BLACK2NATURE
CAMP CHEW
Friday 29 March 2019 to Saturday 30 March 2019
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| Camp Chew 2017 Copyright Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig |
Book onto this amazing nature camp for children aged 7-11 years. The camp is organised by Black2Nature who have been organising nature camps for inner-city Visible Minority Ethnic (VME) children and young people since 2015. The primary age children come to Camp Chew which takes place in Compton Martin in the Chew Valley just south of Bristol to spend the weekend birding and getting involved with nature.
It is aimed at children who have no experience of nature and in many cases have never been to the countryside or camped. One of our aims is to promote community cohesion and so we encourage children from all backgrounds and areas to attend, as well as those already with a keen interest in nature who we hope will share their passion.
This year we hope to again have a number of children who are VME and or live in the city's areas of deprivation. We have plenty to help to ensure that the children are kept safe. We have a 17 seater minibus picking up from around Bristol.
Children may be accompanied by an adult if they would otherwise be unable to attend but emphasise that they do better without instead perhaps coming with a friend.
We take safety very seriously and so girls and boys sleep in separate tents with adults sleeping at the entrance, making it impossible for strangers to enter undetected. DBS checked adults will be supervising the children at all times. All food prepared on the camp is vegetarian with halal fish and chips and a vegetarian option for lunch on Saturday at Chew Valley Lake.
Camp Chew - Friday 29/03/2019
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| Camp Avalon 2017 Copyright Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig |
4.15 pm Pick up Totterdown
4.30 pm Pick up St Paul's
4.45 pm Pick up Eastville
5.00 pm Pick up Henleaze
5.15 pm Pick up Hotwells
5.30 pm Drop off CMAF
5.45 pm Minibus arriving at CMAF
Activities
Setting up camp
Camp cooking
Socialising/rugby & parachute sessions
Dinner by campfire
Camp Chew - Saturday 30/03/2019
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| Camp Chew 2017 Copyright Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig |
3.45 pm Pick up CMAF & finish
4.00 pm Drop off Hotwells
4.15 pm Drop off Henleaze
4.30 pm Drop off Eastville
4.45 pm Drop off St Paul's
5.00 pm Drop off Totterdown
Activities
Bird ringing
Mothing
Feeding ducks and geese playground
Birdwatching from hides
Nature walk
Fish and Chips at Chew Valley Lake
Friday 29 March 2019 to Saturday 30 March 2019
Camp Chew – Programme
Friday 29th March 2019
All activities dependent on weather
5.45 pm – 7.00 pm (CMAF)
Set up camp, camp cooking & time to socialize
7.00 pm – 8.00 pm (CMAF)
Dinner by the campfire
Saturday 30th March 2019
7.45 am – 8.15 am (CMAF) Camp breakfast
8.45 am - 11.15 am (CVRS)
Bird ringing demonstration and looking at moths at Chew Valley Ringing Station
Mike Bailey Chair of Chew Valley Ringing Station and BTO ringing trainer (with Chris Craig and Mya-Rose Craig)
11.00 am – 11.15 am (CVRS)
Refreshments
11.30 am – 1.00 pm (CVLPS)
Feeding ducks, playground & lunch
1.00 pm – 3.30 pm (CVL)
Birdwatching in bird hides & nature walk
3.45 pm (CMAF)
Pick up and finish
Key to locations
CMAF – Compton Martin Amenity Field, The Street, Compton Martin, Bristol, BS40 6JN
CVRS – Chew Valley Ringing Station, Bishop Sutton, Bristol, BS40 6HN (from Herriots Bridge turn right opposite mirror)
CVLPS - Salt & Malt, Chew Stoke, Chew Valley Lake Picnic Site, Walley Lane, Bristol, BS40 8XS (01275 333345)
CVL – Chew Valley Lake using Morton Hide accessed from the B1134, coming from CMAF turn right between the Blue Bowl and Herons Green.
£10.00 per person including carers
Grants
Free places are available to those children (and parents/family if they wish to come) who would otherwise not be able to come for example who are from areas of deprivation, are VME or are disadvantaged. Camp Avalon recognises that there are almost no young birders from VME backgrounds and so hope that these grants will encourage disadvantaged children to be able to attend. All equipment needed will also be loaned for the weekend.
Black2Nature
Thank you to Compton Martin Village Hall and the many people who have supported Black2Nature and these camps and to Chew Valley Ringing Station and the birders who have offered their time in order to pass on their knowledge to young birders.
Thank you to Opticron for the loan of five pairs of compact binoculars to this project.
Thank you also to Burns Price Foundation, Quartet Funding and Alpkit for helping to fund our project.
Transport
Free transport is available to and from Bristol, with pickups from York Road, Totterdown, St Paul's Resource Centre, The Beehive Pub Henleaze and Hotwells Bristol.
How to Book
Please book on Eventbrite or e-mail campavalonuk@gmail.com with your name, address, phone number and date of birth and your child's name and date of birth with any dietary requirements. Please also get in touch if you would like to get involved by volunteering.
About the Author
Young environmentalist and birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig
Copyright Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig
Camp Avalon and Camp Chew are the ideas of Mya-Rose Craig, who also organised the first events in 2015. She is organising the 2017 camp with the organisation she has formed Black2Nature and hopes to attract more young birders and inner-city teenagers.
Mya-Rose Craig is a 16-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes posts about birding, conservation and environmental issues from around the world.
She has been involved in the UK organisation of the Youth Strikes encouraging young people from around the world to not go to school once a month and protest instead demanding immediate action to prevent climate breakdown. This is an interview in New Statesman.
She was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer-songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people.
She organised four nature camps for children and teenagers since 2015 and is helping to run four more in 2019. She also organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans two more in 2019. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Visible Minority Ethnic people and is President. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change.
She has given over 50 talks, speaking at conferences such as being on a panel with George Monbiot and Caroline Lucas on Sustainability and the Future of Cities. She is a Minister in Chris Packham's Manifesto for Nature in 2018 and spoke in front of 10,000 people at the Walk for Nature. She has also appeared on TV and radio and is particularly proud of being in Silent Roars, a short film which was part of Listen to Britain 2017 https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-silent-roars-2017-online.
She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. She was also listed as one of Bristol's BME top 100 powerlist.
She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent. She became the youngest person to see 5000 birds in 2019 age 16 and is looking forward to visiting Brazil birding in 2019 and hopes to see half the birds in the world there. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter. If you would like to contact Mya-Rose about her work, please e-mail helenabcraig@hotmail.co.uk.
