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The last 10 days in pictures

Today we come to the end of ICC UK 2019. It has been an incredible 10 days made special by all the people brought together to take part. Please enjoy the camp photo gallery below which is full of happy memories!

At work and leisure over the ICC Weekend

We have all been left a little tanned and maybe much tired after the excursion day adventures in Wales on Friday, while for many the weekend means having been away from home on their ICC adventure for a week! And so things took a slower, relaxing, but just as fun a pace over the weekend.

Saturday was ICC’s first ever Media Day, with a focus and flexibility on unleashing participants’ creative spurs to produce content for our camp newspaper and podcast. Some took to the computer rooms to avidly type, while others produced audio content or based their writing from recorded interviews produced around the RNC campus.

On Saturday evening and again on Sunday morning, many participants and their national team staff took chance to explore the town of Hereford together. To name but some – the UK group introduced our Dutch and Croatian friends to the fine tradition of a British pub; while a UK, Hungarian and Japanese contingent walked the historic streets, and were joined by Czech participants on Sunday morning to the Cathedral Green and a Sunday morning service, followed by another fine British tradition, tea and scones!

Back on the RNC campus, a late brunch was served for those wishing to catch up on precious sleep, before everyone rejoined in the afternoon for workshops to recommence.

Batteries were well recharged by evening, as our most avid and competitive sporting leisure time activities took place. Team GB scored 15 in the football game, but was overcome by Germany and Slovenia’s combined strength hitting the net 16 times! Meanwhile the Queen’s Lawn was busy with more people enjoying a cricket session or first time ever taster of the sport. Indoors, UK volunteer and Goalball coach Graham Stearn was joined by one of our participants and a budding coach himself. Together they coached an enthused session and Goalball match. We saw skilful experienced and talented new players, from the UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Belgium and Austria.

The weekend truly left us all enriched and refreshed.

Pictures from the weekend

Canoeing, Climbing and Rafting – across the Welsh border on ICC Excursion Day

A great tradition of ICC is our excursion day. We crossed the border from Herefordshire and England into Wales, arriving at an activity centre and cafe on grassy river banks near the historic town of Brecon, within the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Thankfully for many, the record-breaking British temperatures of recent days cooled off – but there was still plenty of sunshine as national groups took part over the morning and afternoon in our fun, active, team-building activities, of canoeing, climbing, and raft building.

In the afternoon those who wanted a little less physical exertion, and a little more culture, were only a short river path walk away from taking some time to explore the town of Brecon.

Group photo on the grass in front of the river bank – participants, volunteers and staff from all nations, many waring VICTA Children t-shirts

Everyone returned to camp, cheery, perhaps a little tired, to enjoy the tradition of a British barbecue on the terrace. For many, this was followed by a sociable drink at RNC’s on-site bar, maybe enjoying some conversation outside in the cool clear evening, or in the warmth and comfort of our accommodation block lounges.

The day ended with everyone having seen a little more of the UK, learning about their own abilities, and about each other from all across of Europe and beyond!

Photos from Friday

From origami to Italian cooking

And so on Thursday, ICC’s programme of exciting and varied workshops continued. The multi-national nature of the camp opens up so many unique opportunities as each attending country offers a workshop of its choice.

Thursday’s workshops were a perfect demonstration of this with ‘Learning to Cook Italian Style’, ‘Japanese Studies – Learning Japanese Calligraphy and Origami’, ‘Music Editing’ and ‘Working with Fossils’ all on the timetable menu!

Friday is excursion day so watch this space for updates from the activities taking place in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales.

Photos from Thursday

First full day of workshops at ICC UK

Another bright sunny morning on Wednesday got us off to a brilliant start for our first full day of workshops. It also saw the launch of the ICC Newspaper team! They were hot off the press learning all about creating, writing and publishing an engaging paper. We certainly can’t wait to read it.

We were also delighted to welcome a team from Microsoft who have taken the unique opportunity to meet young adults from across Europe (and never forgetting our friends from Japan) to engage and share with them some of their new up-coming technology.

Outdoor activities were once again popular on what was a beautiful summers evening! Here are a few photos from some of the day’s events.

First day a great success!

Tuesday was our first full day of camp with everyone up bright and early and ready to go, including Poland who arrived at 2.30am!

Our day began with an enthusiastic welcome meeting from Andrea, the ICC team and Luke from the UK VICTA team. Clearer on what lay ahead we set out in groups to become better orientated with the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) campus. Everyone was very impressed by the facilities the college has to offer and if possible, were now even more keen to get started.

After lunch we set off for our first workshops of the camp which included Studying Abroad, Effective Browser Searching and Employability Skills, to name just a few! It was a busy afternoon with lots of learning and skills shared.

We have so far been blessed with a fine British Summer time, with temperatures peaking at over 30°C yesterday. This made our evening activities all the more enjoyable, especially a very typically English game of cricket which took place on the green! It has also been lovely to be able to enjoy mealtimes and social times outside on the terrace.

Here are a few photos for you to enjoy from Tuesdays activities!

Today is the today!

The VICTA team at the welcome desk

After months of planning, arrival day is here and we are ready to greet everyone at RNC Hereford UK. We are looking forward to a fantastic 10 days ahead.

Wishing everyone safe journeys and don’t forget to watch out for our welcome teams at Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International train station, who will be waiting to point you in the right direction. They will be wearing their white VICTA t-shirts with our rainbow logo on.

When you arrive at RNC head to the main entrance at the Learning Hub and we will show you to your rooms.

Learning hub and main reception entrance

Let the International Camp on Communication and Computers 2019 commence!

#ICCUK2019

Tom and Tim from RNC
Goody bags ready for collection