Bristol Children's Help Society enables children in Bristol, N Somerset and S Gloucestershire who are deprived emotionally and/or economically to experience rural life for a week. We work with schools, youth clubs and other groups to bring the most needy children to our children's centre on the edge of the Mendips where they have fun and play while learning. Among warm and caring people they enjoy a rejuvenating break away from the pressures of their difficult everyday lives.

Reduced anti social behaviour as a result of improved learning and social skills. The additional skills learned are taken through to the next stage of their education and eventually into the work community. This will also enable some of these children to break out from the vicious circles of unemployment, poverty, social deprivation and abuse.

A break at Barton Camp helps give these children the resilience to carry on and do better at school. Teachers who bring children to the camp say that progress during a week at Barton Camp is equivalent to six weeks in the classroom. The resilience children develop coupled with their improved learning, means they are better equiped as they move through life, to resist the pressures of alcohol and drugs abuse. It also helps them resist the peer pressure that too often leads to unwanted pregnancy