Review of our services, including Youth Camp

Written by Sam Wilson, January 28, 2025

We’re sorry to tell you that we will not be holding Youth Camp this year due to rising costs and a falling number of funding options.

Youth Camp 2025 will be paused while we carry out research to understand the full impact, value and reach of all our events. We’re confident this analysis will help us secure funding for the future and ensure that our events continue to offer the support you need.

We understand how much our younger members look forward to Youth Camp and we hope it, or a similar event, will be back in 2026.

The current financial climate is difficult for many of us. The Haemophilia Society has felt the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which followed a big drop in donations during the pandemic. Our priority is to find new ways of generating revenue and we will continue to lobby the government to fund our advocacy work, which was recommended by the Infected Blood Inquiry.

We must run our charity in a sustainable way to guarantee we’ll be here to provide support for future generations of people with a bleeding disorder. Taking time out to ensure our events and services remain relevant, inclusive, accessible and supportive of our community is, we believe, a responsible way forward.

The rising cost of venue hire is a major reason behind the decision to review our events. We’ve seen a significant hike in charges since the pandemic, and they continue to increase. Last year each place at Youth Camp cost £560 a child. In the past we have been fortunate to have a range of potential sponsors for this event, but it is getting harder to find enough funding sources to cover all the costs involved.

We’ve also had to cancel a proposed new ‘Inbetweeners’ event for older teenagers with a bleeding disorder which had been scheduled for August 2025, due to funding challenges. We can confirm that our annual conference, the Big Get-Together, will take place on Saturday, 22 November. Full details, including location, coming soon.

If you want to give your views about the impact of our events, please email [email protected] to register your interest and we will contact you in due course.