The Norwegian Association for the Blind and Partially sighted held its annual childrens' summer camp from the June 23 to June 29, 1996 at Hurdalsenteret in Akershus, about an hour north of Oslo. The camp is for visually impaired children aged between 7 and 13 years. Here are some pictures from the camp. (BTW: I was a leader...)

I started at Oslo's airport, Fornebu. I had to take the plane to Røros to fetch Jon Kristian. The trip went ok, in contrast to the trip after the camp... Back at Fornebu I met my brother Terje and some other people going to the camp and we drove up to Hurdalsenteret. The others had left with a bus in advance.

Down by the beach there was a nice lawn that we used. Here Ranveig and Tom Joel talking to each other.

The first night was Midsummer Nights Eve and that cannot go unnoticed on a summer camp! First we had a presentation round. Later we got a fire going down at the water edge and grilled and did some singing.

Terje and I had a camp-wake-up-radio on the calling system on Monday morning. Christine and Kari Janne thought Ågot was going to do the waking up, so they stood outside her room and waited. They also wanted to participate!

After canoeing, Ågot was very happy to be back on dry land and here she shows proudly a stone from the beach! To the left is Christine, Ågot is in the middle, and Kari Janne is to the right.

After breakfast we had various activities. Some participants went water skiing, some went riding, while others were out in a canoe on the lake. The weather was altogether beautiful so lunch was gobbled on the beach too.

Then came some group activities. Together with Geir Ove, I had the talking newspaper group. We had to do lots of recordings throughout the camp. These recordings were later edited onto a tape for all the participants. That is why we ran around with recorders and microphones constantly.

Jon Kristian and David are walking down the main street in the western town in Tusenfryd. Jon Kristian was really enjoying himself!

Tuesday started with that Christine and Kari Janne insisted on being on the wake-up radio, now named Radio Hurdal...

After piles of soft ice and numerous roller coaster trips, there were many who still had no problem swallowing lunch

Breakfast was consumed like one usually consumes breakfast at Hurdal and then it was into the bus to go to Tusenfryd, an amusement park outside Oslo. Some participants thought it was very fun to try to get certain leaders to vomit, but that didn't work. We also visited the viking village at Tusenfryd.

In the evening, Hurdal Grand Prix was held. Here many of the participants performed songs and dances and played the piano.

Kodak must have earned a lot of money on Ivar over the years!

The camp olympics was on the programme after Radio Hurdal and breakfast. All participants were divided into groups that went around a course with different tasks. There were activities like guessing spices, write poetry, following a rope on the ground without looking and so on. Maybe the most popular exercise was were you had to try to hit Terje with wet sponges!

In the afternoon we went to a mountain pasture called Knaisætra on the other side of the lake. There we met many animals, everything from rabbits to cows and a goat.

Well, these two persistently argued that even though they had the same surname, they were not related.

Yet another Radio Hurrrradal programme started the next day. Some people had started to get a bit irritated, especially when Terje played is last scream, which was the noisiest and worst song he could find...

Kari Janne seems to want Geir Ove to buy here something...

An excursion to Oslo was on the programme this day. The group I was together with, insisted on buying some water pistols for the water fight later on. A visit to the studios of Ultramix, a taking newspaper for children and a visit to the Norwegian library for audio and braille books were also quite popular.

Ågot is sitting reading ghost stories, something which was very popular indeed.

In the evening we had a ghost hour down by the lake. Some of the leaders thought it was great fun to go out on the lake and make scary noises...

Friday contained various activities, including eating waffles on the terrace. After taking the group photo, everything was ready for the great water fight! Earlier bought water pistols and not at least water guns were very useful!

Ågot and I took care of cooking the waffles. We insisted on a hug for every waffle we handed out. With that there were some participants who did not want waffles, while others where more than happy for more...

In the evening there was a better dinner and a end-of-camp party. There was lots of secretiveness in advance about what was going to happen. Among many other awards was the one camp's coolest leader. To my disappointment, it was Terje who won it... ;-(

We had a disco with a dancing competition. Specially Lemon Tree by Fool's Garden was frequently played.

Here is approximately the whole mob at the Childrens' summer camp 1996.

Saturday was they day we all went home. I went with Jon Kristian back to Røros. But when we were waiting to go from Værnes to Røros, we fist were told that we had to change plane. Then we were told that there wasn't any plane for us at all! After some arguing I managed to persuade the airline that I couldn't just take a direct plane back to Oslo. So I went on the bus to Røros. It took three hours... Since there wasn't any plane on to Oslo, I was given a free night in Røros, something I wasn't completely dissatisfied with!