WHEN I think back to my summer holidays I can vividly remember the awful feeling of utter boredom, writes Kate Hughes. It's raining, your mates are on holiday, and you keep getting under your mum's feet. All in all I couldn't wait to get back to school.

But now children in Bromsgrove are being saved from the doldrums with King's Sports Camps (KSC) at Bromsgrove School, on Worcester Road. KSC is a registered charity and is the UK's largest provider of multi-activity sports camps.

Around 120 children each week are playing volleyball, swimming, snorkelling, trampolining, basketball and cricket at the camps. And the leaders of the camp pride themselves on offering more than 20 different sports a week.

There is a theme to most days and on the day I visited it was 'pirates'. Children and staff came dressed in eye patches, with bandannas, parrots and drawn-on moustaches and I was greeted by the manager with an 'ahoy there!'

KSC has been running in Bromsgrove for six years and is managed by PE teacher Steve Beavan.

"Each year we get children coming back. We have six rookies with us this year who are too old to take the course but too young to work as leaders, and they come back anyway because they love it so much."

He added: "One of our helpers is actually someone I taught when he was little!"

Most of the group leaders are students who are studying sport at university, and who have experience of working with children.

The age groups would be four to 13-years-old but the average age is about 10.

Some outside coaches come in to teach life saving certificates to the older children. Snorkelling and canoeing is also taught in the swimming pool on site.

The course costs £73 a week but some children from deprived backgrounds are given places for free, although the group leaders are never told which children they are. Children arrive at 10am and stay until 4pm, although there is the option of coming earlier and staying later if parents are unable to drop off or pick up their children.

For more information call 0845 141 0800.