National Camps Corporation facts for kids

The National Camps Corporation was a special group in Britain, funded by the government. It was set up in 1939 by a law called the Camps Act 1939. Its main job was to build and manage camps in the countryside. These camps were meant to be places where children could go for educational trips and holidays.

Why the Camps Were Built

In 1939, as a war was getting ready to start, a new law called the Camps Act was passed. This law allowed the government to pay for building camps. The idea was that these camps would be used for fun and learning holidays for children during peacetime. But if war broke out, they would become safe places for children who had to leave their homes, known as evacuees.

This law led to the creation of the National Camps Corporation. Lord Portal was chosen to lead this new group. The corporation was given £1.2 million to start building the camps.

Building the Camps

The government hoped that the corporation would build 50 camps. However, only 31 camps were actually built in England and Wales, and another five in Scotland. Building stopped mainly because the war made everything much more expensive. Also, people realized that these camps weren't a perfect solution for housing all the children who needed to be evacuated.

Lord Portal and his team picked the camp locations from a list of 155 possible sites. Some of these sites were taken by the Royal Air Force before the corporation could decide. Each camp was designed in a similar way by an architect named Thomas Smith Tait. They were made up of huts built from Canadian cedarwood. Each camp was planned to hold about 350 children. On average, each camp cost around £25,000 to build.

Camps During and After the War

During the Second World War, these camps were used as schools for children who had been evacuated from cities. Local education authorities ran these schools. The first camp to be used this way was at Kennylands, near Reading.

Some changes were needed because the camps were first designed for short holiday visits, not for children to live in for a long time. Because of this, the camps could only house fewer than 9,000 evacuees across the whole country. Even so, in November 1940, the Minister of Health, Malcolm MacDonald, said the camps were "one of the most significant pieces of work that Parliament has lent its hand to in recent times."

In the years after the war, most of these camps were sold to local councils and education groups. They continued to be used as schools or for other educational purposes. One interesting example is Amber Valley Camp in Derbyshire. Derby School started using it in June 1940. For several years, children from Derby would stay there for a month at a time to enjoy the countryside. Most of the camp, including dormitories and classrooms, had to be taken down when the Severn Trent Water Authority flooded the valley to create Ogston Reservoir. One large building from the camp, which was the main dining room and common room, is still standing. It was built of cedarwood in 1940 and is now used by the Ogston Sailing Club.

List of National Camps Corporation Sites