Off to camp again
Published: Wed, 08/07/19
It was one summer evening about 15 years ago, when I was living in a farm cottage just outside of Kidlington in Oxfordshire. An email came through from Emma Restal-Orr, AKA ‘Bobcat’, who, at the time was in charge of the Druid Network. The Network was preparing for their second annual camp and they needed extra facilitators at rather short notice. So, would I like to go and teach some Stav and do some work with runes there? Emma told me later that she had been keen to ask me the previous year but was overruled as Stav wasn’t considered ‘Druid’ enough. The first year had apparently been a great success despite my absence and there were a lot more bookings for the subsequent event. This time I was invited and I agreed to go along.
I had no idea what to expect but ever since I was in the scouts I have appreciated an opportunity to go camping, so at worst it was going to be a few days in the open air. As it turned out the whole event was amazing fun. I had a chance to teach each morning, I led a workshop on using runes from a Stav point of view and got involved with a lot of interesting activities. I also met a lot of nice people and generally had a lot of fun. I was certainly willing to give it another go the following year and a whole series of connections came about which have led me to attending a great many camps since. Some, like Druid and Mercian Gathering I have been part of every year, others I might have only been to once or twice.
Today I am on my way to what is probably my 14th or 15th Druid Camp and it will be busy, fun and I will catch up with or meet for the first time a lot of good people. Apart from that, I will just take it as it comes. I will give a report on various camps later on.
I am also reflecting on how that message from Emma changed so much for me over the past fifteen years. The lines of the web connect us with so many possibilities, some we are aware of, most we are not. It is very easy to be presented with an opportunity and just decide that it is not our sort of thing and let it go. There are times when taking the known and predictable path is the sensible thing to do. However, sometimes not being completely sensible and just taking a chance makes life much more interesting and one possibility just keeps leading to another. Deciding to accept Emma’s invitation was one of those moments for me, and it has paid off in a big way.
regards
Graham
In the meantime, I am planning another retreat like the one we did this year but with a different theme. If you have not seen my report and the pictures see it here http://rr.stavcamp.org/
If you would like to register your interest for next year drop me a line at admin@stavcamp.org and I will add you to the priority booking list.