Over The Wall’s activity camp comes to our Children’s Hospital
Patients at Birmingham Children’s Hospital got a sneak peek into camp life a few weeks ago as the Over The Wall (OTW) children’s charity hit the road to bring a taste of their activity camps to children and young people in hospital.
Their tour started on Tuesday 11 April in Manchester visiting the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, North Manchester General Hospital and Wythenshawe General Hospital before finishing at the Children’s on Friday 14 April.
The outreach team joined our resident outreach worker from OTW, Megan Southerton, who has been based in our Children’s Hospital for the past nine months in a first of its kind partnership between OTW and an NHS Trust.
Megan said: “It is a genuine pleasure to be able to speak with families here in BCH about our free and fun opportunities. We are passionate about providing children and young people with health challenges the chance to discover a world of mischief and magic.”
One of the ways OTW help empower children with a health challenge is by providing free-of-charge, transformative activity camps throughout the UK while offering first-class medical care catering for more than 130 different conditions. The camps are a safe environment for children to build confidence and self-esteem, allowing them to meet new friends, accomplish new challenges and, above all, have fun.
Their visit to BCH was an opportunity for outpatients and inpatients on our wards to try some of the activities that OTW usually provide at their camps. Originally due to take place in the Waterfall House courtyard, the event was moved indoors to the lobby due to wet weather. However, the rain did not dampen spirits as our children and young people were able to try their hand at indoor football, a giant game of Connect Four, arts and crafts and by far the most popular option, archery.
Megan explained the reasons behind the OTW tour. She said: “Camp is a safe space where bravery is empowered, and the boundaries of illness are alleviated. It is an incredibly special place and yet so difficult to explain. We wanted to bring just a little element of Camp into BCH to share a little bit of that Camp feeling.”
This summer, OTW will be running three, four-night residential activity camps in the Midlands packed full of new and exciting challenges to help children and young people grow and step out of their comfort zone. For more information and to book a place, visit the Over The Wall website or contact Megan Southerton at meg.southerton@otw.org.uk