Over The Wall is a UK charity that provides residential summer camps for children and their families coping with serious illnesses and conditions. It is a member of the

SeriousFun Children's Network SeriousFun Children's Network is a global community of 30 camps and programs for seriously ill children. All camps and programs offer free recreational experiences to children with serious illnesses and their family members. The first SeriousFu ...

, a worldwide association of camps for seriously ill children. The charity was co-founded by Joe Woods and Paul Newman in 1999 as The Over The Wall Gang Camp in the style of the American

Hole in the Wall Gang Camp The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, based in Ashford, Connecticut, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, residential summer camp, and year-round center serving children and their families coping with cancer and other serious illnesses and condition ...

set up by

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

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Camp Programme

The camp currently provides around 10 camps a year for children and families affected by serious illness. All of the camps are provided completely free of charge. There are currently three different types of camp offered throughout the year: * Seriously ill children ages 8–17 years (5 nights) * Siblings of seriously ill children aged 8–17 years (4 nights) * Family groups, with a child with a serious illness (2 nights) In 2013, the charity held summer camps in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

for 444 children between the ages of 8 and 17, with over 130 different medical conditions, including blood disorders, cancers and tumours, cerebral palsy, genetic disorders, epilepsy, heart conditions and many more, including extremely rare illnesses. The camps for siblings of children with serious illness are typically organised in the Easter Holidays, and shorter family camps are organised throughout the year. Whilst at camp the children are able to try a wide variety of activities often including; wall climbing,

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to Bela ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...

horse riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

, music, drama, sports, talent night and a disco. Unlike other camps in the

, Over The Wall has no permanent site and holds camps in multiple locations in the UK, including at

Bryanston School Bryanston School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset in South West England. It was founded in 1928 ...

Tulliallan Castle Tulliallan Castle is a large house in Kincardine, Fife, Scotland. It is the second structure to have the name, and is a mixture of Gothic and Italian style architecture set amid some of parkland just north of where the Kincardine Bridge spans t ...

, and

Strathallan School Strathallan School is an independent boarding and day school in Scotland for boys and girls aged 7–18. The school has a campus at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth. School roll The school has 73 full-time staff, and 18 part-time staff ...

, allowing it to serve families from across the UK.

Aims of the Camps

While hospitals and healthcare staff aim to take care of the physical aspects of serious illness in a child, living with a serious illness can impact children in a number of ways. The diagnosis of a serious illness at an early age, and the subsequent lengthy process of treatment and hospital visits are likely to result in a lack of confidence and self-esteem in most children. Over The Wall aims to rebuild their confidence and esteem through a programme of

Therapeutic Recreation Recreational therapy or therapeutic recreation (TR) is a systematic process that utilizes recreation (leisure) and other activities as interventions to address the assessed needs of individuals with illnesses and/or disabling conditions, as a mea ...

, all whilst letting children "kick back, relax and raise a little hell". In summer of 2012, The Child Study Center at

Yale Medical School The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

began a study to measure the impact of SeriousFun camps on children with serious illness. 254 families using 12 SeriousFun camps including Over The Wall were studied and a number of outcomes were monitored one month after attending camp and then reevaluated six months after camp. The study found significant improvements in outcomes including self-esteem, maturity, independence, quality of life measures and positive coping strategies, which were still maintained at the six month follow-up.

References

External links

Over The Wall

SeriousFun Children's Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Over The Wall Summer camps for children with special needs Charities for disabled people based in the United Kingdom Children's charities based in the United Kingdom 1999 establishments in the United Kingdom