1st Bryn Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade Camp 2026
Written by Eth Yates (LML at St Peter’s Church, Bryn)
By the time you read this our camp ’26 will have happened and we will be home. Our Brigades at Bryn have a long tradition of going camping, many of the leaders will have happy memories of times away, under canvas in Wales and Yorkshire. We often say that we should write our memories down.
So what do we do and why do we do it? Well at Bryn we have BB and GB companies and for our older young people the highlight of their year is our annual camp. We start prep for it early in the year by booking a field, arranging transport and seeing who will be coming. Leaders need to ensure they have all the relevant qualifications for camping and that all safeguarding procedures are met. We do it because we believe God has given us this ministry and He has richly blessed us over many years, also it is a good thing to take young people away to experience a holiday like this and when all the work is done and we are away it is actually enjoyable !!
So when all the paper work is done we begin to get the huge amount of “stuff” ready to go. We take with us a various sizes of tents, a sectional wooden cook house, an industrial size cooker, a grill, a shower, and many many other bits of kit that have been developed and bought over many years. Gone are the days of a shower under a big bean tin !
We hire a large wagon to transport all the equipment and hire a mini bus to move us around once we reach our destination. It has become our tradition over many years that once the wagon is loaded on Thursday evening we have a Chippy Tea, usually Sue Fulford joins us to add to the fun we have!
For many years now we have gone Caerwys a small village in North Wales, we have been blessed that the family we go to are such a friendly set of people. Sadly we heard that earlier this year the farmer, Nerys, had died, she has been such an integral part of our camp over many years and we truly give thanks for her life, her fellowship and her love.
Once on the field we unpack and by the end of the day we look like a small village with a variety of tents and a caravan. Meals are cooked in our cook house and eaten in our marquee. Games are played and excursions planned. The whole of camp minus the cooking group for that day go to church church in the village for a service on Sunday. Over the years we have been made so very welcome, Nerys, the farmer, was for many years the church warden so it always felt nice to have her there. The last few years the church family have planned a service round us and they always invite one of us to do the readings. They also pray for us during the week and we have had visits from some of them.
Each day starts with prayers and a short talk around our flag pole, that is important part of the day for two reasons, one that we begin our day with God, we know He’s with us all the time but it’s good to remind everyone that He’s watching over us. Leaders take it in turns through the week to lead these times. And two, it gives us chance to check that everyone is dry and had a reasonable nights sleep. (Trust me you can tell that by just by looking at faces!!). After prayers we eat and then we have an “inspection” of the tents. This is a running competition through the week, the young people are expected to keep their tent tidy and also we can ensure that their tents are in good order and not in danger of blowing away. We don’t check personal items but we do make sure that no wet clothes are hanging around.
Then we have activities planned these include, walks, games, visits to a nearby town for shopping and or the fun fair, swimming (important for a warm shower!!). At some point we eat lunch, every night we will have a cooked tea. The leaders take a day each to cook and we all have young people working with us in the hope that we can teach them skills and share time with them. They prepare three meals in the day plus supper, we have a full roast dinner on Sunday, curry, shepherds pie, salad and other delights during the week. Porridge on camp is legendary.
After tea we have games in the marquee and sometimes a fun fair visit. The games are amazing one of our leaders is very gifted in adapting a TV game for use on camp and they turn out to be hilarious.
All too soon our week comes to an end, after tea on Friday we present prizes for best tent, best bed and quiz and games winners. We have a closing service and present our flag to the young person who has contributed most to camp, a copy of this flag is put up in the hall. This final service has become a lovely time and is a very touching and important part of the week. We give thanks to God for the week and all we have done, we celebrate what we have had a good week.
Camp is an important part pf life for us at Bryn, it is not only that we camp together but we spend time with each other talking and sharing knowledge. Camp is a great leveller, everyone comes to it from different background and experiences and we bring all those skills to camp, and learn many more. We share experiences, share fears, share love and fellowship and show the love of God to each other in a very practical way. God is the centre of all we do during the week.
Everyone has a different relationship with God and we often share our thoughts or doubts and our experiences with each other. It is so important to us that we start and end the day in prayer, and that we give thanks for the many things God gives us and blesses us with.
At Bryn, we are blessed with a very supportive church family who pray for us all through the year but especially while we are away and we feel that prayerful support. Over the last few years our church Family has worshiped in our BB GB hall and so our lives are intermingled. We are so very blessed at Bryn in so many many ways but one of our greatest blessings are the young people God has given us to work with.
Eth Yates
