Your Handy Guide to Charnwood Camps Throughout the Years

Whether or not you’ve been on one yourself, as someone in Girlguiding, you’ve likely heard about the infamous Charnwood International Scout and Guide Camps. In this post, I’m going to take you through some quick history of all these camps that have happened so far – along with some personal experiences of my own!



In this blog post, you’ll also find some pictures of animals I like, as well as some relevant badges. You know, for the vibes.

Humble Beginnings

In the late seventies, Leicestershire County wanted to think of a way they could celebrate the international links that the Scouting and Guiding groups had long held. Thus, the Charnwood camps were born.

The very first Charnwood camp took place in 1980, 40 whole years ago. It was held at Bardon Hill, Leicestershire, and had eight subcamps that were named after the planets. 21 countries were represented at this camp with an estimated 500 international visitors.

Fun Fact: On the first day, everyone experienced a lovely downpour of rain. Much like a certain other Charnwood I know. 

1985, 1991 and 1996

1985 – Knights and maidens took over Stanford Hall at the Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire border. The theme was, you guessed it, medieval.

1991 – Stanford Hall was once again used to host Charnwood 91. This time, the subcamps were named after continents. Between the 9 subcamps, there were 3,000 campers from 20 countries.

Fun Fact: Princess Bassma Bint-Talal, head of the Guide Movement at that time in Jordan, visited some Jordanian Guides whilst on the camp.

1996 – Charnwood 1996 was held at Belvoir Castle. The theme was Movieland which was chosen by the guides and scouts at the time. A total of 15 countries were able to be represented. This was the first Charnwood camp that one of our leaders, Gemma, experienced! I am told that she was on the Blockbuster subcamp and slept in the Icelandic tents the Birstall Guides and Rangers are all too familiar with. 

2001, 2006 and 2011

2001 – Charnwood returned once again to Stanford Hall with a very global theme. Nicknamed ‘Round the World’ it featured subcamps such as ‘Aeroplane to Australia’, ‘Train to Timbuktu’, ‘Sleighride to Sweden’, and many more. This camp also brought in the introduction of a camp mascot, Charley Wood. 16 countries and 2,500 guides and scouts were there.

Fun Fact: A parent described the site as “…like the world you wish your children could grow up in.” Which to me, says it all.

2006 – For '06, Whatton House was used as the site. The theme was “Through the Ages” which included the Tudors, the Stone Age, and many more! A grand total of 3,000 guides and scouts pitched their tents for that week.

2011 – Whatton House was once again used for the 7^th Charnwood camp. I didn’t go to it myself but I did visit this camp when I was a brownie, at the humble age of 9. I remember the theme being “Habitats” which was awesome. This camp managed to sustain 4,000 campers overall, a massive increase from Charnwood 2006. To say the least, it was becoming more popular. 

2016 and 2019

2016 – Here we go. This was the first-ever Charnwood I properly went to as a Guide. The subcamps were divided into decades – ranging from the Fabulous Fifties to the Non-Stop Noughties. My fellow Guides and I were part of the Smashing Seventies! It was an unbelievably fun week; I’ve got memories I will always have. We made new friends, went kayaking, and shared the camp with roughly 5,000 other campers! With 22 countries represented and 460 international campers to boot.

Technicalities: The site for this Charnwood was apparently 25% bigger than in 2011. 

  Here, we have the 'Smashing 70s' badge:

And here, we have the full Charnwood 2016 badge:

2019 – We were bound to get here eventually. Of course, Charnwood 2019 was hosted at Cattows Farm and was my second Charnwood, but this time I went to it as Ranger. We had no leader in our little camp space and so we were quite independent throughout the time that we were there. The theme of the whole camp was energy, the subcamps included Mechanical, Light, Sound, Earth, Fire, and Water. We were part of the rather fitting water subcamp.

Unfortunately, due to unsafe conditions caused by rain and mud, the camp closed 4 days in. We as a mud-soaked group abandoned the camp on Thursday after only arriving on Saturday. Even though it ended early, we still have fond memories of the camp. The Core (the humongous main tent) was always lively. Whether it was games, a DJ rave, musical performances, there was always something to watch or take part in. 

This is the incomplete official badge of Charnwood 2019:

It was still one heck of a camp, major thanks to those who helped run it!

Well, there you have some facts about all the Charnwood International Scout and Guide Camps so far. I can imagine that the next Charnwood camps will bring many happy memories to future Scouts and Guides! I hope to go to as many as possible. 

Thanks for reading my post! Be sure to check out the others from our amazing girls. 

Until next time!

- Grace 😊