Over The Wall Camp's History
Creating mischief and magic since 1999
Creating the first US Camp – and ‘raising a little hell’
SeriousFun Children’s Network, founded by Paul Newman, actor, philanthropist, is a growing global community of independently managed and financed camps and programs serving children with serious illnesses and their families. The name “SeriousFun” captures Paul’s belief in the power of taking fun seriously and was an expression he liked and used. The name reflects both the “serious” components of impact and outcomes and the “fun” experience of camp.
Over The Wall Camp is a proud member of the SeriousFun Children’s Network.
In 1988, with the profits generated from Newman’s Own products, Paul decided to create a purpose-built residential activity camp, free to children with serious illness, based in Connecticut. He named it the ‘Hole in the Wall Gang Camp’- a title inspired by his film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Paul’s dream was to provide a place where children could escape the limitations of their illness and to “kick back and raise a little hell.”
The camp provided an accessible programme of fun, within a medically sound environment, that enabled the children to safely challenge the limitations of their illness. Camp was intended to be an accepting place, where campers could forget about illness and connect with other children facing similar challenges. This led to the launch of other camps in the US, then further afield. A global movement had developed, which later became known as the SeriousFun Children’s Network.
Over The Wall Camp is born
It was after the businessman Joe Woods, had arranged for children from the UK to be flown to The Hole in The Wall Gang in the US, that a friendship between himself and Paul Newman developed. In 1999, the two of them made the decision to set up a camp in the UK, that was later named Over The Wall Gang Camp.
When Over The Wall Camp first launched, it catered for 25 children with cancer. After that first camp, the charity went from strength to strength, providing camps for various illnesses across several different locations in the UK.
Since launching over 25 years ago, Over The Wall has provided magical camp experiences for more than 8,000 children and their families and now accommodates for over 130 different illnesses. The camps are spread across the UK in areas including Dorset, Staffordshire, Perth in Scotland.
Over The Wall Camp continues to keep Paul Newman’s dream alive in the UK, by providing a safe environment where children with illness can thrive and ‘raise hell’, in a world of mischief, magic and new possibilities.
Over The Wall Camp's Future Home
In 2024, Over The Wall Camp was excited to announce that they signed a minimum 40-year lease for the former Ockbrook School, near Derby, which will become the new headquarters and future base for their award-winning residential and other programmes.
When Over The Wall Camp was founded, they did not have their own site. Rather, the delivery model was akin to a ‘travelling circus,’ relying upon finding appropriate premises, such as private boarding schools and activity centres throughout the UK and renting them for short periods to run programmes.
As the charity grew, this mode of delivery became increasingly more limiting because the type of premises needed in terms of amenities, activity provision, location, size, and availability were always in short supply, and the use always involved a compromise relative to the quite specialised requirements, such as disabled access and clinical care facilities. There are also significant inefficiencies with the travelling, set-up and closing of multiple venues. Owing to these factors, Over The Wall Camp effectively reached its growth ceiling of around 1,000 beneficiaries in 2019, but recognised some years beforehand that we would be forever constrained unless they found their own site.
