Camp & Training Centre

An exciting, dynamic Christian venture seeking to lay firm foundations in the lives of children, young people, and adults.

Full Planning Permission was given by South Derbyshire District Council on June 13th 2008. All thirteen Council Members voted in favour of the Camp Centre going ahead. We were given a number of conditions to sort out before the building work could begin. One of the conditions is that we can't live in the managers home until the main centre is built. We plan to build both at the same time.

Work started at the beginning of September '08 with the road access going into the site. The archeological conditions were met during October '08 as all the areas for the buildings plus the lake were excavated under supervision.

Jem, Sue, and the boys have been living in a static caravan since June '08. The caravan was moved onto site at the end of August '10.

The outer walls for the basement on the Main Building is now built. The Manager's House has the foundations in and is awaiting the logs from True North Log Homes in Canada. The Book Cafe, Staff Residence, and lake have also been dug under archeological supervision.

The site will cater for 60 people plus leaders and will have outdoor activities which will include football pitches, water sports, climbing walls etc, as well as woodland walks.

We believe this would further the aims of Foundation Matters and create many new opportunities for us as well as supporting the work that is already going on. Read the blog for up to date information and if you have any questions please do get in touch for further information.

We are looking at three phases in the building work as follows:

Phase 1   Estimated costs are £1.3m
Full Planning Permission has been granted for the access road and the main centre plus a managers home, office and storage space. The lake, sports field, woodland walk, and woodland activities are all part of the first phase. We would like to see this stage completed in 2011.

Phase 2  Estimated costs are £500,000
The Book Cafe with staff living quarters will be the next priority, which will give extra space for visitors on site plus another home for staff members. It will have christian books and resources for all ages and a warm friendly atmosphere where people can meet.  We also plan to use it for local opportunities. We would like to see this stage commencing as funds allow.

Phase 3  Estimated costs are £500,000
A multi purpose sports hall is planned for the future to provide further activities for those involved in the various camps. It would also double up as an extra big room for one off events. This phase will be started as funds allow. 

Phase 4  
We would like to purchase extra land to develop other activities like pony trekking, mountain biking, as well as other country activities. These phases are not in any particular order but we would like to develop the camp centre so that we can have on site activities in peaceful surroundings.