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It’s hard to believe it’s come round so fast, but FCYC kicks off 4 weeks tomorrow! We can’t wait to welcome our campers to Kincraig, Renfrew and Oswestry – we hope you’re all as excited as we are! Our amazing Leaders and Cooks are currently working hard, planning and preparing the activities, games, menus, and bible talks for our camps. With only a month to go it is an extremely busy time for us and we value your continued prayers and support for the summer ahead.

We are looking for some volunteers to help put the final jigsaw pieces in place and get our campers safely to and from the camps. If you are available ANY Saturday in July, or on Thursday 6th or Friday 14th July, FCYC need drivers and chaperones travelling from Stornoway, Inverness, Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Please get in touch if you’re able to help or for more info.

FCYC had a blast last weekend bringing all our volunteers together for our annual FCYC Leaders’ & Cooks’ Day. Over 70 of us met at Smithton Church to plan and prepare for the summer ahead.

Chris Davidson, church planter in Merkinch, opened our day with a devotional to focus our minds on the purpose of FCYC. Calum ‘Honda’ Macmillan, Iain ‘Cheeks’ Morrison and Sheona Forbes then joined us to lead workshops on training topics related to the camps. There was also worship and prayer time, a team building challenge, and the chance to catch up with old friends over soup, sandwiches and bacon rolls. Huge thanks to Mairi, Kathleen and the catering team for such a tasty lunch!

FCYC are so grateful to God for our amazing volunteers and the immense hard work they put in each year to make the camps happen. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone that came along to Leaders’ & Cooks’ Day, and for making it such a great day!

This Saturday is FCYC’s annual Leaders’ and Cooks’ Day! Our wonderful volunteers will be travelling far and wide to come together in Inverness for our annual catch up, as we pray and prepare for the summer ahead.

We are incredibly blessed by the wealth of skills, experience and expertise amongst our FCYC volunteers. The aim of the day is to share and learn with one another in order to deliver the best summer camp programme we can. There will be worship time and prayer time. We will have 3 speakers with us running workshops on: leadership, preparing bible talks and engaging with our campers. There will also be plenty time to catch up with FCYC friends! We are excited to gather together, to worship God, and to focus our minds on Him as we prepare for FCYC 2023.

Donald Macleod, FCYC Supervisor, said: “We are very aware of the dependence we have on FCYC volunteer leaders and cooks and look forward to welcoming them on Saturday.  We are blessed by their enthusiasm for the work of the gospel through FCYC. The day will give those attending an opportunity to network, share ideas and experiences in preparation for camp this summer.  Please pray with us for God’s blessing on this special day.”

Invoices have been sent out for FCYC 2023. If you haven’t yet received your invoice or if you have any questions/queries please get in touch. Here’s a wee reminder on how to pay, and some dates and deadlines. Full details were in the accompanying email to the invoice.

Please remember to use your account number (for example, SMIT036) when making payment or contacting us so we can easily identify you.

Ways to pay:

• Pay online using the reference ‘Camps + your account number’ (for example, ‘Camps SMIT036’).

• Pay by cheque: Make cheques payable to Free Church of Scotland and post them to Free Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH1 2LS. Remembering to write your account number on the back.

Notes and dates:

• Invoices must be paid in full eight weeks before the start of camp.

• No refunds will be issued for camp places cancelled within four weeks of camp starting, except in emergency situations.

• No refunds will be issued for travel changes made after 30^th April, as costs will already have been incurred.

• No changes can be made to your travel arrangements within 2 weeks of the start date of camp.

• Camp fees are not eligible for gift aid.

Further information can be found on our FAQs page

Last weekend our FCYC Team Leaders got together to pray, plan and prepare for the summer ahead. We travelled far and wide to make it to sunny Dundee and had a lovely evening together on Friday night eating lots of pizza and catching up ahead of our day on Saturday!

Will Lind from St Peter’s church opened the day with a devotional from Philippians before leading our morning session. We split into discussion groups, we went through the upcoming dates and deadlines, ate lots of biscuits, and Emily Brown (the UCCF staff worked in St Andrews) joined us to lead our afternoon session.

It was great to have our Team Leaders together for the opportunity to share and learn from each other’s experiences. We are so thankful to Will and Emily for joining us, and for sharing practical advice to help make our camps the best they can be. Spending the day focusing on camps has made us all so excited for FCYC 2023 – the countdown is ON!

Now that our Team Leaders’ Day has passed, FCYC are looking ahead to our Leaders’ and Cooks’ day at the end of April where all our volunteers get together. It will be so much fun to have everyone together praying and preparing for camps. We can’t wait for FCYC 2023, can you?!

If you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for? There are still limited spaces available at Renfrew Kids and Oswestry Seniors 1.

Free Church Youth Camps are delighted to announce the appointment of Rev. Iain ‘Cheeks’ Morrison as FCYC Team Leaders Mentor. Iain’s work will support FCYC Team Leaders in their role to deliver high quality camps. Iain is an experienced FCYC Leader with a real passion for working with young people. He will be there to assist and support our team leaders in their preparation and planning for camp.   

Donald A Macleod, FCYC Camps Supervisor, said: “We are delighted to have Iain work alongside the camp leaders and are very appreciative of his commitment on taking on the Team Leaders Mentor role at a busy time for FCYC and Iain himself.”

Mairi Beaton, Camps Coordinator, said: “It is great to have Iain as part of the wider FCYC team. He will be able to share his many years of experience with our leaders and encourage them in this important work.”

Please pray for Iain in this role and all those he will be working with.

Allocations are out! Everyone who registered before Monday 30^th January should have received their allocations email by now. If you haven’t heard from us yet, please get in touch!

We are delighted to announce that due to high demand FCYC will now have 10 camps this summer. Having been inundated with registrations for Kincraig Kids 1 & 2, we’ve decided to add Kincraig Kids 3! Expect all the same nonsense, fun and games as you would at weeks 1 & 2, but this time with good friends Murdo Campbell and Hugh Ferrier at the helm.

Places at Kincraig Kids 3 have already been allocated but you can still register for this camp if you would like to be added to the waiting list.

We are so excited that we will now be running 10 camps this summer! Lots of our camps are already full but you can still register online to be added to the waiting list. There are currently still limited spaces available at:

Renfrew Kids, 8th – 15th July

Renfrew Juniors, 15th – 22nd July

Oswestry Seniors 1, 6th – 14th July

Spaces are now being allocated on a first come first served basis so register ASAP to avoid disappointment.

It’s already the middle of January which means allocation day is fast approaching! On Monday 30^th January we start allocating spaces to those registered for FCYC 2023.

We try to make the allocation process as fair and transparent as possible. Here’s a brief overview of how FCYC allocation works:

Everyone who registers before January 30^th will have an equal chance of getting onto their first choice of camp.

If a camp is oversubscribed then there will be a draw of the registration forms which have been submitted by the allocation date. Spaces are allocated according to this draw.

Any remaining registration forms are transferred to a waiting list for that camp. Anyone that doesn’t get a space on their first choice of camp will be offered, where possible, a space on their second choice of camp.

Any registrations received on or after allocation day will be treated on a first come first served basis. This means that if spaces are available at your choice of camp you will be allocated one. If a camp is full you will be added to a waiting list or, where possible, offered a space on your second choice of camp.

Please note that it can take a couple of weeks to finalise all the details so please be patient. You will hear back with confirmation of whether or not you’ve got a space by the middle of February.

If you’re still deciding what camp you want to go to, don’t worry, you’ve still got time! Take a look at all that we’ve got on offer here and remember to register before Monday 30^th January!

Can’t wait to go to camp next summer? Well get ready and get set because registration for FCYC 2023 opens at midday on Friday 9^th December!

We have nine amazing camps on offer for summer 2023 so get ready for a week full of fun, friends, faith and food.

Before registration opens, here’s a sneak peek at the dates so you can get planning:

• Junior Football: P6 – S2 (boys), Saturday 1^st – 8^th July
• Renfrew Kids: P5 – P7 (mixed), Saturday 8^th – Saturday 15^th July
• Renfrew Juniors: S1 – S3 (girls), Saturday 15^th – Saturday 22^nd July
• Oswestry Seniors 1: S4 – S6 (mixed), Thursday 6^th – Friday 14^th July
• Oswestry Seniors 2: S4 – S6 (mixed), Friday 14^th – Saturday 22^nd July
• Oswestry Juniors: S1 – S3 (mixed), Friday 14^th – Saturday 22^nd July
• Kincraig Juniors: S1 – S3 (mixed), Saturday 8^th – Saturday 15^th July
• Kincraig Kids 1: P5 – P7 (mixed), Saturday 15^th – Saturday 22^nd July
• Kincraig Kids 2: P5 – P7 (mixed), Saturday 22^nd – Saturday 29^th July

On Friday 9^th you’ll be able to see full details, including team leaders and cost, for each of our camps, and register for the camp you want to go to! Registration is open until the end of January so remember to register before Monday 30^th January.

30^th January is FCYC Allocation Day; this is when we start automatically allocating spaces at camp to those registered. Please note that registering for camp does not guarantee a space. If a camp is oversubscribed, names will be picked at random through an online generator. Registration forms that come in after 30th January are allocated on a first come first served basis if there’s still space.

Remember to check back here from Friday 9th December to register for FCYC 2023!