Keeping our own children amused on wet days can be a problem, but who feels up to taking on a hundred of them?

After A-levels, Ashtead resident Peter Cruddas enlisted as a counsellor at an American camp run by the Salvation Army. The campers were a lively group from inner city areas. Most of them had never been to the countryside before. Peter was kept very busy with boating, sports, re-enactment of Biblical scenes - walking on the water proved tricky - and energetically keeping the peace. "You had to count them every 20 seconds," he recalls.

When thunderstorms struck, the whole camp would retreat indoors, where he found himself drawing on hitherto undiscovered talents as an entertainer and vocalist. "I learnt a lot," smiles Peter, "but most of all about working with others, and relying on God."