Swans Big Camp Out

Over the weekend of 13^th and 14^th of October Swans held their first ever Big Camp Out. It’s been running for a couple of years at Subiaco Oval as an initiative of The Fathering Project. Swan Districts is now providing a satellite camp for families in the Swans community. The aim of the camp is to encourage dad’s to spend quality one on one time with their kids.

There were 41 registered campers who all turned up on the Saturday to brave the wild, gloomy and stormy weather forecast. The committed campers consisted of fathers, grandfathers and their children or grandchildren. “The camp was an amazing success. It was terrific to see the interaction between them all in simple living and activities out on Steel Blue Oval”, says Swans Community Manager Shane Beros.

The club organised several activities for the campers over the weekend. The Kiara Fire Brigade kicked off events with a display and talk whilst fathers pitched tents in 40 knot breezes. “I think that having the kids entertained whilst dads and grandads battled with their patience and tent construction abilities was a saving grace for all” said Shane.

On Saturday the weather bucked the original forecasts and turned into a lovely spring day. To compliment the beautiful conditions there was a football clinic by Swans players, knot tying lessons, a chariot race and finally kite-making and flying. The club would like to thank the Swan Districts players for coming down and helping Christian Tulfilli, WAFC Swan Districts Development Officer as well the Bayswater Sea Scouts and Morley Scouts who provided the activities.

A dinner of hamburgers was served and topped off with ice-cream. Later in the evening the campers roasted marshmellows on an open fire in the middle of Steel Blue Oval. Thankfully Kiara Fire Brigade were not needed again! The open fire gathering was accompanied by acoustic guitar playing in the background by Grayson Dennis and even a couple of dads joined in and strummed away as the flames flickered away providing warmth and the necessary visual stimulus, that if we were at home, would probably be substituted by some kind of DEVICE!!!

It was off to bed and before eyes could fully close the first of two fierce storms hit. They were absolute crackers with thunder rolling and lightning flashing. To everyone’s credit, the storm was ridden out and the night’s weather events will be a talking point for years to come for our campers, some of whom had never camped before.

Bacon, eggs, hash browns and coffee eased the nerves in the morning as stories of the night storms were shared. The final activities of the camp were conducted in some pretty ordinary weather on the Sunday. Dodging heavy showers, the campers competed in the Great Steel Blue Adventure Race before constructing and launching rockets over Steel Blue Oval. The rocket that flew the longest went an amazing 41 metres (mind you the wind was blowing about 65knots…).

The sleep-deprived campers were terrific in the manner in which they battled on and there was plenty of laughs and excitement to be had by all.

It was time to pack up and go. Eyes were bloodshot and the wind speed was increasing. A nice warm shower at home was calling. Tents were zipped up, cars packed up and kids loaded up. Hot dogs were served for lunch before the campers headed home.

Thanks to all who attended for the wonderful weekend and thank you for all the positive feedback. “We can’t wait for the 2019 Swans Big Camp Out. We’ll make the weekend bigger and better,” said Shane.