Sunday, 20 July 2014

Water Day!

On Friday the weather was beautiful and the sun was shining strong, what a great day for water games such as drip drip drop, water gun battles, the dunk tank,and pool activities! 





For evening program the lodgers and staff were assigned to build a boat out of various materials found all over camp that would be raced later on that night for the Regatta program! What a blast!!






Thursday, 17 July 2014

First lodge was a great success!

It was hard to say goodbye to our first lodge lodgers, but we did it with smiles on our faces and with new friendships made.

On the final Wednesday of the lodge we did our bi-weekly Walk & Roll-A-Thon followed by a ritual production that was put on by the lodgers who signed up to be in theatre program where they acted out the movie "hairspray". With a full audience including staff, lodgers, and a few board members, the show was a hit!



Saturday, 5 July 2014

Great first week of Belwood Lodge!

It's been a great first week here at Belwood Lodge and Camp with the sun shining accompanied by smiling lodgers!

On Thursday Belwood enjoyed a Carnival themed day full of exciting activities such as face painting, parachute games, watching one of the staff members dressed up as a clown juggling while riding a unicycle, another staff member walked around on stilts, the bouncer, and one of the lodgers all time favourites where they get to dunk their counselors in the dunk tank!

Yesterday night was our first camping night of the summer where the lodgers who signed up enjoyed an evening of camp stories around a fire, games, eating marshmellows, smores, and hot dogs, followed by a night stay in our teepees! Yesterday night was fun for the boys, tonight it's girls night!

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Great start to the 68th season!

Wow! It's been a great start to the 2014 season with summer programs ready to go (including our new science program) and excited lodgers ready for some summer fun!

Last night we had our first Air Bands competition where the different cabins competed by jamming out to some of their favourite songs!

Today was the first outtrip of the summer where the lodgers and staff went to Guelph Riverside Park! They had a wonderful time playing on the playground, riding the train and merry-go-round, and eating icecream!

Monday, 6 January 2014

Happy 2014!

It's been a while since we've blogged (we are a summer camp after all).  Even though it's January, we have lots to say after our busy Fall!

As of January 1st, registration has officially began!  We've already received a lot of applications so 2014 is looking to be another successful summer for us.

I wanted to take this moment to thank everyone who has supported us through our transition with changing Directors.  Those of you who have joined us through the transition have noticed a few changes to help bring Belwood into a more 2014-friendly world.  We are nearing the end of our transition and 2014 is going to prove to be a very wonderful summer for all of our participants and staff.

The Board and I have a few ideas up our sleeve to bring MORE to our little summer world (some of it perhaps in the off season!). It's still a little too early to let that cat out of the bag, but we have some exciting new things that we still mulling over.

Happy 2014 everyone and can't wait to see you all this summer!

James.

Wednesday, 28 August 2013

The Final Stretch...

Camp has been FLYING by. From getting ready for the last banquet tomorrow, to sending people off to the trip today, to beginning the winterizing of camp, it seems that everyone is always doing something. It has been a bittersweet week knowing camp is almost over, but I think it's safe to say we are all making the most of each moment we have left together.

Friday, 23 August 2013

Staff Appreciation.

Yesterday was a great day. We did a first at camp: a picnic lunch banquet at the Nature Centre. Each cabin got to bring a few blankets down, and we all sat in the shade of some trees, listened to the sheep in the background, and ate our hamburgers. It was such a fun, new experience, and I'm sure next year it will happen more often!Afterwards, we had tuck and had a day-dance.

In addition to our banquet and dance, we also had our staff appreciation day yesterday.  We got to 'celebrate the day' by playing a baseball game. We had a great time playing against the Kiwanians, board members, and some of the Fergus Devils (a local hockey team).  The game was action packed and ended with a very close score! It was a great time for the staff to work together as a team in another very enjoyable context. To top it all off, we enjoyed a fantastic turkey dinner and homemade doughnuts. We were so thankful to get into bed, though, because everyone on camp property was pretty tuckered out by the time everything had finished.

As we look back on the last two weeks, we are very thankful for all the people who came to camp - weather it was for the first time ever, for the first time this summer, for the second time this summer, or for the 40th time in their life! The variety of camp 'experience' is something so beautiful to watch unfold. Hearing stories and seeing people experience BLC is something that we are truly trying to hold on to as the summer comes to a close.