Holiday Camps

We hope to provide a bit of flexibility with our drop off and pick up times. You can drop off between 8am and 9am and collect your young person between 4pm and 5pm.

A typical day consists of 6 hours of fun activities, 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon with a break for a packed lunch brought from home. Sessions include water activities, a journey or a walk, and height activities, which could include climbing and ropes. We also mix it up with nature based sessions, games, arts and crafts, and problem solving.

Our Holiday Day Camps are split into three age groups – 5-7 years, 8-10 years and 11-14 year olds.

We’ll provide all the essential activity and safety equipment. If you can make sure your child brings the following it will help them to get the best out of the day:

• Trainers and walking boots (with thick socks), and that support the ankle;
• Waterproof top and bottoms;
• Clothing. Please provide a full change of clothing including socks and underwear, and we don’t recommend jeans for our day camps. Where possible, please try to choose clothes that are warm if they get wet. For example, fleece rather than cotton. We also advise that all clothing is name-tagged, casual and easily washable;
• Do bring warm layers and a towel;
• Lunch. Please bring a nut-free packed lunch and a refillable water bottle. Do bear in mind that they may need more food than you think given how active they’ll be throughout the day;
• Sun hat and sun cream;
• DEET Free Insect repellent (which also doesn’t damage our safety equipment).

We don’t recommend that your child brings a mobile phone. If they need to contact you, we can help with that. Mobile phone signal can be poor and your child might lose or damage their phone given the nature of the day and the activities. We also don’t recommend they bring any valuables. We have a no nut policy, so check snacks and packed lunches are nut-free please. We also have a strict no knives policy including pocket knives.

Our staff are highly experienced outdoor instructors with all the essential certifications and in-house YMCA Lakeside validations. They are managed by Martin Barry, Senior Operations Manager. Martin has over 30 years’ experience of working in the outdoor sector. That includes 10 years as a Senior Lecturer on the outdoor studies programmes at the University of Cumbria and a spell as Head of Learning at The Field Studies Council in south Cumbria. Martin also has a master’s degree and a PhD in outdoor learning. YMCA Lakeside has been running the residential centre and its 100 acre site on the western shore of Windermere, for over 70 years. Along with the facilities here and our skilled team we are confident you child will have a great experience here.

We completely understand how a new environment with new faces can unnerve some children. Our staff have supported scores of new children to settle into our camp. If you have concerns about settling your child into camp, please contact us and we will discuss how best to make the settling in period really positive.

We always try to encourage a child to have a go at something they might think is not for them. But we would never force a child to take part in an activity. If that happens, we can usually find a way for them to be involved with their group.

The best way for us to answer this is to find out more about your child’s needs. Please get in touch with us by calling 01539 539 000 or emailing lakesideenq@fyldecoastymca.org.

We have been organising and delivering safe outdoor learning experiences for over 90 years. Over this time, we have helped more than one million young people achieve more than they ever thought possible through outdoor adventure. We are guided by best practice approaches and sector specific regulations governing the provision of outdoor education.