We arrived the end of June (the 28th if I remember correctly) to discover that the camp's water supply had been deemed unfit for consumption by the health inspector - the chlorinator failed - and the pool was not approved to open.Welcome to Camp Selkirk!
Welcome to being a camp director.
Philip was 2.5 years old, and Jason three years older. They loved the freedom and we loved the relative safety the campgrounds provided. We still had them watched by a sitter, but it was hard working 18 hours a day and making sure they weren't entirely bereft of our care.
The first summer Terry Murray looked after them...until we needed him for counselling and the second year Leanne Davies was their guardian!
The grounds were important to me, and I was always after the guys to keep the grass cut and trimmed. Here's Greg Eden riding on the mower. We had to send it into the shop for repairs each time he would run over a tree stump. Those darn tree stumps keep jumping out in front of the ride-on mower!
4 comments:
5 years reigning over my 124 acre kingdom!! lol So many happy, happy memories!! So sorry to my Music Camp teachers!! It was great to be on staff as a senior counselor in 2002!! It really is too bad that Selkirk is gone.
Hello from Cambridge,I too babysat for you.My dad was also one of the first campers of 48.He loved the camp so much that he had SMC48 on his licence plate.He sure hated to see it go.
Donna Haskell
Oh my, that picture of my brother, Greg is great. Gives me some great ammunition for teasing sessions in the future.
Thanks for the memories. It's just what I needed after three hours of teaching Advanced English at UoG.
Cynthia (Cindy) Eden
Nothing compares to the "Good Old Days" at Camp Selkirk. I was a young camper in 1948 when the camp opened. Then attended music camp as a camper, was the honour student in 1957, subsequently as a music camp faculty member, attending every year until 1963 when my wife and I went to Training College, members of the Proclaimers of the Faith Session. You might imagine our extreme excitement (and nervousness) to be appointed to the Southern Ontario Division in 1975 as the Divisional Youth Secretary. We had not had the opportunity of being at the camp since 1963 when we went to college.
My wife, too, was an avid, if not mischievous Camp Selkirk alumni, too.
The drive up the lane to the DYS' cottage, realizing that we were back "home" was a thrilling experience. Major Reg. Hollman, the Divisional Commander, met us at DHQ when we arrived back in Hamilton, after serving as the DYS' in Northern Ontario; he suggested we didn't have time to unpack at the quarters at 75 Houghton Ave. S., because he needed us at the camp.
These years later, we still see and hear from some of "our" camp staff.
It was sad news indeed when we heard Camp Selkirk was no longer the divisional camp after the amalgamation. From my perspective, although biased, that was a big mistake. I, like many others, mourned the passing of our illustrious camp.
Congratulations to the creators of this blog! Looking forward to reading many other messages from former campers and staff.
HR Marshall
Harley and Eva
hrmarshall@cogeco.ca
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