Rob Walker: On The Subject of Summer Camp

Rob Walker is an artist, artisan and educator based in Marsden, West Yorkshire.

You may know his work via his commissions in Hawarden and Glen Dye, or perhaps you've met Rob at Camp Good Life or Summer Camp, either at one of his encapsulating, joyous workshops or having bumped into him on the dance floor, his preferred after hours haunt.

Rob is that rare thing, a true master of his craft, but also a man who is unrelenting in his love for sharing a lifetime of knowledge with both adults and children alike. His passion is infectious.

Over the past few years Rob has become a mainstay on our Summer Camp line-up, overseeing the creation of communal murals which will live a lifetime in The Walled Garden as a testament to the community that created them.

In the midst of Summer Camp 2023, between Weekends #3 and #4, Rob wrote something special about the people and place at the heart of it all.

Settle in and read it for yourself below…

ON THE SUBJECT OF SUMMER CAMP

by Robert Walker

Each year I’ve been lucky enough to work at Summer Camp for The Good Life Society, and each year it’s hard to put into words how overwhelmingly powerful these weekends are.

As one approaches the gates to the castle [in North Wales], one is immediately greeted by the TEAM, identifiable by the screen printed individual jackets worn by the members of staff.

The TEAM are quick to make you feel at home and provide carts/trolleys to the campers to help wheel their belongings into The Walled Garden.

The TEAM will guide you up a pebbled pathway through tall Redwoods and ancient native trees towards a C17th red-bricked wall with a black gated doorway that is open for you to enter.

Bell tents and flags can be seen through the arched doorway that teases the eye of what joys are on the other side.

I actually feel emotional writing this, because what’s on the other side of that wall are many things: a sauna, a log-fired hot tub, workshops, fine food etc.

But what the eye doesn’t yet see on the first day are the friendships, laughter and tears that will stay with you for a very long time.

Time truly does stand still, almost as though the earth has stopped spinning.

Hours feel likes days, days feel like weeks and, by the end of the weekend, each person feels like they have been to the most incredible wellbeing camp that anyone can find.

And of course, they have.

Chefs with the highest of reputations not only cook for you, over a log fire and in close proximity to all of the campers, but also eat with you, chat with you and again, become part of your stories.

Craftspeople teach those who want to learn new skills, experts in bushcraft and plant identification roam the estate, and those who are happy to ‘chill’ can swim in the lake or gaze at the trees.

Each year I return to Summer Camp in Hawarden and genuinely pinch myself.

I walk into The Walled Garden to be greeted by my own work [GROW] on the C17th garden wall, surrounded by Xanthe’s vegetable garden and the beautiful victorian greenhouse.

I arrive on the Friday morning before all of the campers and set up for a month long mural painting workshop. A workshop that very quickly brings me close to people and their stories.

"So, how did you get into sign writing?" they often ask.

Before you know it, we are deep into story telling that is honest, sometimes raw and always fulfilling.

Charlie and Caroline have been instrumental in the growth of my studio output but most of all of the craftsman I have become.

GROW was a pivotal commission in my career and still to this day [four years later] is the most photographed piece in my portfolio.

Both Charlie and Caroline Gladstone believed in me, could see the value of my craft and aimed to commission me when the studio was in its infancy.

A commission I will always hold dear to my heart.

I can’t thank enough each and every person I come into contact with in Hawarden.

You give so much and I’m very, very grateful.

Rob x