Summer Camp Ardèche, France

Final Day!

Woohoo!

Without time for even a moment's breath, camp has wound down to a beautiful and action-packed end. There were tears in many eyes, and whether from laughing, or crying, or just being burned out after a massive two weeks, the sweet sadness of leaving was palpable in the air.

In the morning, campers awoke for their final breakfast, before changing into beloved PFD's and close-toed shoes for a walk upstream and across the rapids of the Ardeche to make it in time for the Tour De France time-trialists zooming past. As the time-trials run from last to first, we saw caught those coming in last place - Sam Bennett, Lars Bak, Leigh Howard, Bernhard Eisel, Shane Archbold, Albert Timmer, and so on.

After crossing back across the river and sitting down for their packed lunches, the whole camp began the final afternoon activity: the VC CHALLENGE. Split into their counsellor groups - Rivers 1, 2, 3 and French 1 and 2, the teams cycled between activities set up by all of the specialists to compete for the glory of first place. On the river, teams had to get every member from one boat safely to another, in the middle of the river with onlookers floating past. The kitchen babes set up a wet-sponge competition, while cavers had a crawling obstacle course and climbers had to untie a rope with 8 figure 8 knots - all without letting their hands off the rope!

When the VC challenge wound down it was almost time for the last supper - a Gala Dinner put on by Chef Lava and the Kitchen Babes, where all campers sat down at a giant round-table set up on the terrace and were waited on by the VC counsellors. We were treated to an amazing 3 course meal: for starters, goat-cheese and honey tart with a green salad; for mains, roast duck with broccoli and scalloped potatoes; and for desert, nougat icecream with chopped nuts on a mixed-berry coolie. After dinner we had announcements, the final session of secret friends, and an awards ceremony for the winners of the Cleanest Tent Awards from the Kitchen Babes. Shout out to David, Phillip, Jamie, Sandra, Arina, Lucia, Olivia, Joella, Martina, and Ariane - our cleanest campers!!

With all of the secret crushes revealed, the secret compliments paid, and the signed photographs of the staff given to the cleanest campers, everybody packed out to the field for the much-anticipated talent show! Every performance was genuinely impressive, and the crowd were blown away with the talents discovered within their midst. We began with a repeat-after-me song by our counsellor Poodle; followed by some dope acoustic beatboxing laid down by Fadi; a dazzling set of magic tricks from John; a breathtaking diablo performance from Jack; a very sweet keyboard performance from Ariane; a show-stopping dance from GNOWB A.K.A Phivos and the B's (Sandra, Mina, Tara, Lucia, and Phivos); a duet cover of Radioactive from Mina and Tara; an A Capella performance from Joella, Nasia, and Gabriella; French tongue-twisters from the French Language students; chubby bunny marshmallow games with Valentin, Jean, Raphael, and Bartholemew; a sublime performance of the Moonlight Sonata on keyboard from Natalie; an impressive and unexpected 1 minute 32 seconds of silence from Jean; a telepathetic performance from counsellors Mongoose and Crocodile; and to end the show, a toothpaste sketch from our MC Lynx and Camp Director Moose, with musical accompaniment from Pebble. At the very end of the night, the campers all piled into the common room to watch the end-of-session video that had been put together and is posted on this page. Since many campers were rising at 5.30 for a 6.30 departure, the end of the movie signalled the end of the camp - and the beginning of a teary goodbye session. Hugs were shared, phone numbers and facebook details exchanged, and slowly the campers disenthralled to their tents for the night.

It's been a wonderful two weeks; and as the photographer and correspondent I feel both proud and humbled to have been a part of it. All of the campers were such good kids - both polite and outrageous, bright and silly, funny and sincere, and with a surprising degree of maturity for their ages. Every single camper was enveloped in the camp family atmosphere, and it was so wonderful to see new trans-continental friendships blooming like flowers: Russians with Lebanese, Italian with Polish, and even French with Portuguese. Many campers rose up to face fears - particularly of water and heights - and their confidence rose to match it. Their interpersonal skills, while already excellent, took on a new dimension when faced with the challenges here at Village Camps: living in a tent with several others for two weeks; paddling down a river in the rain; jumping into an abyss supported only by a harness. Throughout these activities, there was always kindness, patience, and understanding between the campers - something not to be taken for granted. The staff even pinpointed a few older campers that would make excellent counsellors themselves and encouraged them to consider it in their futures.

To wrap it all up, here's a word from our wonderful camp director, Moose:

"Ladies and gentlemen, parents, and campers of all ages,

What a splendid summer it has been - we all explored the deep insides of glorious caves, climbed mountains, played wild games, made new friends, shared our talents and paddled the monumental Grande Descente of the Ardeche River. Having shared time, laughter and stories with this wonderful group of campers, I can only say that these are the kinds of memories that will last a lifetime. I want to say thank you to the parents for sending their children to camp and giving them the opportunity to share a tent, dance in the rain, learn a new skill, find the fun in French, paddle, climb, cave, and jump cliffs. My thanks fo to each and every camper of this session for being a part of our camp family, for sharing your ideas, your enthusiasm, and your giggles with us. Special thanks go to our blue campers "the original blue squad" (this time, including Zissis and Carlos) for being such a positive influence on the whole camp ! You attitude was contagious and your energy unmatched. What a special group of truly amazing young people you are! Last but not least, my thanks go to the wonderful group of staff who keep camp safe and fun and are prepared to work into the night to prepare the disco, the beach party, and the end-of-session video. With this, I bid you farewell and hope to see you next summer - because we love it!

Your Moose (director)"

.... and with that, it's time to sign off.
xoxo, Pebble (A.KA Poubelle A.K.A Mr. Tiddy)

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