“I tried archery and swimming and orienteering, but the adventure team games were best, it was good to explore the grounds and local area with a group and the Woodrow staff made it really fun. The bonfire parties were good in the evenings. Camping was fantastic; I love the countryside and sleeping in a tent – I miss being out there.” Clare, Great Escapee
Each August, the Camden Society organises the Great Escape, a week-long holiday packed with activities for people with learning disabilities, at the fully accessible Woodrow High House in Buckinghamshire. The Great Escape is for adults and young people with learning disabilities, including people with profound and multiple disabilities, autism and older people. It is a rare chance for people who do not usually go on holiday to have an affordable break away from home. Our 150 holiday makers come from some of the country’s most deprived boroughs, including Camden, Islington, Southwark, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets.
The Camden Society has been supporting people with learning disabilities for 5 decades. The Great Escape began from a simple (and some thought crazy) idea to organise a camping trip for our service users who talked frequently about the fun they had going camping in the 1960s and 70s. Getting the idea off the ground in 2011 took a lot of organising, a huge amount of enthusiasm from staff and volunteers and a determined belief that everyone deserves a holiday! Four years later, the Great Escape has never been so popular - seasoned Great Escapers talk about it from the moment booking opens in May, look forward to the arrival of this year's Great Escape t-shirt and count the days to the start of the holiday.
The Great Escape relies entirely on donations and fundraising. With a month to go, we are £5,000 short of our fundraising target of £20,000. Your pledge today will ensure that 150 people with disabilities have a fantastic holiday this August.
Find out more about the Great Escape and the Camden Society’s work here.
Follow us on twitter @CamdenSociety
Find us on facebook: www.facebook.com/camdensociety
The Camden Society: supporting people with disabilities to live the lives they choose.
Registered charity # 1044693
We believe that people with disabilities are individuals with the same human value and rights as everyone else.
Our purpose is to enable people with a learning disability and other vulnerable individuals to improve the quality of their lives, by having the opportunities and support to gain new skills; to make real and informed choices about how they live their lives; to develop and maintain relationships with family, friends and neighbours and to establish themselves as valued and contributory members of their communities.
We work to achieve this purpose through the provision of a range of services, advocacy with and on behalf of people with learning disabilities and other vulnerable adults when their quality of life is threatened; and the promotion of their interests and needs through relationships with local government, health authorities, businesses and the local community.
We support over 700 people a week in London and Oxfordshire, through the provision of supported living services, day opportunities, short breaks, training, employment and social enterprise.
Our rewards:
£5 or more
We will thank everyone who pledges £5 or more with either a public thank you on our website and social media pages OR with a thank you card handmade by the Riverside Craft Group. The Riverside is one of our Community and Leisure services based in Southwark.
£10 or more
You can either get your hands on a limited edition Great Escape 2014 mug OR one year’s free e-membership of the Camden Society. Our membership benefits include an electronic copy of our newsletter Society People, keeping you up to date with news and events across the Society; priority invitations to all our member events and discounts in our cafes (several London locations, including Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) and our garden centre in West Hampstead.
£15 or more
Make a pledge of £15 and receive a copy of our book, I Want What You Have, which documents the Society’s history form the 1960s to the present day OR coffee and a pastry for 2 at either Unity Kitchen Firepower (Royal Artillery Museum, Greenwich) or Unity Kitchen Timber Lodge (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Newham).
£20 or more
Receive either an exclusive Great Escape 2014 t-shirt OR 2 tickets to our annual classical benefit concert in May 2015 at St. Marylebone Parish Church. Music is from Really Classical Relay, a group of classical musicians who have all played with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (http://www.reallyclassicalrelay.co.uk/).
£25 or more
Get a fantastic meal for 2 with a drink at either Unity Kitchen Firepower (Royal Artillery Museum, Greenwich) or Unity Kitchen Timber Lodge (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Newham).
£50 or more
Get a fantastic meal for 4 with a drink at either Unity Kitchen Firepower (Royal Artillery Museum, Greenwich) or Unity Kitchen Timber Lodge (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Newham).
£100 or more
A personal thank you video from holiday makers at the Great Escape 2014 to post on your website, facebook and twitter pages. A great way to share what you have helped make happen.
£500 or more
A half day half room booking at Unity Kitchen Timber Lodge at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with coffee and biscuits for 30 people (usual price: from £560).
Booking restrictions apply – your booking must be made in the months of August 2014, September 2014, December 2014 or January 2015, unless at managers' discretion. We are happy for you to add extras to your booking at usual rates. Check out the events space here.
£1,000 or more
A half day full room booking at Unity Kitchen Timber Lodge at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with buffet catering for 80 people. (usual price: from £2,000).
Booking restrictions apply – your booking must be made in the months of August 2014, September 2014, December 2014 or January 2015, unless at managers' discretion. We are happy for you to add extras to your booking at usual rates. Check out the events space here.