Cathedral campers

Team at All Hallows

A unique programme of residential summer holiday camps for young people starts in July to help protect some of the nation's most beautiful religious buildings.

Cathedral Camps, run by UK volunteering charity CSV (Community Service Volunteers), will see young people cleaning spires, clearing graveyards, painting railings, polishing altars, oiling doors, sweeping aisles and surveying tombstones. Campers can explore behind the scenes at many of the nation's favourite cathedrals and some will get the chance to sleep within the sacred walls of selected cathedrals. The camps are open to people aged 18 - 25.

Venue highlights for 2010:

Edinburgh St Mary's is the largest ecclesiastical building in Scotland. Its three spires can be seen dominating the city skyline.

Liverpool Cathedral is a spectacular building and vibrant church, awarded the title of Liverpool City Region's Best Large Visitor Attraction. The beautiful cathedral has the highest and heaviest peal of church bells in the world and the largest Grand Organ in the UK. It is also the site where the bell ringing record was broken in November 2008.

St Albans Cathedral and Abbey Church is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain. It stands over the place where St Alban, the first martyr, was buried after giving his life for his faith over 1700 years ago.

Canterbury Cathedral dates back to 597AD and is the site of the murder of Saint Thomas a Becket in 1170. The breathtaking Cathedral has attracted thousands of pilgrims, as told famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, ever since.

Brecon Cathedral is the only cathedral in Wales set in a walled close. It stands in the north of the stunning Brecon Beacons national park and promises to be an exciting affair as it also coincides with the famous Jazz festival.

Southwell Minster is one of the least known jewels in the crown of Nottinghamshire. It dwarfs the town with its majestic Norman nave in a town renowned as the birthplace of the famous Bramley Apple.

Other venues include London Islington Union Chapel, All Hallows by the Tower and Chester Cathedral.

Julia Thompson will be leading the camp as a volunteer at Wells Cathedral after volunteering last year at camps including Gloucester and Ely. She said: "I'm really looking forward to this year's camps and to meeting this year's campers. We always have a lot of fun, and it's fascinating to get 'behind the scenes' of such impressive buildings and to explore a new town. There's always a great mix of people you probably wouldn't get to know otherwise. We get to know each other really well over the week and many of us have remained good friends."

Rebecca Wilkinson, CSV's project manager for Cathedral Camps, said: "Cathedral Camps demonstrate the positive impact that young people make in helping to protect our architectural heritage. Volunteers' time, energy and enthusiasm plays an important role in preserving social history and preventing landmark buildings from falling into disrepair."

Cathedral Camps Summer programme 2010

7 - 14 July Edinburgh St Mary's
14 - 21 July North Yorkshire CCT Stanwick
Church
21 - 28 July London Islington Union Chapel
28 July - 4 Aug North Devon CCT Exete including Exeter Cathedral, St Michael and All Angels, Princetown.
28 July - 4 Aug Liverpool Cathedral
28 July - 4 Aug St Albans Cathedral and Abbey Church
4 - 11 Aug All Hallows by the Tower, London
4 - 11 Aug Brecon Cathedral, Wales
4 - 11 Aug Truro Cathedral, Cornwall
4 - 11 Aug Wakefield Cathedral
11 - 18 Aug Canterbury Cathedral, Kent
11 - 18 Aug St Pancras Church, London
11 - 18 Aug St Paul's, Weymouth
18 - 25 Aug Chester Cathedral
18 - 25 Aug Leicester Cathedral
18 - 25 Aug Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire
18 - 25 Aug Wells Cathedral
25 Aug - 1 Sept CCT Wentworth Church


The camps are subsidised, with participants making a contribution of £155 towards accommodation, food, tools, equipment, instruction, supervision and work materials.

For further information see: www.cathedralcamps.org.uk or call 0207 643 1395