse.
As always this week long camp is a week of hard, exhausting work and plenty of smiles, laughter and tears for the team who come together to make the Jack Roberts Camp a huge success.
The camp is run each year in conjunction with Scouts SA and CARA (a respite agency), for a group of 25 young boys living with disabilities. Each “buddy” is teamed up with a Venturer aged youth for the week for both support and most importantly companionship. We aim to give the boys who come along a chance to experience some scouting by firstly sleeping in tents and then taking parts in many activities we as scouts take for granted.
This year we had 30 Venturer aged youth at camp and our “leader” team of 15 adults from various scouting backgrounds. As the camps director my aim is to always challenge the Venturers who attend our camp as I feel too much of the challenge has gone out of Venturer activities these days. These Venturers work together in patrols to look after a “buddy” one on one for the week for many it’s a 24 hour a day job and by the end of the week the Venturers who have come to camp are exhausted but have done so much and had so much fun that they always seem to want to come back. The work the Venturers do is just amazing, from assisting with the things we all take for granted, the ability to get up, get dressed, brush our teeth etc for some of the buddies to just being there as someone to talk to for some of the other buddies. The ideal that is enforced at camp is to make sure all of the buddies are given the opportunity and chance to take part in the activities we organise. To see the smile on the kids faces gives everyone an amazing feeling which cant be described adequately in any article.
To watch these Young Adults come along to the camp and the change that takes place during a week is just amazing to watch, and no matter how many times the Venturers come back you know that they have learnt something new about themselves each year. I know personally I still learn something about myself every year I work on this camp.
Our Leader team this year was an amazing group of people, with some new faces added to the existing core of people who have been involved in the camp for a number of years. All our leaders come from quite different backgrounds and with various life experiences but for 1 week each year we seem to gel and work together as a great team of people all working towards the common aim of having our “buddies” have the time of their life for that one week each year.
The year this camp was given a medieval theme and there were knights in shining armour fighting dragons around almost every corner. During the week the onsite activities which took place at Oakbank were kept in theme so armour building, jousting, mazes, obstacle course and castle construction were all on the cards, there was even a flying dragon to be ridden on one day.
As well as the onsite activities during the week the participates of the Jack Roberts Camp head offsite for a number of days, each year we are gratefully sponsored by the Variety Club of South Australia to allow us to cover the costs of Buses to take everyone to various locations.
The first of our offsites this year was on Wednesday and to make it a real “scouty” activity we headed down the road Woodhouse where everyone got to experience the true scouting nature within us all. Activities such as catapults, chariots, pioneering construction and geocaching were all on the list of things to do. Dinner was even cooked in true scouting style using hayboxes. This was a great day and all had a ball.
The next of the excursions on Thursday was to the swimming pool at Oakbank Area School. Even with the less than warm conditions many braved the cold water for a well deserved swim. We then returned to the racecourse to have a go at the giant water slide thanks must go to our BC Joeys – Carl Bowey for coming up to set this up for us. After dinner we were treated to a visit by two of the local CFS trucks for a giant water fight which leaves us all wet but with a huge smile on our faces.
The last of our outings on Friday was to St Kilda adventure playground, where I can safely say that fun was had by all. Upon our return to the campsite the annual party night kicked off with a Knighthood Ceremony where all were bestowed an honorary title of “Sir”.
Saturday is always an emotional day for the Venturers and staff alike. Friendships are built and experiences shared after a full on week activities fun and laughter the buddies have to board the buses to go home. With many hugs, warm wishes, tears and promises that they will be back the buddies board and are on their way.
No article about the Jack Roberts Camp can be complete with out numerous thank yous. Each year the Onkaparinga Lions club supports the camp to a huge degree from storing our tents and gear during the year to supplying the fruit and vegetables for the week, without their support the camp could not go ahead. We have 2 fantastic cooks (Barb and Eileen) who ensure we all are well fed and help to look after us all. I must say thanks to Steve Palmer (BC Venturers) and his Wife Sharon for organising some plaster fun house moulds and for cooking our bbq on the Saturday of the camp. Finally thanks must go to Barb Donnelly who helps to bring all the logistics of camp together during the year.
The camp was a great success this year, the buddies had a fantastic time (which is the important thing) and as always I think all who attended, both Venturers and Adults alike were challenged and learnt something about themselves and their abilities.
Ross Vivian
Camp Director (Jack Roberts Camp for Youth with Disabilities)
 |
 |
 |
 |
