Last Saturday, 14th July, we went out with a group of parent-carers for a trip to Lincoln and York – our third-ever carers’ outing, which aims to give carers of children and adults with special learning needs a short recreational time away from the caring role.

We first went to Lincoln on Saturday morning, walking around the city and county town with its cobbled streets and enticing shops. A couple of our carers went to take a look at the magnificent Lincoln Cathedral, which was once the tallest building in the world (from 1311 to 1549). The rest of the group went visiting the town’s charity shops (where they found a few lovely bargains) and a pub for some refreshments.

We then headed off to the Holiday Inn in Doncaster (featuring a 300-year old manor house!), where we stayed for the night. There, a few of us spent some time at the heated swimming pool (as well as the relaxing jacuzzi and sauna), before we all went for a hearty 3-course dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

After a filling buffet breakfast on Sunday morning, we headed off to the historic walled city of York, where the group split into groups to visit various interests. Some went straight to The Shambles, a narrow cobbled street lined with timber-framed Elizabethan buildings, to take a look at its shops and eateries, and some went to marvel at the splendid York Minster. A few of us wandered down towards the River Ouse, passing by the York Museum Gardens and the beautiful ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey.

We all had a very lovely weekend, which some of the carers who were with us described as:

• Awzum Weekend
  With Great People..
  ????????

• fantastic weekend had a great time you all lovely people made it so

• we really enjoyed we would do it again

Emma, a carer who regularly visits us at the centre, sent us the following short email about the carers’ outing:

For me, the weekend away with Lifted was the first time I’d ever been away and left my son, it was hard at first to get on the coach but being with other parents with similar circumstances to me helped a lot. I have made some great friends at Lifted and it was nice to spend time with them away from all the stresses and worries of life at home. The weekend its self-was fun and relaxing and spent with some really nice people in some really beautiful surroundings. I’m really grateful to you guys at Lifted for bringing me along and I’m looking forward to the next one.

It’s always nice to hear these lovely feedback from parents that we support and we would like to take this opportunity to thank Buzz, Manchester’s Health & Wellbeing Service, for funding this trip.

Following our attendance at the State of Caring Conference in London a week ago, we also thought to dedicate this trip in support of the #NHSThinkCarer initiative.

—

You can view more photos from the carers’ outing on our Facebook photo album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1892974177663042.1073741832.1474680846159046&type=1&l=92a8f7edf6