A Review
On a rainy Saturday, 25th August, about 30 people gathered under a marquee amongst thunders...Sounds like a total rebellion against Health and Safety? Well, we decided it did and therefore we postponed the sleepover by one day using the bank holiday opportunity to still hang about on Monday morning. Big apologies to those, who could not attend because of the change.Luckily, most planned activities could wait until the next day and the only workshop we had to cancel was gardening in our greenhouse.
The London Irish Cadets who worked in partnership with the park to deliver 2 sleepovers this year, kindly stayed for the night to mind all camping equipment which had already been in the field. On Sunday afternoon, accompanied by the sounds Ceilidh coming from the bandstand, local residents started coming to the picnic area to set up their tents. This time the weather was gorgeous!
The Little Cat Cafe fed our volunteers and campers with delicious macaroni cheese. Our Food Hero, Lahnah, taught children how to make fried plantain, salads and spinach pastries. Yum!
The fire man, Rob Fallon from Wild Nature, who is now a regular at all MFP sleepovers showed everyone how to make fire. Once the fire was ready, a fairy called Shannon arrived to sparkle everyone's imagination and get the campers to sing songs together. Afterwards, all enjoyed marshmallow madness!
The army volunteers stayed up to patrol the park all night. It was peaceful and nobody reported any incidents. It was even dry!
In the morning we all had scrumptious cooked breakfast together. By the time we were going to play team games, it was already getting late and we started reopening park gates. Some campers went back home at this stage but many stayed to participate in our Mini Olympics. You cannot imagine how much excitement can egg-and-spoon race cause!
One definite winner amongst tents was a 70s tall family tent with window and a lovely curtain. It looked so cosy, it's featured in one of the photos.
These events are organised in partnership with the London Regiment, London Irish Cadets and various local community groups.
We want to give people the opportunity to experience camping in the great outdoors (particularly people who haven't camped before), to gain some new skills and to enjoy some outdoor entertainment. It is funded by Lambeth Community Fund to which we are forever grateful.
Thank you to Lambeth Music Services for lending instruments and Camping Gear Hire for general support and kindness.
Many thanks to everyone involved, service providers and the brave campers who don't mind the rain!
We are all looking forward to next year's sleepover but before then we hope to meet all campers again in Spring in the park to catch up, go on a bat walk around Myatt's Fields and maybe play some games again.
Thank you to Gary McQuiggin for making the excellent video.
See below for the photos ... (Also there are more in an album on our Facebook page)