Camp Quality UK Recruits England International Rugby Player

It was announced today that England and Gloucester Rugby's George Chuter has become an ambassador of Camp Quality UK, the children's cancer charity.

This follows the recent announcement of another England rugby player, Russell Earnshaw, also becoming an ambassador for the charity.

Chuter played in all seven of England’s Rugby World Cup 2007 matches, starting the pool matches against Samoa and Tonga and coming on as a replacement for Mark Regan in five others.

Chuter, who now plays for Leicester Tigers, was excited by the move, saying: "I'm delighted to strengthen the charity's links with the sporting community by becoming an ambassador for Camp Quality UK. I look forward to spreading the word about the fantastic work that the charity does and others will also support the charity in any way they can."

Marc Lawn, Chairman of Camp Quality, said: "We are delighted to welcome George as an ambassador for the charity and are honoured by his support. By expanding the charity's link with the sporting community in the UK, we hope to continue to grow in size and benefit of those families and children who need our help most."

Roger Durrans and friends continue to support Camp Quality UK

We have recently received yet another donation from Roger Durrans, his friends and business partners, to assist us to continue providing holidays. This is further to Le Premier Tree Viewing event in December 2007. The tree viewing event hosted by Romy Liversidge and Roger Durrans proved to be a great success raising £700 for Camp Quality UK.

What started out as a simple Christmas party proved to be so popular that they decided to use the opportunity to present Camp Quality UK to their guests. They would like to thank all of their friends who helped out on the night as well as their guests for their generosity and donations to Camp Quality UK.

Camp Quality UK also would like to thank the aforementioned friends and family for all their time, effort and generosity!

Announcing a new weekend camp for October 2008!

Centre Parcs Sherwood Forest, Nottingham

24th - 27th October 2008

12-15 year olds

Centre Parcs is going to play host to the 2nd weekend camp this year! It is going to be a weekend of fun, laughter and adventure. A chance for the young people to make friends and create memories. Albeit a short space of time, we hope that the young people's confidence will grow, they will gain some valuble peer skills and just be free to be them!

If you are a parent of a child who would like to come on one of our holidays, please apply here!

Camp Quality UK Recruits England International Rugby Player

Camp Quality UK has struck gold by signing Ex-England international rugby player Russell Earnshaw as one of the charity's ambassadors.

Earnshaw, who has had a successful top flight and international rugby career with Bath, Worcester and Rotherham - as well as representing England at 7's - will become a face of the charity and much needed sporting link for the charity.

Earnshaw also confirmed that he has donated a prize of him coaching a rugby team for a day for charity. The prize will be auctioned off at a prestigious event in London during December.

Earnshaw, who now coaches the Birmingham and Solihull Bees, and the England 7's side, was excited by the move, saying: “Camp Quality provides excellent support for children with life threatening illnesses. They do some amazing work and provide some extremely valuable support for children with terminal illnesses and the family and friends affected by these illnesses. I am delighted to become apart of this and am looking forward to helping them raise their profile over the coming years.”

Marc Lawn, Chairman of Camp Quality, was elated by the move, saying: “Russell is a consummate professional who is an inspiration to many people. It is a real honour having him on board. I am sure with his support we will be able to drive against our vision of expanding the reach of Camp Quality in the UK, benefiting those families and children who need our help most.”

Camp Quality UK loses a friend

It is with sadness that we announce that former Chair for Camp Quality UK, Gwyn Rowe, collapsed on Tuesday 26 August 2008 and passed away soon afterwards.

Gwyn, alongside Marianne, dedicated countless amounts of his time and energy to Camp Quality UK over many many years, bringing the charity through to the 21st century. Gwyn's legacy lives on through all the children with cancer who have in the past, and will in future, enjoy a holiday of a lifetime at our camps.

Gwyn's funeral will take place at Sutton Church on Saturday September 6th at 11.00 a.m. At the request of the family, any donations received, in lieu of flowers, are to go towards the International Youth Forum (IYF) fund.

Our thoughts are with Marianne and their two sons, Wayne and Andrew, at this sad and difficult time.

Shenanigans in Chamonix

So Chamonix was an amazing week, but definitely one of those 'holidays' where you need a holiday to recover from the previous one!

One of the things that Camp Quality UK is trying to do is to make more use of Social Media and Web 2.0 (this blog being one example) and it just so happened that the fact that one of the young people was an aspiring film maker really helped!

So Murray (or Mr. Spielberg as we affectionately took to calling him) has produced this rather stunning documentary. At 14 years old he's certainly in the running for the youngest ever film director to win an Oscar!

The documentary runs to about 35 minutes in 4 parts, so enjoy watching it and joining in the fun. If you fancy donating to the charity so that we can take more young people with cancer away on these amazing holidays, then you can do so here.

Chamonix 2008 - Part 1/4




Chamonix 2008 - Part 2/4




Chamonix 2008 - Part 3/4




Chamonix 2008 - Part 4/4

Companion Alex raises money for Camp Quality UK!

Experienced companion, Alex Cornish, is embarking on a phenomenal challenge to raise money for Camp Quality UK's future holidays.

Alex, a fourth year medical student at the Hull-York Medical School, will be not only running a marathon, but will be doing it up a mountain, in the OMM Mountain Challenge!

Following all the cakes and sweets at our New Barn camp, Alex has started training in ernest.

We would like to thank Alex for all the effort and training he'll be putting in over the next few months. If you'd like to support Alex, please visit his JustGiving page.

Ice Ice Baby!

If there's one thing to be said about canyoning, it's that it rained. A lot.

But there was also a lot of fun had, with people jumping off high rocks, sliding down rock slides and abseiling down the side of gushing waterfalls. It was a fun but tiring morning!

Because of the rain, we were unable to go rock climbing. So we went ice skating instead! Several people had never been skating before, but took to the ice like ducks take to water (with the help of the handy learning frames).

Pictured above is Mick, Bridie and Becca showing the athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics how t should be done!

There were a few falls though, which meant there were plenty of bumps and bruises among the groups. Luckily, our cook Sue doubles up as an Alternative Therapist and we had an evening of massages and reiki to recuperate our sore bodies.

Let's hope we can patch ourselves together for more activities tomorrow!

On top of the world!

We've arrived in Chamonix and are already having an amazing time! This photo was taken at Belle Vue, a viewpoint at the top of a cable car near to Chalet Robert.

That mountain in the background is none other than Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps!

Yesterday we went on a luge, where we took a sledge and flew down the side of the mountain in a concrete half-pipe. Take a look at the all-action video below to see what we mean!



Today we're having a lazy morning before going canyoning, where we'll be scrambling, climbing, jumping, and swimming through a series of canyons!

A little bit about our Chamonix camp...

Our Chamonix camp is a holiday for teenagers, based high in the mountains in Chamonix, France. This year's holiday takes place from August 9-16, where the charity will be taking 9 children and 6 volunteers. The Chamonix camp is a special one and most people return home needing another holiday to recover from this one!

Location

The camp takes place in Chalet Robért, which is kindly donated for our use by Bob Camping. Chalet Robért is a large, traditional French chalet set in the picturesque surroundings of Les Houches which sleeps up to 18. It is positioned within 5 minutes' walk of the Prarion lift which gives access to the largest ski area in Les Houches.

Medical care

Medical care is provided by a doctor who stays with us at the accommodation and travels with us to all the activities. The local hospital is 10 minutes' drive away and provides excellent emergency medical care. If your child is on treatment please contact us and we can discuss how we can cater for them.

Accommodation

The chalet is laid out over three floors providing 4 double rooms (3 of which are ensuite), 2 twin rooms, one single room and a bunk room which sleeps 5. There is a spacious kitchen and living/dining area on the ground floor with plenty of room to seat everyone. The lounge with its ornate stone fireplace and modern entertainment facilities opens out onto a large balcony/deck, perfect for taking in the view and enjoying a few winter drinks or maybe a summer barbeque.

Activities

The activities in Chamonix are more adventurous compared to our other camps, but there's still plenty to do for everyone. Activities include rock climbing, white water rafting, mountain biking, gorge scrambling, luge, volleyball, and plenty of chilling out after all the activities!

Whoops! Where's our internet gone?!

We're having an amazing time at New Barn, but only of the only drawbacks from being in the middle of nowhere is internet access!

We've taken plenty of photos and videos showing what a fantastically fun time everyone is having, so when we get back (and we've slept long enough to recover!) we'll upload all our content to this blog so you see just what we got up to.

Chiao for now!

Our first summer camp - Newbarn, Dorset

This photo is of the summer house at New Barn Field Centre in Dorset, where we will be taking 25 children from 2-9 August for a week of fun-filled action!

New Barn is our longest running camp. In the past it has been used for younger and older children, but is normally used for holidays for younger children. It is an adventurous holiday with a mixture of activities from the sedate (clay moulding) to the adventurous (quad biking). It copes well with children who have a range of abilities, catering both for lively and quieter children.

New Barn's owner, Matthew, is incredibly accommodating and continues to help us arrange the holidays year after year. The centre consists of a series of cottages, a main barn and also includes a wildlife sanctuary and pottery.

The medical team have their own on-site accommodation, with easy access to nearby hospitals. There is a doctor and a nurse on each New Barn holiday. They travel with us on all activities.

As the children who go to New Barn are generally quite young and many may be on treatment, we ensure that the quieter or less energetic children are well catered for. However, for those who are keen to be challenged we put on a few activities to encourage them to try new things. Activities in the past have included: quad biking, archery, pottery, chocolate making, treasure hunts and trips to Paulton's theme park, Splash Down water park, Brownsea Island, Dorset Snowsport centre and Weymouth pavilion.

We'll be taking plenty of photos and videos on the holiday so that you can flow the children on all of their adventures!

Find out a little more about CQ UK...

Probably the best way to find out about Camp Quality UK and the children it helps is by watching the short film below (and in case you wanted to find out even more, there's plenty more videos on our YouTube Channel!)

A word in your ear from our Chair

Any one of us can be struck with personal tragedy at any time. When it is personal, especially for children, it becomes so difficult to cope with.

I am very lucky - I have my health and my family have theirs too. But for thousands every year loved ones have the agony of bad news to deal with.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be the Chair of Camp Quality – I see it as a reward and the charity has done me a favour by entrusting its destiny in my hands for a period of time.

My aim is simple: to provide the platform for us to support thousands more children with cancer over the next 20 years and to increase the number of lives we can touch and support.

Camp Quality has been doing something magical for over 20 years by supporting thousands of families in their time of need and making lots of friends in the process.

I want this blog to be the start of something special – a new dawn in our history and I hope you will be with us for a most exciting journey.

I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me in the near future!

Thanks,

Marc Lawn

Chair, Camp Quality UK

Welcome to "Free To Be You", a new blog from Camp Quality UK!!

Camp Quality UK provides life-changing holidays for children with cancer (and other life-threatening illnesses). We believe that every child has the right to a positive childhood and everything their peer group takes for granted.

On this blog, we aim to bring you all the news on the charity, the works it does and the children it helps. We will also use it as a record of the holidays that we run each year with words, photos, and videos all adding to the experience of the children, their families and anyone else who wants to join in with the fun!

And if the kids are very, very good we'll be letting them write their own posts as well :)

Why "Free To Be You"? Well, through attending Camp Quality holidays children are able to exist in an environment where having the things that they have experienced are considered "normal", where they can discuss their experiences with other children who have gone through similar challenges, and where they are in a positive environment in which self-esteem is increased and they conquer new challenges.

Most importantly though, they have the time of their lives and are free to "be" themselves!

So we hope that you enjoy reading this blog, finding more about the charity and the work it does, and seeing what a major difference to children's lives that thse holiday's make. If you have any sugggestions of what you'd like to see, please let us know.

If you feel like it, click on the purple button on the right-hand side of the blog and donate however much you want to the charity. You know it will be going to a good cause, you'll be able to see the impact it makes through this blog, and you might even get a mention and a thank you from the children on this blog!