The camps were influential in the British post-war evangelical resurgence, with attendees including theologian John Stott, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, bishops David Sheppard, Timothy Dudley-Smith and Maurice Wood and Alpha course founder Nicky Gumbel.

From 1932 until 2000 the holidays were nominally run under the auspices of Scripture Union, but in practice ran independently, with funding from the Iwerne Trust.

In February 2025, a Channel 4 investigation reported allegations of sexual assault and harassment of girls and women by David Fletcher, leader of Iwerne and Titus Trust trustee.

"[1]: 69  The talks, morning and evening, were described by one attendee as "a wonderfully clear, biblically faithful and winsome presentation of the Christian gospel of salvation.

"[2] Nash considered American evangelist R. A. Torrey (1856-1928) to be his theological mentor,[3] and valued the Keswick Convention, encouraging his leaders to attend.

[11] After the outbreak of the Second World War, due to the proximity of their Eastbourne location to Battle of Britain flight paths, the holidays moved to Clayesmore School in the village of Iwerne Minster, Dorset, which would give the camps their name and remain their home for over 60 years.

"[9] Unobtrusive, yet highly strategic, the enterprise involved simple Bible teaching accompanied by personal friendship and pastoral care.

[14]: 18 [15][16] Randle Manwaring (in a book later criticised as offering "more partisan pieties than it does historical analysis"[17]) wrote: The keynotes of Iwerne were always very simple bible teaching and pastoral care through strongly developed friendships at all levels.

[18] Although he was an Anglican visiting Church of England institutions, his message was not necessarily welcome,[19]: 14  as many parents would not have been open to their children embracing Evangelical religion.

[19]: 15  His approach was shaped by methods common to Evangelical circles in North America, including an expectation of definite decisions for Christ, inquiries into people's spiritual state, a "lack of interest in social issues" and "a large dose of self-denying otherworldliness.

[19]: 16  Nash emphasised the need for a personal encounter with Jesus, and this "upset one of the ruling assumptions of places like Rugby - that Christianity was the cultural birthright of any Englishman baptised and confirmed in the Church of England.

In fact, so frequent were his admonitions at one period, that whenever I saw his familiar writing on an envelope, I needed to pray and prepare myself for half an hour before I felt ready to open it.

However, by time of David Fletcher's leadership, the holidays were in practice run as an independent operation, with no meaningful oversight from Scripture Union.

The report found Smyth targeted pupils from leading public schools and took them to his home near Winchester in Hampshire, where he carried out lashings with a garden cane in his shed.

[30][31] Smyth fled the United Kingdom in 1984 and moved to Zimbabwe where, in 1986, he set up summer camps for boys from the country's leading schools.

[8] Revd Paul Bolton was overall leader of the holidays in their final years, as a Titus Trust employee from 2001-21, after which he left to become a curate at St Ebbe's Church, Oxford.

[39] In 2018 there were calls for an independent inquiry into both the abuse, and the culture of the Trust that enabled John Smyth to evade justice despite awareness amongst so many trustees, associated clergy and senior figures within the Church of England.

It continues to run holidays under other brands (Lymington Rushmore, Gloddaeth and LDN), some of which originally descended from the Iwerne camps.

[46] David Fletcher remembers "Bash was told that his work would never succeed because it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but Jesus went on to say that with God all things are possible.

[49]: 56–57 Bishop David Sheppard remarked that Nash could be "single-minded to the point of ruthlessness" and "courageous in challenging people about their actions or priorities," but that this could become "over-direction"; some even needed to make a complete break in order to be free of his influence.

[22]: 23 Even if some cast doubt on his "rigid focus" and his hope for a national "trickle-down effect"[2] in 2005 John Stott, his most famous protégé, was ranked among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

"[47] Rob Warner says: "Alpha can therefore be summed up as Bash camp rationalistic conservatism combined with Wimberist charismatic expressivism... this is a highly unusual, even paradoxical hybrid.