Why I Started Kiddo Club

From the age of six to the age of 20, I spent two full months of every summer at a camp called Taylor Statten in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada.

When I think back on those summers, I remember being outside, surrounded by nature: the fresh air, the trees, the sun on my face. I remember laughing with friends I didn’t know would become lifelong. And I remember the quiet confidence that started to grow in me with every new activity I tried, whether it was making something with my hands, paddling across a lake, or just figuring out how to be myself in a group of new people.

Maybe I didn’t realise it then, but looking back now, I understand just how much those summers gave me as a person, a parent, a manager of people, and now, as the founder of Kiddo Club.

One of the reasons I started Kiddo Club is because I want children here in Horsham to have the same opportunities I was lucky enough to have as a camp kid. To feel free, joyful, and completely in their element during their time off school. To have that sense of adventure and possibility, where every day brings something new. To come home full of stories and paint on their hands, and then count down the days until next summer just to feel it all again.

Whilst Horsham doesn’t have the same wilderness as a Canadian national park, we do have green spaces, fresh air, and the opportunity to give children that same spark. The feeling that summer is theirs to explore.

To try something new.
To build confidence.
To make a friend they weren’t expecting.
To discover a hidden talent or fall in love with an activity they’ve never done before.

That’s what summer should be.
That’s what Kiddo Club is here to create.