A report written in 1967 by Glyn Jones and John Grundy

The team consisted of eight Cambridge students – five men and three girls; our camp was based on the ‘Almhütte’ we used last year.

Familiar surroundings were an obvious asset and the simple lay-out of the hut made for convenience.  The cowstall was furnished with rude tables and benches, quickly cleared away to provide space for indoor activities; the kitchen had a large wood-fired cooking stove, which also supplied constant hot water, and a huge copper urn for boiling dirty clothes.  There was a cool larder with running water piped from a mountain stream.  Upstairs there was ample room for stores and extra accommodation in case of wet weather.  A straw-filled cot served as a sick-bay.  Other buildings included a hay barn and a firewood shed.  Behind the hut, a hayfield rose steeply to the mountains; in front the land sloped gently down to the main stream of the valley.  Beyond this stream, crossed by an apparently decaying but immensely solid wooden bridge, lay the field which was the scene of most of our games and around which we pitched the tents.  The site is a perfect natural playground.

The camp was soon split into three groups.  At any given moment two of these would be based on the main camp while the other was spending a week in a smaller camp lower down the valley.  This division of the children enabled us to establish contacts; less easily achieved in the more rambling base camp.  At base camp, each day followed a similar pattern.  The children tended to wake early; their chatter would disturb a light sleeper who in turn would wake a driver to fetch the milk.  Meanwhile, cereal and bread and jam would be prepared for a breakfast which began with the arrival of the milk.  Simple chores like washing up, tidying, and fetching firewood and water took up the hour after breakfast.  At first rotas were pinned up, but after a day or so the children did their tasks willingly, or simply required a quick reminder.  Tents and clothes were inspected for neatness and cleanliness and a system of points encouraged greater efforts.  The shopping expedition into Mariapfarr (10 miles away) every morning was always over-subscribed with children eager for the trip.  Lunch was rolls filled with sausage, fish, cheese, or jam, followed by fruit and a soft drink, with the addition of soup or a hot drink, on cold or wet days.  In the afternoons we went to the open air baths in Mariapfarr, walked, played games near the camp or, occasionally, had a trip to the cinema.  Preparations for the 7 o’clock evening meal, began around 4 o’clock.  This was the big meal of the day – soup, main course, usually a pudding or sweet, fruit and biscuits.  Milk and sandwiches were always available for the hungry.  Older children were allowed to brew themselves tea or coffee after the evening meal.

During the day we had many activities.  Football was by far the most popular, then obstacle courses, initiative exercises, walks in the mountains (taking from an afternoon to three days), swimming, innumerable varieties of ball games, and also games that the children evolved.  These building up their own sets of rules as they progressed, helped us to get to know their characters much better.  It was of special interest to those team members who intend to become teachers, to observe which children were more inventive, which possessed developing qualities of leadership, and which were introspective and might need more careful attention.

Bad weather posed the usual problems.  The tents had to be inspected and made secure against the rain; the kitchen, always the warmest place and a focal point for the children when their outdoor activities were curtailed, had to be kept reasonably free of bodies to allow work to progress.  This meant that organised games in small groups had to be kept up for lengthy periods, taxing our ingenuity and ability to improvise.  In such circumstances the children often came into their own.  One boy of 13 set himself up as ringmaster and produced a remarkable display of circus talent.  The same boy also organised a singing competition in which everyone had to take part and was awarded prizes.  Since many of the children spoke German only as a second language to Hungarian, Czech, Russian or Ukrainian, the result was a sort of Eastern European bloc Eurovision song contest.

The camp’s progress was interrupted by a series of unforeseeable incidents which called for extra work and ingenuity all round.  A freak storm washed down two tents and flooded our playing field; team members were briefly ill; we had to make hospital visits to a boy from the previous camp, whose leg had been broken at football; another boy burnt his leg in the kitchen.  In such cases the students must accept full responsibility for what had happened.  All have either a rudimentary or a detailed knowledge of First Aid, but where the slightest doubt arises children are taken to the doctor immediately.  At the start of camp we check that all children are fully insured under the Austrian National Health system.

An outstanding feature of this year’s camp was the number of welcome visitors we entertained.  Our Chairman and his co-driver called twice, the second time to bring to the camp a Hungarian girl who is settled with foster-parents in England.  After less than a year in England her command of English is almost impeccable, and, a mere 13 years old, she radiated good will and restraint throughout the camp.  Previous members of C.H.V. were welcome and helpful guests, taking command of a large batch of children on a three-day mountain walk; members of our sister camp in Germany, having got word of our mechanical troubles, came to help us out and gave us the use of their van, for long enough for us to have our own repaired; and two men from the previous camp returned for 9 days to help us.  Two sets of parents called, one to take home their son who had stayed on from the previous camp, the other a mother who came to announce to her two sons her intention of remarrying and to introduce her fiancé. 

One of the most pleasing aspects of the camp was that unlike previous years, there was no stealing either from shops or from us; another was the almost complete absence of bullying or nascent criminality among the children.

It is gratifying to watch the change in attitudes of the children towards one another and towards us.  Three weeks together can build a measure of confidence, which is reflected in the increasing willingness of the children to join in activities with the students, rather than keeping their games to themselves.  The popularity of the numerically vastly unfair Austria-England football matches, (all the children playing the male team members), is one expression of the sense of trust.  It is pleasing to note that the refugee children regard themselves first and foremost as Austrians.  The realistic attitude should help them to avoid much of the unhappiness and sense of insecurity which has been their parents’ lot.  In the camp we created opportunities for the children to bring out the best in themselves.  Some were very homesick at first, and finished by taking part in every activity and even winning prizes.  One boastful but basically insecure and cowardly boy discovered, albeit after a bribe, that he could in fact do some of these things which had previously only featured in his imagination and became the better for this discovery.

Although we know both from the children’s quiet confidences and openly expressed sentiments that they had a very enjoyable time, the team members themselves were dogged by considerable troubles.  We came to realise how much we depended on transport when one van had to be written off because of engine trouble before the beginning of the camp and the remaining vehicle was plagued with persistent mechanical failures and breakdowns.  This tended to strain our communications and left the smaller camp entirely without transport.  It was, however, possible to do almost all the shopping for that camp on foot.  The more thinking members of the team were also troubled by the presence in the camp of a small minority of children whom we described as ‘not C.H.V. types’.  Because their attitudes were suggested reasonably comfortable home backgrounds and because they were relatively well equipped with clothes and other personal possession, they seemed not to fit the aim of the camp.  A few others definitely needed medical or psychiatric treatment which we were not equipped or qualified to provide.  However, a good holiday certainly did them no harm.  These problems and queries are now being discussed at length among ourselves and with our C.R.I. sponsors and the aim of our camps will remain, as it was this year, and has always been: To give the children as enjoyable a holiday as possible in surrounding they would never otherwise see, and briefly to relieve the strain on poor and overburdened parents.