When: 22nd-24th September 2000
Where: Kepplewray Outdoor Centre
Who: YFC
The YFC (Y-Friday Club) travelled to the Lake District on Friday to visit the popular Kepplewray Centre. The activities we took part in included open-topped canoeing and a hike up the famous 'Old Man of Coniston'. The Kepplewray Centre was very well equipped with all the things we needed and the staff were very friendly. The centre itself was very nicely painted and had a number of spacious dormitories each kitted out with bunkbeds, alarm clocks, wardrobes and small cupboards which were ideal for us to hide in when Geoff came in to tell us it was time to go to sleep. The lounge had a TV which was very handy for all our favourite programmes; the games room had a pool and table tennis table for us to play with in the evenings. Everyone enjoyed their stay at Kepplewray even though it rained while we were canoeing and we didn't get to the rock climbing because of the weather. The only bad thing was that we weren't allowed to stay up late because Geoff and Chris kept coming into our room and telling us to shut up. Everything was perfect except the curfew!
By our very own on-the spot reporter Victor Kay
Friday 22nd September - The First Night
We met at the Gospel Mission hall at 7:15. Then suddenly there was an emergency, Alice had forgotten her teddy bear - she ran home to get it then we set off. On the way we stopped at the shop to buy emergency rations (e.g. chocolate ). The boys were in Geoff's car and the Girls and Lizzie were in Paul's Car driven by Chris (Rachel - Thanks Paul - unfortunately we couldn't work out the knack of opening the boot, which made things a bit tricky). In the girls car there was an argument not about anything in particular - just who should talk. The two people involved were Lizzie and Alice. The strong words given were "shut up let me talk" and "listen, listen to me". This went on for at least two hours. When we got there we got our luggage out of the car. For most people it took 2 minutes but for Jo it took 20. We went to our rooms and got settled and then we went for supper, which was soup and sandwiches - it was very nice. Then we went for a sniff around the building were we found things such as a games room and a lovely sofa.
Saturday 23rd - Walk up the Old Man of Coniston
We started our walk at the bottom of the 'Old Man of Coniston' and from the bottom we knew it was going to be hard. As we walked we ate our way through sweets that we had bought in the town when a girl brought two shoes that looked the same but weren't. (Rachel - I'm not too proud to admit that I did indeed take an odd pair of boots - it's not supposed to be a leader that does things like that! Anyway, it meant I got a new pair though!) As we walked it was quite difficult because it was not a good path. At twelve o'clock we had our dinner by a lake which was nice. As we left here there was a hole with water in it and there an accident. Dawn put here foot on it and fell causing a very wet foot (Chris had also done this as we arrived for our lunch). As we reached the top we were covered in cloud - you could not see anywhere around you, it was all white. But as we got to the top it was clear and we had a lovely view. At the top there was a sweet sheep we called Shawn who was so tame it ate out of our hands. As we walked down we saw the ruins of old houses by the quarry. It was a good but tiring walk.
Sunday 24th September - A Glamorous trip on a lake - NOT!
You may think that a trip on the lake is extremely relaxing. Not at Kepplewray. The trip started with a battle between the boys and girls for secret agent 'Reggit' (a small plastic toy of Tigger we had to rescue from the water). This resulted in Alice falling in - but we all knew she was pushed by the boys who went on to win because we stopped to look after her. How unfair! We had lunch on Swallows and Amazons island. We came back completely drenched from the rain and the lake and we loved it. We were unable to go rock climbing because of the weather but we were so shattered we didn't care!
As told by Jo Standley, Dawn Gedling and Lizzie Standley