CAREY Outdoor Education Centre, better known as Carey Camp, in the Wareham Forest, celebrated their 70th anniversary of camping this year.

Opened in 1947 Carey Camp gave children, mainly from Dorset schools, their first taste of camping and outdoor life. It is estimated that more than 150,000 children visited the centre, either as residential or day visitors.

The Dorset County Council run outdoor education centre asked people to send in their memories of the camp and the response was overwhelming with recollections of muddy walks, midnight feasts and lots of children getting into mischief.

One of the earliest reminiscences came from Mr T.J.Foot, who stayed at Carey in the late 1940s with Dorchester Boys School who said," I remember being escorted around the camp perimeter on the first day and told not to stray but of course we did. I remember the leaky white bell tents, the midnight feasts, the songs around the camp fire and the paste sandwiches and cocoa for supper."

Gina Wilcox visited from Broadstone Primary school in 1956 and remembers as an only child being very homesick during the first couple of days. She had a special memory of her first glimpse of glow worms when the teacher woke them in the night to show some in a matchbox. Other memories were of the toilets which were somewhere in the woods and very smelly.

Margaret Holloway, who stayed in 1957 with South Road Junior School, Poole, recalls,"Midweek, we had to build a large campfire and that evening our mums and dads, grandparents and friends could join us for singsong. To this day, whenever I hear the song, 'I am a Music Man', I think of Carey Camp."

Like many people, Mr P. Bridle of Poole, who stayed at Carey in the mid-1950s, remembers the pranks the children played on each other.

"Of course, girls and boys tents were well separated. After the girls changed for sport or PT they would leave their clothes neatly folded on their beds. We boys would raid the empty tents and mix up their clothes. I don't recall getting caught but that might explain the vast amount of potatoes we boys had to peel."

Many ex-campers remembered having to do lots of campsite chores, more than what the children have to do when they stay at the camp today. Mrs J Britton of Sea Mills Primary School, Bristol, stayed at Carey Camp twice in the 1950s.

"A large marque based on concrete was our dining hall and a group from each tent took turns to help butter bread, peel potatoes and lay the tables for each meal. We were expected to wash up our own plates and mugs," she said.

There were countless memories of campsite food, including rabbit stew, burgers and beans, and jacket potatoes.

Irene Best, whose mother was the cook at Carey from 1948, remembers helping as a kitchen assistant.

"The children who stayed at Carey would have porridge made with milk from the local farmer's cows along with bacon or eggs for breakfast. If they stayed on site for the day they would have a cooked lunch and favourite meals included steak and kidney pudding followed by jam tart and custard, or a milk pudding, again made from the local cows' milk."

Camp inspections were also a regular feature in people's memories. Lyn Plumpton, who visited on 1952 as a PE teacher with Shaftesbury County Modern School, said,

"Every morning the warden, a large, fierce looking man with a golden retriever, inspected every tent and a flag was posted outside of the best girls' and best boys' tent. He made sure that every tent got the flag at least once. The tents who gained the most flags during the week were each given a lolly on the Friday we left."

Kim Mason, who now works for the county council, confessed to much mischief when she stayed at Carey in the 1980s. She was 13, and a pupil at Puddletown Middle School.

"I have lots of fond memories of singing around the camp fire, the assault course, losing my new dentist braces down the drain, hiding the boys in our tents, and getting told off early one morning by a very strict lady for talking and giggling loudly in our tent. We had to jog around the camp in our PJs and wellies as a punishment."

A Carey trip in 1958 even inspired Gillingham County Primary School to write its own jovial camp song.

If you have any memories to share of the camp please contact Carey Outdoor Education Centre at careyoec@dorsetcc.gov.uk or call 01929 552265.