About Us
The Boys' Brigade West Midland District Camping Centre is a self-catering residential facility where groups can stay using our canvas and/or dormitory accommodation and enjoy our extensive outdoor space for their sports, games and other activities.
Its sites offer young people and their leaders the opportunity of a traditional camping experience during our main camping season, typically from May through to late September each year.
Although Boys' Brigade owned, we welcome non-brigade groups, such as other youth organisations, schools, Duke of Edinburgh Award groups and church families.
Our group of experienced, extremely committed and dedicated volunteers, including young people themselves, are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the centre’s facilities. The volunteering that our young people offer, can help them with developing new skills and offers opportunities for them to work towards awards and recognition in their respective organisations.
The centre is managed by a committee, overseen and supported by a group of trustees. The management committee and trustees meet throughout the year to plan and agree the ongoing work of the centre. In recent years it has successfully raised funds to build, equip and implement the fantastic new ‘Owen Centre’ - the kitchen, shower and toilet facilities that serve its two sub-camps - and is currently in the multi-phase process of upgrading the toilet and shower block of its main site.
The land and buildings were originally gifted to the Boys' Brigade West Midland District in 1957 by the Rubery Owen Group, a major industrial and manufacturing company then-based in Darlaston in the West Midlands. The Chairman and Joint Managing Director of the Rubery Owen Group was Sir Alfred Owen, who was also the Boys' Brigade West Midland District President from 1949 to 1974. We are most grateful to the Owen family, who remain key supporters of the centre and its work to this day.