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The Wimpy Weekender – July 2020

Now, I’ve had the time of my life, and I owe it all to yooooouuuu….

As many of you will know, this was my third time organising my Wimpy Weekender camps.  The first one was back in May last year, it was a roaring success despite a few (behind the scenes) teething issues.  The second was in August at Keysoe and this one ran much less stressfully despite be being 5 months pregnant and having the worst tooth infection of my life!! 2020, I had banked on holding 5 more, up and down the UK but thanks to Covid-19, we kicked off with our first (of two this year) by heading back to Keysoe this weekend. 

Touch and Go…

It really was to the wire. I had a lot of cash tied up in the venue, the clothing, the planning and the commitment to my trainers and campers. I feel as though I have aged drastically because of the stress, worry and extra planning it took to comply with the event guidelines and keep this camp running. 

But thankfully, the restrictions were lifted just in time. 

The Stats

I wont bore you with all the intricate goings on behind the scenes, but in a nutshell; I take up to 35 mounted attendees plus their horses.  They each get session choices of dressage, polework, showjumping and cross country in small groups (grouped by suitability to a level they are comfortable at and age/experience of horse). Along side this I take up to 15 unmounted campers, minus a horse, who receive a one on one physio session and body alignment class as well as a confidence coaching session. 

All of the attendees can take part in pilates, they can choose to attend demos and talks and play games, team competitions and fancy dress! If you want to be flat out busy for 2 and a half days you can, if you don’t, you can chill with a beer and watch your mates do it all! Each camper also receives a bumper goody bag and this time we were sure to include things like a branded face mask – appropriate to the situation! 

The low down

Having been to the venue before, it was an absolute joy knowing where everything was! Carrot and I arrived at midday on Friday to unload 70 bales of hay and the same in shavings for our guests, set up our little camp hub and cover my trailer with schedules for the weekend! Having already packed the goodie bags in advance (THIS WAS A JOY!), all that was left to do was greet my amazing campers as they started arriving! 

Roll up, Roll up…

I will never forget a single one of my ladies as long as I live! I still remember all of them from each camp, that’s taking my new WWBFFs (Wimpy Weekender Best Friends Forever) count to around 150! The Boozy Glampers arrived first; 4 awesome unmounted ladies that had me drinking and laughing right from the off and by 6pm we had settled 30 horses and parked 47 tents, trailers, horseboxes and caravans in a big circle ready for the camp to begin.

Wimpety Wimp

My husband, the genius, arranges the evening entertainment (with very little help from me I have to say!) and this year he really outdid himself.  After a few tipsy brainstorming sessions at home, we devised games of ‘Higher or Lower’, Wimpety Wimp (Think Blankety Blank but much more sh*t) and Wimpy Bingo, where he read out my first BE100 event report and you had to mark off words such as ‘B*stard’ and ‘Death’ on your bingo card! 

This breaks the ice, gets people chatting and drinking and means Vic is free to get totally trollied… whoops! I’m blaming you and your shots… CAROLINE!!! 

This preceded a fairly early night ready for a big day of activities on Saturday! 

No, you’re hung over!

Saturday, was AMAZING! After a big cooked breakfast, I saw so many ladies flying their wimpy flags and sticking a middle finger up to their fears that I could well up just thinking about it.  I spent most of my morning out on the XC until I stole a pony for our Visualise body alignment demo at 11.30.  Massive big thanks to Laurel for lending me her gorgeous boy, I was very happy to be sitting on the first of two amazing steeds this weekend. 

We were also joined by Dengie and their weighbridge again which is always an absolute pleasure to have at camp.

All day there were tales of joy, tears of relief and so much laughter.  Kerry Law from Maverick Equestrian Services joined us for a talk and demo all about sheath cleaning and her services and how to tend to your pony penis (ha ha ha ha ha!!!) I laughed far more than I should have throughout! But it was very amusing and I cant actually wait to be up to my elbows in smegma (LOL) trialing out my new skills on Pat! 

The Wimp Olympics

I’m laughing to myself right now just thinking how I go about explaining this night! I honestly don’t think I can. The fancy dress was INCREDIBLE. The games were HILARIOUS! The team spirit was out in FORCE and I haven’t had face ache from laughing so hard in such a long time. 

Things that stick out – 

  • ‘Nanny’ Dee’s Dressage test and dry heaving!
  • How long did it actually take Lynsey to put that bloody bridle back together (and it was still wrong!!)?!
  • Fencing Barbie
  • Andy Murray doing BE97
  • Throwing sponges in the dark
  • The Jamaican bobsleigh team
  • Defacing Emma’s plastered leg (we had our first broken bone of WW history)

There were SO many highlights and more keep popping back into my head the more I think about it, but most importantly, how very few people were on their phones the entire time. It was SO INCREDIBLE to be just in the moment with so many amazing new friends. 

The Final Day

Another day of activities and my goodness did they all work hard! I stole another pony for a training demo on Sunday and this time it was big thanks to Hannah for lending me her gorgeous boy… my pelvis still hurts! 

We were joined today by the amazing Camilla of Premier Perfomance who sat down with a group of us and talked us through all things supplements and feeding. And I actually had time to spend chatting with my ladies, having lunch, laughing and crying over our shared stories. 

I will never take for granted how incredible all of you are and I feel very lucky to be the one bringing you together in this weird and wonderful way. 

So long, Farewell…

Now, I thought my previous farewell meetings were full of tears (mostly mine) because I have always been pregnant… turns out not! I cried a lot AGAIN, handing out special awards and saying big thank yous, most of which I forgot (Sorry!), so I’ll try and do it now. 

Without my 4 amazing friends and trainers, I would never be able to do this. So, to Liz, Jo, Jess and Tasha, thank you.  You guys hold my hand, keep me sane and help me so much to keep the faith when I don’t think things are possible. 

To Danielle Burns, the photographer that isn’t just awesome behind a camera. She got stuck in and turns out, she’s also great behind a gin glass too 😉 

To my sponsors, KBIS for providing goodies for the bags, to Dengie for being awesome every time with goodies and attendance, to Premier Performance and Kerry Law for coming along with your super lessons.  To Voltaire Design who would have been on call at the drop of a hat had things not got so blindingly hectic. 

To my amazing husband who gives so much of himself to these camps too.  It’s not easy being the only fella amongst 50 women 😉 he’s just awesome and I’m very lucky.

To my sister for taking such good care of George for us.

To Auntie Smurph and Pirate Dan for looking after Pat and Pea and doing ALL of my poo picking!!! 

And most importantly, to my campers, my new friends, my reason for carrying on with all of this.  Thank you for trusting me, for investing in me and truly changing my life. I hope I have changed yours now too. Please don’t ever stop being who you are.  

 

There is one more camp this year, it’s a very special one and if you would like to come and join us you can by clicking this link HERE.

Thank you so much for reading xxx

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