The retreat planning started back in May 2022 in preparation for our first camp together since Covid, hence came our theme- “Stronger Together”. The team from Bendigo wanted to have a camp that made each of us stronger for being in each other’s presence. And it certainly was from the trek to the camp through some flooding, some very low cloud cover, phones going flat and waiting for help to find the way, each one of us was made stronger together for being at the camp.
Vere Entwistle was our guest minister for the retreat, Vera shared her life story, the ups and downs of how Camp Quality came into being. Her resilience shone through the rough times presented to her. We are still receiving little messages from Vera inspiring us to “Share the Light”.
Prior to camp starting it has been our practice for quite a few years now where we meet at the 7 Creeks Hotel in Euroa and enjoy our first meal together. Graeme Gidney and Des Woodward then spoilt us with great meals for the weekend. Thanks Guy’s – the camp wouldn’t work without a cook and dish washer!
Each lady was presented with a Jar of bath salts with our theme “Stronger Together printed on the jar, we each shared something about ourselves and tipped the salts back into a bowl which was then stirred by each of us, giving our strength to everyone there. At the last service after another sharing time each lady was given those salts previously stirred back into another Jar to take home and reflect back on the weekend while enjoying a hot bath.
Ladies were involved in craft by decorating bags with material, making macrame Christmas trees, sticky dot pictures and colouring pages. Saturday’s dinner we came dressed in clothes that depicted someone that inspired us with their strength with costumes ranging from Mother Teresa to Doctors, Nurses and even fellow family members. We all were involved in the fun and games activities that we worked together in teams to achieve a winner for the night. We finished the Saturday night with a meditation together before supper and falling into beds for a great sleep.
Sunday Morning arrived and we had a fundraising breakfast where each lady wore a Beanie to breakfast and donations of $200 were collected to forward onto Beanies For Brain Cancer.
Alas, its time to leave, hope to see you next year, come again and enjoy the blessings of retreats!
Dianne Kent
