Cranfield Camp has not always been in Cranfield! It has however always been in Northern Ireland. It is unbelievable to think that Cranfield Camp started back in the 60's when the tents were brightly painted with flowery designs, the average length of the campers hair was 4 inches below the shoulder and activities ranged from guitar lessons to lying in fields of daffodils! The camp was held in Castlerock on the north coast of Northern Ireland. It's hard to tell whether the camp in those days was called Cranfield Camp, records from that era are sketchy... everything was sketched in those days, but these records have been lost. Perhaps the rain washed them away, or maybe they were eaten by Oggy, or more likely they are buried under Carsie's pile of disused Spice Girls merchandise.
Either way we now know that in the 70's the camp moved from Castle'rock 'n roll' to the previously uninhabited area of Cranfield. This was an inspired decision as the name of the camp now matched the location! The 80's saw the birth of Cranfield's current leaders and also another new venue... Malligan (presumably a made up place somewhere near the Arctic Circle). Temperatures plummeted as did the numbers and in 1985 the camp moved back to Cranfield, in coincidentally the same year Michael J. Fox took us back to the future. The camp remains there to this day, but only appears in early August when the moon is in the 7th phase...
It should be noted that the camp was several times moved to the adjoining field. There were mixed opinions about this move, with some leaders preferring one field and some the other. Those who weren't sure sat on the fence!
For those people not in the know, Cranfield is situated about 5 miles southwest of Kilkeel, making it the most southerly point in Northern Ireland and subsequently the country's closest location to the equator. This provides the camp with tropical heat waves and occasional monsoon conditions. Campers are advised to come prepared for all conditions and should supply their own parasols, sun-cream and canoes.
That is the ever increasing history of Cranfield! |
