History Of The Camp

The camp was founded in 1926 to fill a perceived need to provide cheap holidays for Salford Children away from the town, at a time of great poverty. A group of local worthies put up cash, raised more by public subscription and set up an office in Bexley Square with a part time administrator. The cost of a holiday from Friday to Friday was two shillings and sixpence for the coach fare. Parties of children drawn from across the city met at the Camp Office in Bexley Square, thirty boys one week and thirty girls the next. They were housed in wooden dormitories with no heating so the camp was only open during the summer months. Supervision of the children was by volunteer helpers, though there was a small team of paid staff at the camp. Food was basic but more plentiful than many children would normally have received at home. It became affectionately known as the jam butty camp.

During the Second World War the camp was taken over by the army and formed part of the defensive shield around Liverpool. After the war, Camp stuttered along with difficulty until in 1969 when the arrangements for selecting children changed. To provide good supervision, school parties drawn from one or two schools went to the camp with teachers supervising. The groups were still of thirty boys one week followed by thirty girls the next. This pattern continued until 1975 when the 36-bed dormitory was built using funds raised by Salford schoolchildren during a sponsored walk round Maine Road football ground organised by the Variety Club. £12000 was raised, but this was not enough to provide toilets or showers and the old toilets continued in use. A Portaloo was purchased and then separate toilets for boy and girls so mixed parties could use the camp.

In 1979 Booth's Charity donated some £24,000 the build a new 24-bed dormitory with showers and toilets for boys and girls. The old wooden dormitories were demolished to make way. At this time two old wooden dormitory type buildings remained together with the Old Dining Hall, Kitchen and warden's accommodation The next new building was a toilet and shower block added to the 36-bed dorm, provided by the generosity of our recent chairman, Mrs. Joan Bryans, who dedicated her Mayoral Fund to the camp. A total of around £25000.

The next major acquisition was a new dining room and kitchen provided by theSalford Inner City Partnership. Only the warden's accommodation was original together with the old dining room, which we had adapted to provide extra staff bedrooms and a teacher's room. Booth's Charity also provided the cash to add pitched roofs to the two dormitories and the kitchen and dining room as flat roofs and were beginning to cause problems. In 1979 Booth's Charity came up with a magnificent proposal to mark the Millennium with a replacement building to remove the last of the original building. At a cost of over £350,000 we now have a three bedroom bungalow for the warden, a very large common room for the children, a new staffroom and bedrooms, toilets and shower for staff - all suitable for wheel-chair users.

Over the last thirty or so years many of the Mayors of Salford have donated all or part of their charity appeal to the camp . The largest in recent years was that of Councillor Joe Murphy who raised some £48,000 for the camp. Although a private and independent Charity, the Camp receives steady support from Salford City Council by way of an annual grant, currently £16,000. In addition many employees of the council have given freely of their time and expertise to assist the camp. The Committee is very conscious and appreciative of this help.

Though no original buildings now remain, two older buildings are still in use. One the wartime army ablution block, re-furbished and used for inside games during wet weather, and the large wooden pavilion provided by the National British Legion in memory of their National President of 1957 a well-known Salford man Captain S.Hampson.

Since its foundation the camp has provided 80,000 holidays to Salford children, now averaging around 1100 a year.