The holiday camp where the chips are always down

They have been lucky enough to obtain a place at Europe's only American-style fat camp here in Apperley Bridge.

For the next six-weeks their home will be the grounds of Woodhouse Grove School for a daily programme of re-education.

After dispelling their initial fears, they will find that life won't be too tough for them with the programme focusing on fun and games.

In six weeks the children, aged between 11 and 17, will be shown how to change their lifestyles.

The Carnegie International Camp opened four years ago and has been hailed as the most successful camp in the world.

Its director, Paul Gately, has a good reason to be smiling, his pioneering camp is the only one outside America and it has broken all records with its success rate.

This is one of his most favourite times of the year, he is so committed to the camp that he gives up his summer holidays to work with the children.

"It is absolutely fantastic," he said."It is so satisfying seeing how the children progress whilst they are here. We give children a positive experience of exercise and healthy eating, which they do not get from their normal home.

"We offer a range of exercises from tennis and football to canoeing and rock climbing, we find that if they have a good experience then they will carry on doing these activities at home.

"I find it very rewarding. I do not mind giving up my holidays for this. For me at the end of the day this will help them to live better.

"It is nice to see children that do not have many mates come here and go away with a lot more mates. The only downside is that the parents phone bills go up. They come here with their heads down and they leave with their heads held high and if we have contributed to that then it's great."

He decided to set up the camp after being involved with a research project in America evaluating the American programme and improving it.

Using his own unique approach he brought the scheme to Britain and through Leeds Metropolitan University he set one up.

The camp charges £2,000 per child for the whole six weeks and this year some of the places have been funded by the NHS.

But despite its success, the course suffers from lack of funding, due to a failure and ignorance in understanding obesity. "There is a clear demand for it, but not the support to fund it," he said.

"A percentage of places are paid for by the NHS, which is good but it is only a small amount of about 15 places.

"We received thousands of calls about the course and we forwarded many parents to their Primary Care Trust, but many failed to get funding. We have applied to the National Lottery for money, but we have been refused because many people do not recognise obesity as a disease."

Despite the cost, 85 per cent of the children return each year with at least 70 per cent of them still continuing to manage their weight effectively or losing more weight.

For 12-year-old Richard Girgis returning to camp this year was a proud moment.

Richard first attended the course last year and since leaving he joined a gym and changed his diet and this year he was looking forward to showing off his trimmer physique.

"After leaving last year I started going to the gym and I have lost weight and I have kept to eating three meals a day," said Richard.

"I take a packed lunch to school now instead of eating chips for lunch. I really wanted to come back this year and show off, I have lost a bit of weight but I would have liked to have lost more.

"All my family eat salads now and we have all changed the way we eat. The only thing is, they were all thin anyway and now they are thinner.

"I have made lots of new friends and I am using my time to have fun. It was good to come back because I recognise the staff and they are really friendly.

"When I first came last year I was nervous, I thought it would be six weeks of torture and they would starve me and I wouldn't make friends, but I really enjoyed it. I was scared because I didn't know what to expect. It is different now because I know I am going to have fun."

Children at the camp come from across the world from Britain, the Middle East, Italy and Scandinavia.

The average weight of children in the camp is 14 to 15 stones and they range from eight stones to 32 stones.

Paul said: "Anybody can lose weight but it is keeping it off. We teach them to cook and prepare meals, it is not all dietary things like salads, because you have to be realistic.

"When they go back to their normal environment they won't follow the changes, so we say they can have burger and chips and not feel guilty by fitting it into the programme.

"We educate the parents by holding a seminar and we give them literature on what they can do to change their children's lives.

"The primary aim for the children is to go home more able to participate in physical education. It will give them the confidence to get involved with groups at home.

"It is going really well this year, we are having a great summer. Both the children and the staff are enjoying it."

The children are treated to a wide variety of physical activities and are also given education lessons, which teach them about nutrition, life style changes and what will happen when they leave the camp.

Daytime Activities Co-ordinator Jamie French said: "We have developed a strong skills programme. "Some of the children were excluded from sport at their schools because they couldn't run around, but they might be good at other skills, such as shooting in basketball.

"If we notice someone's profile is good them we will contact their local government sporting body and arrange for them to join a local team."

The teaching is one teacher to four children to give them personal attention. Oliver Page is the youngest member on the camp, already he has waited a year until he was old enough to be accepted onto it.

His mum inquired about the camp following the television series Fat Club. He weighs 11 and a half stones, but would like to be a bit thinner.

This year is his first time at the camp - but he isn't nervous, he loves it.

"I wasn't at all worried," said the ten-year-old. "I want to lose a bit of weight and make myself look a bit thinner. I do a lot of sport at home from football to biking, but the camp will show me how to lose more weight and eat properly.

"The camp is really good fun, the time has flown by. We get up at 7.30am most days but on Tuesday I have to be up at 6am because it is testing day, where they weigh you. I am going to try my best and try to stop eating as much.

"I have made lots of friends here, even with the older boys who are okay."

After the course the staff keep in close contact with the children, phoning them, emailing them and sending them a monthly newsletter.

A camp directory enables all the children to stay in touch so they can continue encouraging each other when they leave.

Paul, a lecturer in nutrition, exercise and health, added: "We are hoping to set up a community based programme to help other children, there are three million obese children in the United Kingdom.

"By setting up local centres to help children it will be more effective. More children suffer from obesity than any other disease.

"We are the most successful camp in the world and we have scientific evidence to back it up. We will be presenting our research to the World Obesity Conference in Brazil in August."