On Wednesday 30 April, a cohort of staff and service users from Blyth Star’s day services at The Steamboat paid a visit to Chillingham Castle – Britain’s most haunted historic castle.
Everyone had a fantastic time – the weather was great, the cakes in the tearoom were delicious and most importantly, no one got left behind in the dungeon with the ghosts!
What our services users thought
We asked our service users for their own personal feedback about the trip, and this is what they had to say:
“It was all good. I liked the ghost stories about the children!” – Susan
“I loved hearing about the ghosts that haunt the castle by one of the staff who work there.” – Sophie
“I like all the different antiques and my friend Sophie was scaring me in the dungeons.” – Saskia
“I enjoyed spending time in all the rooms and the gardens at the castle and being there with different people with me at Chillingham Castle itself and I liked putting money into the fountain at the end of the garden as well.” – Joseph
“Chillingham Castle was good. I loved the dungeon and walking all the way up the stairs to the top of the castle top.” – Hayley
“I liked the gift shop and the tea room. My favourite part was the lovely gardens.” – Anne
“I liked spending time away from the centre with all my friends. My favourite thing was the Great Hall but I also loved the gardens!” – Elliot
“I liked everything about the trip to Chillingham Castle! My favourite part was going up to the top of the castle and looking over the gardens.” – John
“I faced my fears and went into the dungeons. It wasn’t as scary as last time I went.” – Paige
“I loved the gardens, they were very pretty.” – Teri
The Northumberland Castles Project
The visit to Chillingham was the first in a series of trips which have been planned throughout the summer as part of a wider project to help our service users to learn more about our county’s historic past.
Launched back in January, the Northumberland Castles project has two key phases. Between January and March, we encouraged our service users to develop their skills in research, IT and design as they worked towards producing a self-led historical profile and piece of artwork about a Northumberland castle of their choice. We have since created a fantastic display of all of their work at The Steamboat.
The second phase of the project, which launched in April, will see our staff and service users getting out and about to visit as many of the castles they have been learning about as possible, hopefully taking in some other historic landmarks (eg Hadrian’s Wall) along the way.
The funding to hire the coach transport and pay for our service users’ ticket entry to the castles has been raised through various sources and we would like to express our most grateful thanks to The Prime Fund (via Community Foundation North East), the Boshier-Hinton Foundation and The Rotary Club of Blyth for helping to make the trips so far possible.
Blyth Star is always looking to provide enriching experiences through our services which positively impact on our service users’ lives and subsequently, their mental health.
If you would like to make a donation toward the Northumberland Castles project to help fund our next visit, click here.
