Venturer Camp 2026

Author: Lizzie Cadoux

  • Centres! Centres! Centres!

    In case you’ve missed it, the programme team have announced three centres for Venturer Camp.

    They are…

    Archival Arts

    Archival Arts is where craft and history meet to provide Venturers with a range of art and printmaking experiences inspired by Woodcraft ephemera and our own experiences.

    Not only will they be running workshops remixing archival material, they will also house the camp’s zine library where attendees can come and chill in a quiet zone to learn and relax.

    Expect making everything from banners to badges, zines to collage, exploring the politics of production and feeling empowered to not just explore history but make it!

    Prank Centre

    Time to get silly for social change with 🥁🥁 the V-Camp Prank Centre!

    Take part in a clowning workshop! Learn about tricksters of mythology! Harness the power of tomfoolery to disrupt the system!

    Come and and check out the prank centre at V-Camp- where the silliness never stops and the clock’s always set to 6-7.

    Planet Utopia

    Back by popular demand after Camp 100, Planet Utopia is a place where young people come together to imagine, fight for, and build a fairer, more joyful world. A political education centre for the next generation of organisers

    We believe in the power of young people. We believe we can challenge injustice, resist oppression, and do it all with fierce joy. Through hands-on workshops, creative games, storytelling, and collective action, Venturers will explore big questions like: What would a fair society look like? What do we do when people are being treated unfairly? How can we change the rules?

    In the world right now, it’s easy to feel powerless. But Planet Utopia reminds us: you are never alone. We don’t just dream of a better world here — we build it.

    That’s all for now…but remember to check here and on Instagram for more centre annoucements. Which centre would you like to see at Venturer Camp?

  • Our logo!

    Many thanks to Sadie (who also designed the 2023 logo!) and Tilda for their hard work creating a logo that really shows the mystery and magic of our Storytelling themed camp.

    Here it is…

    This is the logo that will be sewn onto folkshirts! The logo that will be on well-loved t-shirts! Your favorite mug that’s always at the front of the cupboard!

    This is the logo that embodied the spirit of our camp.

    Of course, ideas (like stories) do not just appear out of thin air. On our Instagram highlight (‘Road to 2026’) you can see the drafts of the logo from rough sketches to early rendering.

    Nothing we do for Venturer Camp is done alone. Co-operation builds the strongest ideas, which hopefully you can see from our early designs how the team built upon each others work.

    Want to engage in some co-operative art yourself? Well Venturer Camp is the place to be (and booking opens on the 1st!)

    Blue skies,

    – The Venturer Camp Communications Team

  • And the theme is…

    Storytelling!

    After lots of discussion between 2024-25 Venturer Committee, the theme chosen was Storytelling!

    Venturer Committee facilitator, Suzannah Walker, said it was ‘one of a few suggestions made by committee and the one that stuck and everyone felt collectively inspired by’

    It comes off the back of previous themes of camps gone by such as Mythology (2023) and Voyages (2019).

    We are so excited to have a theme chosen by Venturers for Venturers!

    We want to empower young people to tell their stories, and uncover the stories of marginalised communities and cultures. We take an inclusive, broad, inquisitive approach to our theme and are always curious to hear YOUR ideas and takes.

    What ideas do you have for programme? Here’s what our programme co-ordinator Eva said about what to expect:

    Storytelling will be woven through the event from workshops to village activities to the wide game. We’re excited to consider all types of stories that inspire us: campfire tales, poetry, drama, Woodcraft history and so much more. Can’t wait to see you there!

    More information to be released soon about programme (maybe even a list of centres…)

    In the mean time, start designing your fancy dress, start planning with your districts and think about what Storytelling means to you!

    Blue skies,

    – The Venturer Camp Communications Team

  • Our first in-person planning meeting

    Committee and core facilitators in Height Gate barn, ready to leave. Credit: Suzannah Walker

    Last weekend, Venturer committee and members of the Venturer Camp core planning team met in person for the first time to discuss big plans for camp and committee. Representatives from Co-ordination, Finance, Bookings, Communications and Programme presented reports from their teams, to get Venturer contributions and work co-operatively across teams to facilitate the best possible camp.

    Fields we made particular progress on included: booking (which we can now say opens on the 1st of January!), site layout, centres and transport.

    Venturers especially had lots to say on policy and programme! Lizzie (our Communications Lead) led a workshop about how we integrate Woodcraft values onto camp that led to some engaging programme ideas. We are a participant led camp and always want to hear your ideas for programme or anything else! Message us here or email info@venturercamp.org.uk. One group envisioned a camp where children’s rights were paramount vs where children’s rights were neglected completely, creating a dystopian vision of camp we hope to never experience…

    As well as our planning agenda, there was also some more impromptu programme. Two walks occurred on Saturday afternoon (one to Stoodley Pike and one to Sylvia Plaths grave in Hepstonall) where we had a chance to informally chat about camp and get to know each other. The Hepstonall walk also featured a Feminist Caucus, where we discussed our experiences of gender relations and misogyny in Woodcraft and reflected on how that can be improved. It was so exciting to listen to the next generation of Woodcraft discuss their plans and visions for the future.

    Venturer committee members walking across a plank over Hebden Bridge canal. Credit: Lizzie Cadoux

    Speaking of plans and visions, Aisling (one of our event co-ordinator) led some evening programme where we remixed newspapers to make headlines and articles about where we see Woodcraft in the future. It was a perfect activity to reflect on our centenary year. Visions of Woodcrafts future included Span that World with Music selling out Wembley (future DF committee has a big job on their hands!), Woodcraft saving local businesses and tales of Camp 2040 heroism.

    The weekend was the biggest in-person meeting of Venturer committee since the pandemic, and Venturer Camp 2026 will be the first V-Camp since 2019 to have V-Committee contribute to the planning. This ensures we create a camp that engages and interests Venturers, and enables them to take on responsibility in fun, exciting ways. We are grateful for the work of Suzannah (Venturer Committee facilitator) and Suzy (DF Committee’s Venturer Liaison) in helping to revive committee and for co-coordinating the travel of Venturers, who came from districts far-reaching as Brighton to Newcastle; although that’s nothing to compare to our co-ordinator Wilf who came from Germany!

    Attendees waiting at a bus stop near Height Gate to get to Hebden Bridge train station. Credit: Suzannah Walker

    It was an enriching, enlightening weekend and the Venturer Camp planning team thanks all who attended with their ideas, engagement and creativity.

    Blue skies,

    – The Venturer Camp Communications Team