Oakley Holidays
Established in
1919
Registered Charity No. 1093381
Limited Company No. 4487467
Registered Charity No. 1093381
Limited Company No. 4487467
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Oakley Holidays |
Established in
1919 Registered Charity No. 1093381 Limited Company No. 4487467 |
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92 years since the first Oakley Holiday at Ardingly in Sussex, 105 boys and girls attended the summer 2011 Holiday - again held during a week of warm sunny weather at Bilton Grange. This imposing and characterful house stands in 160 acres of beautiful parkland on the outskirts of Rugby. 14 members were at their first Oakley Holiday and five were leaders for the first time.
The fourteen comfortable dormitories used ranged in size from 5 to 10 people and everyone enjoyed the excellent meals, served this summer in the spacious dining room of the junior department. These were prepared by the very helpful school catering team and included home-made cake, a picnic and a superb fresh fruit salad  The playing fields, in beautiful condition, were an ideal setting for some well-matched team games of volleyball and podex as well as an energetic and popular football and hockey tournament involving 16 sides. The Water Games were very crazy and very wet.
In the afternoons there was a very wide variety of activities to choose from - everything from padder tennis, face painting and Quidditch to water polo in the heated indoor pool, Mah Jongg and cycling, as well as our own tournaments, played in pairs, of tiddlywinks and walking-stick golf. In morning Quiet Times, in discussions groups and in our evening services, one held outdoors, we thought about and debated a number of current personal, social, religious and environmental topics. These included the importance of contributing to family life, the need for courage, the way Jesus is portrayed in art and films, and how we respond to tragedies such as the earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Thursday morning saw the leaders in disguise and fancy dress moving about the main streets and park at the centre of Rugby – a Banana, Austin Powers, a snake charmer, a Roman Gladiator and luminous yellow chicken were amongst the outfits as younger members tried to find and recognise all 34 of them.
Members contributed over £730 to four chosen charities and each dormitory prepared a gift box for teenagers in orphanages in Romania. Further details of these and several other ‘green’ and charity activities are detailed on a special Charity Review webpage.  The raked theatre seating, lighting and stage of the Ravenscroft Hall was just right for members to put on an excellent range of diverse entertainment each evening, many of them devised together by dormitories. This featured comedy and musical sketches including old favourites such ‘Is it time yet?’ and the Dead Parrott, take-offs of Harry Potter, a rap song about Wales and a chaotic Call my Bluff. The audience also enjoyed violin, piano, bassoon and acoustic and electric guitar solos, contemporary dance, together with story-telling, quizzes, solo and ensemble vocal items and community singing. A spectacular bonfire in a clearing in the woods brought one evening to a happy close.
Certificates of achievement and a book were presented to new members to mark their first holiday and those making a significant contribution as leaders for the first time marked their new role at the Holidays by choosing gifts for communities in developing countries worth £60.  At the end of the week members were delighted to hear that there will be only a small increase in the cost of the two holidays planned at Bilton Grange for early April and July in 2012 and that the regional reunions planned for all members in the Christmas Holidays will include the groups from Fareham, Lytham and London.
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