Camp Journal
Bananarama for all groups
7th August 2017
The day had come. We awoke bright and early this morning and donned our swimming suits ready for… Banana Boating day! After a quick kit check we jumped excitedly on to the bus with spirits high and headed to the beautiful Lake Geneva.
Once there, we set up base along the grass and headed down to the beach for a little paddle and splash around. Then it was time for the real deal, as we hopped onto the banana boats and made sure we were holding on tightly! Pulled along by the speedboat, we zoomed across the bright blue waters of the lake with plenty of sharp turns and corners until, eventually, we all fell off and floated in the lake in a fit of giggles and laughter! After hopping back on, and a few clumsy people falling off again much to everybody’s amusement, we zoomed around a little longer and then headed back to base. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to sunbathing, ice cream eating and making full use of swimming in the lake as well as using the ridiculously fun water slide as many times as we could!
Once we were all back for afternoon tea, the Reds and Blues then got ready for their exciting hike up to camping! It was a tiring hike but so worth it for the beautiful views, fun bonding time and the BBQ dinner that was awaiting us when we finally reached the camp sight! Eating burgers and camping food for dinner set us up for some more adventure and after a little rest we then hiked all the way to France! It was gorgeous and all of the campers were excited about being able to be at the border. We returned back for a Bonfire with stories, songs and chocolate banana pudding and it is safe to say that everybody went to bed very happy!
Meanwhile, the Yellows were treated to a yummy pizza dinner in our local rustic pizza restaurant and we challenged to an Instagram competition! They had to upload their best pictures of camp and our social media coordinator will be deciding who’s is their best and most fun photo for some fab prizes! Once they had returned to camp, they joined the Greens for a lovely and calm movie night with everybody’s favourite film: The Pirates of the Caribbean! What a great day.
Cailler Chocolate time for all of our lucky groups!!
6th August 2017
Today, arrived one of the most popular activities at camp! The campers drew out some extra money and prepared their backpacks with some extra room as it was finally time to visit the legendary Cailler Chocolate factory! All of the groups were headed together and Camp Suisse was a bundle of hustle and bustle as the children were filled with delight & awe at the factory ; in particular when it came to the taster room. It was a challenge to get some of the campers out of there! They were given an audio guided tour and were able to visit the shop at the end in order to stock up on presents for family and friends and, of course, some snacks for themselves.
Once everybody was satisfied, and a little bit full, it was time for some sightseeing to work off all of that chocolate and sugar. We headed of to the historic and picturesque town of Gruyere for some lunch in a lovely park. This was then followed by a visit to some souvenir shops and an idyllic walk around the magnificent castle. Today was really jam packed with some great stuff! There was even a trip to a local playground which provided plenty of laughs and fun and laughter all around and it was a difficult task getting everybody back on to the bus in order to go back to Camp.
Once we had returned, there was time for a quick rest and some dinner to refuel and then it was time for some more fun! Casino night was organised by our lovely pastoral care leaders and the kids were given an oppurtunity to show their competitive and intelligent side. You would be surprised by how many future game players we may have!
Stay tuned for some fun in the sun tomorrow at Banana Boating!!!
Photo day and Camp Suisse Olympics
5th August 2017
It was the campers lucky morning as they were allowed a half an hour lie in before breakfast at 8.30 followed by some organisation of rooms and laundry. After this was all done, this morning’s weather was perfect for our plans today at Camp Suisse!!!Photo day had arrived and our campers took extra care to look their best and bring their best poses with them! Each colour had a group photo with their leaders as well as some big group ones, with fun shots such as making a CS sign with the campers themselves! It was so much fun and we’re excited for everybody to have such lovely souvenirs for when they leave.
After some lunch, it was time for the next fun activity and the greatest show on earth (some say): the Camp Suisse Olympics! Everybody was assembled into countries based on nationality so that there could be a little patriotic edge to the competition. We painted our faces and wore the flags of our countries : France, Ireland, UK, Switzerland, Spain and Canada. It was then time for the very important and very lively opening ceremony with national anthems and the lighting of the Olympic Torch! We had everything from Egg and Spoon Races, to petanque obstacle courses and of course: a huge water fight at the end of the day! The walk home was full of laughs and after some dinner to refuel, the campers were able to choose their next fun activity between the choices of some relaxing Yoga, hilarious Zumba or a fun quiz! Everybody went to bed very happy!
Reds & Blues Day of adventure
4th August 2017
This morning was dedicated to learning and progress in our fun language classes with a short break in the middle for some refuelling. We are already able to see their progress and its very exciting! In beginners german for example we learned about the body parts and physical features and played ‘Guess Who’ to practise the words they had learnt. Once they were done it was time for some delicious lunch in order to prepare for their next activity: some outdoors fun with archery on our beautiful football pitch for our Blues and up to the climbing wall where, after warming up, they learnt about some technique and let their inner monkeys loose.
After some afternoon tea, next up was even more crazy fun, with one of our most adventurous activities: ghyll scrambling in the river! The campers made their way down our beautiful local stream with lovely fresh cold water from the Swiss Alps and tackle some fun challenges and obstacle courses whilst getting very wet! Perfect for the hot summers day and so much fun!
After a day that was so jam packed with activity our evening entertainment was a choice between a movie & hot chocolate or sports; depending on how much energy the campers had left before bed!
All groups Glacier & BBQ
3rd August 2017
Today all the groups were combining for a very special trip! We awoke to bright sunshine, ready to take on the Glacier 3000 with a very early start! After a quick breakfast, they piled onto the coach that took us to the base, where we hoped on to some cable cars! Two cable car rides and a chairlift later, we had finally arrived! The campers were swiftly dived into groups and assigned a husky to take for a walk along the snow and, of course, to cuddle!! It’s not hard to imagine that this activity was a massive hit with the campers!
They got back on the chairlift and ate their picnic on the sunny terrace before heading to the viewing point to make the most of the beautiful view. The weather was beautiful and sunny but also very breezy making it the perfect climate for our campers to be happy and comfortable. The reds then had some time to shop for souvenirs before the next adventure of jumping on the Alpine roller coaster! There were many excited shouts and screams and once they had conquered this it was time for even more thrill seeking as we passed along the 3000m high suspension bridge! It was nerve wracking but everybody was very courageous.
We then headed back down the mountain, much to everybody’s disappointment, for shower hour, before walking to the pavilion for a camp BBQ! Stomachs full of delicious camping food and after a long day, everybody was very tired, and so the campers played a little in the activity area or hung around in the football pitch before heading to bed for some well needed sleep!
Mountain biking and Murder Mystery thrills for the Yellows and Greens
2nd August 2017
Today the campers woke up to a beautiful sunny morning with blue skies welcoming them to their 5th day at camp. First on the agenda for the day was plenty of adventure and thrill seeking with some mountain biking! The Yellows and Greens were able to learn new biking skills and then put them into practise on the beautiful and varied trails in the Torgon Forest. Zooming across lagoons, in between trees, and across suspension bridges; our campers really challenged and enjoyed themselves! For those who were feeling less adventurous and more relaxed, there was also the option to do some cool art jamming; camp Suisse’s version of arts and craft with lots of fun music to listen to.
Once everybody was done with their various activities, and after some refuelling at lunch, we then headed up to our language classes to put on our thinking caps! The beginners English class dedicated their class to learning about various nationalities and countries. They were asked to create a fun tourism poster about their respective countries and then present them to the class: therefore practising their vocabulary knowledge but also their oral skills and confidence.
After a delicious dinner, it was time for campers to participate in an exciting murder mystery!! Split into teams of mixed colour groups and ages, the campers made their way around camp following clues and questioning potential Camp Suisse Staff suspects to find out the truth behind our poor Jodie’s disappearance ! They had to work hard to earn their clues, doing all sorts of activities from math puzzles to races and dares. Eventually the groups pieced everything together and we found the horrific killer; Lizzie with a bike repair kit! Shocking. Overall it was another jam packed and fun filled day and we’re all very excited for our early start to the Glacier tomorrow!
Reds and Blues art jamming and biking
Our youngsters began their 5th day at camp with some mind expansion in their Languages classes this morning! Fresh and raring to go after breakfast, the french classes for example focused on numbers using fun games like bingo to learn days and creating calendars in order to practise their months of the year as well! In other classes they also created fun menus for their own imaginary restaurants whilst learning about foods.
Once the campers had put their all into the learning for the day it was time for an elective afternoon at Camp Suisse! This meant that our Blue and Red groups had the choice between going on some adventurous and courageous mountain biking or some chilled and relaxed art jamming! Both groups had an absolute blast as our bikers zoomed through the forests of the Swiss Alps and our jammers had a fun competition for creating clothes for a model! Well done to the girls for winning with their fantastic robot design!
After dinner, it was time for the campers to continue the fun as they were participating in an exciting murder mystery!! Split into teams of mixed colour groups and ages, the campers made their way around camp following clues and questioning potential Camp Suisse Staff suspects to find out the truth behind our poor Jodie’s disappearance ! They had to work hard to earn their clues, doing all sorts of activities from math puzzles to races and dares. Eventually the groups pieced everything together and we found the horrific killer; Lizzie with a bike repair kit! Shocking. Overall it was another jam packed and fun filled day and we’re all very excited for our early start to the Glacier tomorrow!
Aquaparc Madness for Reds and Blues
1st August 2017
After a quick check to see if we had everything that we needed, it was time head off down the mountain to visit the Aquaparc!!! It was sunny but not too hot so was perfect weather for our campers. The kids zoomed and slid there way down the many slides, squealed and jumped around the wave pool and once they had used up plenty of energy there was even a lazy river for them to relax in. We had so much fun! Around 3 pm it was sadly time to leave, however the campers were excited to return back to camp for afternoon tea and shower hour with cookies and multivitamin juice. There were even some games like guess who, battleship and Jenga which got everybody giggling away. Today was the second day of Swiss Day celebrations in Torgon and so there was a very special dinner awaiting the Blues and Reds that involved plenty of traditional Swiss food like Tartiflette with some chocolate cake to finish off. Before heading to bed, there was just enough time to fit in even more excitement and fun as our campers completed the ‘Torgona Hunt”- a scavenger hunt all about Torgon! What a jam packed day.
From Camping to Water slides for Yellows and Greens
Our lucky Green and Yellow campers woke up in our lovely camping retreat this morning! We were all still in a great mood from the previous night of fun and adventure and things were about to get even better. Once we had hiked back to Camp Suisse and caught our breath a little and sorted ourselves out… it was time for the Aquaparc!!!! We arrived to slides of all shapes, sizes and colours along with an incredible wave pool and even a fun lazy river for the more relaxed and tired of us. After so much outdoor activity our campers were on such a high!
Once we had returned to camp, we were treated to a delicious special menu full of traditional french food in honour of National Swiss Day! It was delicious and after a few games to finish off the day everybody went to bed very happy.
Camping fun for Yellows and Greens
31st July 2017
Today everyone had their first languages classes in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. After the Yellows and Greens had put their thinking caps on, it was time to go back to some outdoor activities, and boy did we have some fun in store! It was time for our campers to experience our beautiful Alpine outpost for some camping!!! Full of energy after sitting in their classes, we did a beautiful hike up to the camp sight. Once we had reached our destination and caught our breath a little, it was straight on to the next adventure as we hiked further… to France! Everybody was very excited at the achievement of having made it to the border and it was really cool to see both France and Switzerland at the same time. Once we had returned from all this excitement, it was time for a BBQ dinner with marshmallows; very appropriate for a camping trip. We then listened to some of our Activity leader Toria’s infamous ghost stories and also had some campfire songs. It’s safe to say. everybody was sufficiently worn out by the time we were ready for bed and everyone went to sleep very quickly and with smiles on their faces!
