Camp Bowen

Hello, Everyone,

This is to let you all know that due to insufficient number of registrations, The Camp Bowen Society for the Visually Impaired is having to cancel the retreat that was scheduled for August 21-25 at the Lodge at the Old Dorm. We sincerely regret this decision and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone.

We understand that for many of you the fact that camp wasn’t at the usual spot may have influenced your decision not to register. Our hope is to plan the 2018 retreat at the familiar and well-loved Bowen island Lodge, provided that adequate safety measures that had been compromised on the property can be put in place once more. We are continuing to work on resolving this issue by every avenue available to us and will keep everyone posted on our progress.

For up to date information, please visit www.campbowen.ca or call us at +1 (604) 947-0021 or +1 (844) MYBOWEN (692-6936).

Regards,

The Camp Bowen team

Please note: We are working hard to resolve the outstanding issues with the Bowen Island Lodge.

The Camp Bowen Society for the Visually Impaired regrets that due to safety work that will not be completed at Bowen Island Lodge in time for our retreat this summer, we have had to book an alternate venue on Bowen Island: The Lodge at the Old Dorm. This is a one year stopgap measure and we will be back at the Bowen Island Lodge next summer.

“Purpose built in 1941 by the Union SteamShip Company aka USSC to provide thirteen rooms for staff residences; it was a key part of the old resort. Purchased 25 years ago, and extensively renovated, thanks to Dan’s “hands-on” attention to detail, today, The Lodge at the Old Dorm delivers that old world feel with today’s charm.” (From the website of The Lodge at the Old Dorm)

The dates the Lodge at the Old Dorm has available are August 21-25 – Monday to Friday. We have already booked these dates. This facility is smaller than Bowen island Lodge so has a more limited capacity so we encourage everyone to get their registration in as soon as possible.

Activities we will plan during the time include:

• Talent night
• sing-along
• Showdown
• Tandem biking
• Bus trip to a public beach for swimming
• Group walk to the village
• Group hike and/or nature walk
• A demo day with Canadian Assistive Technologies
• Basic and/or advanced sessions on assistive technologies
• Water taxi tour (would be a charge per person)
• Board games
• Basic and/or intermediate self-defence workshops

Note: The above activities will run if there is sufficient interest. Further, some activities will only run if our partners are available for these dates. We are working on this now.

The costs for camp this year have not changed from our previously advertized 2017 rates and include all meals at camp. We would also like to remind campers that there is $200 worth of available funding from the BC Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation for BC residents who receive Persons With Disability (PWD) benefits. The cost of accommodation and all meals will be $460 per person based on double occupancy for the four nights. Cost for single occupancy have gone down slightly and would be $710.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause you. We look forward to a number of you joining us. For those of you who can’t make it this year, we look forward to seeing you next year back at the Bowen Island Lodge.

Registration and Pricing

Please note: Camp prices are set by the Bowen Island Lodge with the exception of the amount for Monday’s supper and Thursday’s supper, which are paid by us directly to the Tuscany restaurant and Bowen Island Pub/General Store respectively. Neither the CCB nor the Camp Bowen Society for the Visually Impaired add any additional charges to camp fees. We are actively involved in negotiating for better rates on behalf of our campers.

Fill out this form to calculate your camp fees and/or begin the registration process.

Learn more…

Questions

If you have any further questions, please feel free to call us at +1 (844) MYBOWEN (692-6936) extension 2 or contact us by another method.

Hello, Everyone,

This is further to our email sent to a number of you on February 20 in which we announced the dates for our adult retreat from Monday July 31 to Friday August 4. While we will be negotiating for a weekend going forward, our success will be dependent on a good turnout this year.

We would like to let you know that presently we are having to review our options for a venue due to some safety work that needs to be carried out at the lodge and may not be completed before July 31, 2017, though we sincerely hope that it will. What we know at the moment is that camp will be held on Bowen Island.

The estimated fee for the 4-night stay with meals and accommodation will be $450. A $200 subsidy is available from the BC Ministry of Social Development and Social innovation for British Columbians who have a Persons with Disability designation.

For more information or to indicate your interest to register for camp, please call one of the Camp Bowen team at 604-947-0021; toll-free, 1-844-mybowen (692-6936) and press 2.

We will send a final notice with the registration link once the venue is finalized.

We look forward to welcoming many new and returning guests for a fun-filled and relaxing getaway this summer.

Sincerely,

The Camp Bowen team

Hello, Everyone,

Yes, after all the wintry weather we’ve had, The Camp Bowen Society for the Visually Impaired is now plotting our course toward times of warmer weather and planning our adult retreat for ages 19+ this summer at Bowen island Lodge. We have set the dates for the retreat to be from Monday July 31st through Friday August 4.

Once we have obtained the pricing package for the time, we will send out a further notice with more information.

I’m sure that those of you who attended the retreat in 2016 will agree it was a real success. We look forward to building on that success and hope to have an even larger group joining us this year.

So stay tuned as our plans move forward.

Warm regards,

The Camp Bowen Team

Our sing-along ended with “Good Night Irene”.

A discussion about eyes leads into us singing “The Corner Master’s Store”.

We sang another camp favourite, “Down By The Bay”. In true Camp Bowen style, we came up with verses for each camper.

And here is us coming up with more verses for “Down By The Bay”.

This is where the sing-along really got started. Some of the younger campers, led by Peg on guitar, introduced Adult Camp to the Camp Bowen Song, which was traditionally played at child and youth camps. Partway through, Danielle came out and joined us.

Here are more verses for the Camp Bowen Song, including a new one from Peg.

Liz, a nurse by profession, had another idea for the verse about the nurse.

Here is a video of some of us singing John Denver’s “Country Roads”.

And here’s part 2 of us singing “Country Roads”.

On Thursday night, we had a campfire and sing-along on the patio. Here’s a clip of a few of us singing James Taylor’s “Fire & Rain”.