Today (22nd July)  Centauri Summer Arts Camp was transported, by a group of evil scientists, to the far corners of the Galaxy. Why? At first we had no idea.

Our adventures began when the TARDIS landed outside the dining hall during lunch, and the Doctor charged in, chased by a bizarre and nasty-looking pre-historic creature. Campers raced around the dining hall helping him construct a mixture that temporarily banished the dangerous being and then, leaping onto the table, he asked us all: where are we? Earth? Were we absolutely sure??? Within minutes we were charging all over camp, looking for signs that eventually proved we were no longer in camp at all, but in a replica Centauri build as a lab on a distant planet. The signs that the replica Centauri was incomplete were to be found everywhere: a bike upside down, the SPOO award hanging from a tree – even a bed, outside, on the field. The problem was, when we reconvened to swap notes… two dorms were missing.

As the day progressed, B4 and G9 were found to have been captured by the evil scientists. The entire camp discovered a top secret lab and then crept through it, where we watched the captured campers being transformed to pre-historics, their creative energy sucked out of them for… what purpose? We overheard two words, in the lab, that sent shivers down our spines… Weeping Angels.

In the late afternoon, the campers managed to make a video that sent a distress signal to all corners of the galaxy. The problem was, it was likely all of us would be captured be the scientists and transformed before help reached us. That’s when the Doctor came up with a plan: each dorm would come to dinner dressed as a different alien race. The scientists and our transformed camper-friends would be fooled into thinking we had reinforcements, and so, they wouldn’t attack us. Dinner was incredibly colourful, with races turning up from all corners of the galaxy (and every series of Dr Who!). But at the end of dinner (after we’d all sampled the Earthling dessert, ice cream), the scientists played a threatening video message in which they warned us we should prepare to be captured. And  that was when the Doctor decided it was time to fight back.

At 7pm, 120 of us gathered together and raided The Burrows, which was now the headquarters of the two scientists. Then had rigged up a mind control machine, and captured a member of the senior staff. While some dorms stormed The Burrows, others had the job of capturing and herding together the transformed members of B4 and G9. It seemed like chaos, with campers racing all over the field, rounding up pre-historics. Finally, the ‘battle’ was over and all our friends rescued… but the scientists had escaped.

For the grand finale, we met in the Odyssey Theatre for a show-down between the scientists and the Doctor… and that’s when the real challenge took place. The scientists were working for the Weeping Angels, and when the power inexplicably failed, the Weeping Angels turned up. There were gasps of excitement from campers when the lights came on to reveal three frozen Weeping Angels suspended halfway across the stage. Then, the lights went out again. When power was restored the Weeping Angels were hovering over the Doctor.

In the end, it was the positive energy of Centauri that defeated our terrifying foe. One last time the lights went out and to our intense relief, when power was restored, the Angels were gone.

Today was a thrilling and memorable Festival Day. Once clean-up was over, everyone relaxed together in the Quad and we were faced with a spectacular end to our day: a gorgeous Centauri sunset in waves of lilac, mauve and purple, washing across the sky.

For more photos, please check out
https://www.centauriartscamp.com/media/Galleries/2013/index.htm

Julie Hartley
Director
Centauri Summer Arts Camp
www.centauriartscamp.com