You go back and you think, “Oh, I’m tired out, but wow, haven’t we had a nice time?” It makes you smile when you’ve come away from it.
Happy birthday, dear Christina. Happy birthday to you.
I’m Claire, and this is my daughter, Christina. We’ve been coming for 11 years, and we come here because it’s just such a wonderful place, and she just enjoys doing all the activities.
I’m Natasha, Christina’s sister.
I am Sophie. I’m Christina’s family friend.
It’s our best week of the year, isn’t it?Yep.
We look forward to it.
We got holiday blues-
Yeah, we do
…. coming away from here, don’t we?
It’s seeing Christina just become a completely different person.
You get used to your routines at home, you get used to how you support her, how family life is. But when you bring her away, it’s like just seeing her do things you never thought you would.
She’s done horse riding before and carriage driving.
Abseiling a bit down on the side. I never thought she’d do that.
She’s just done lots of things that I didn’t think she’d do, and I think for me, I’ve sort of learnt to step back a bit and, when I’m here, not be as worried about what might happen or what noise she might make. It’s relaxed because somebody else will come over and say, “Oh, Christina, shall we go for a walk? Shall we do this?” You’ve got other people that will just see that you need a little bit of help, or you might need somebody to chat to.
Christina can take a while to know who to trust, because obviously when you can’t verbally communicate, it’s very hard to trust people. But I think she’s also trusted each staff member that has worked with her.
They’ve got to know her, so she knows when she comes that she’s safe as well.
The instructors just get Christina, and you feel supported by them, and it’s not like them and us.
Sometimes you can go places and it’s like, “Oh, I’m with the instructor.” Whereas here, it’s very much like they’re involved with the group-
Yeah
… and we get them involved.
They all muck in, and they sort of get on.
It’s not a them and us at all, and it’s the fact that they’ll adapt, and so say one day she might have had a seizure in the morning, so she can’t do the activity, and they change it all.
It’s just great to see other people as well. Mm. Other people achieving things that they never thought they would do and cheering everyone on. It’s like a big family when you come as well, isn’t it?
It is. All of the people in our group that come every year have just been to my wedding last year. They are our family.
Yeah.
It’s so nice to see them again. And we’re all messaging, like-
All the time
… when we’re like, “Hey, it’s coming up.”
Yeah.
“It’s coming up.”
Just phone up and chat to somebody about what you need.
They can adapt for any special need or whatever.
Just bite the bullet and take her. She won’t regret it.
You’ll be coming back each year.
Who gets a view like this outside the bedroom window?
Yeah.
Who would have that?
Even if it’s raining.
I don’t care.
It’s great. Don’t care.
Don’t care.
Get your Calvetrust waterproofs on.
