"After watching ‘The Parent Trap’ when I was about 10 years old I thought it would be amazing to go to a camp like that. It continued to play on my mind and I would watch the film longing to go to summer camp. After a quick google when I was about 16 I discovered that Camp America existed and would be my way to camp. So, as soon as I was old enough I completed my application not realising that it was going to lead me to the best summer of my life.

Nearly 10 years on and there isn’t a day I don’t think about camp or camp comes up in conversation. After camp, I trained to be a primary school teacher; a job that I love and enjoy, but even more importantly camp is where I met my husband. It wasn’t love at first sight, but we got together two years later at a camp reunion in Australia. After a year of long distance Dundee – Leeds we moved together to Newcastle and in 2017, we got married surrounded by friends from camp, some of who had travelled from Australia and New Zealand to share our special day. November 2018 saw us welcome our beautiful ‘camp baby’ a gorgeous baby girl. So, it is safe to say if it wasn’t for camp I wouldn’t be making the memories I am today!

One camper I’ll never forget is a little boy called Alex who was only 6 when he spent a week in my village at camp. He was so cheeky and very mischievous but would apologise in the cutest voice with the biggest puppy dog eyes, he had us all wrapped round his little finger.

Camp friends are like family – they are people you had never met then suddenly you are living with them and know them better than many of your friends and family back home. They lived that amazing summer with you that know one else really understands – they get it!

I speak to camp friends regularly and have been lucky enough to watch many of them get married around the UK and in New Zealand. We were joined by friends from camp at our wedding and many of us are looking forward to reuniting in Australia next August.  It doesn’t matter how long between reunions it always picks up like we only left camp yesterday!

One thing I’ll say is - camp will be the best thing you’ll ever do!"