Open Day 2019

Our recent Open Day was preceded by rather wild weather, with almost constant heavy rain, often accompanied by strong winds. This made preparations for Open Day pretty difficult at times, so we were very thankful when the Open Day began with sunshine! The weather pretty much held for the majority of the day, though really heavy rain in the late afternoon saw most people scurrying to their cars!

The Tractor Safari is always a popular Open Day attraction, taking guests on a proper farm tour.

Vanny, our resident Unicorn, was a smash hit at her first ever public debut!

The children’s area proved immensely popular, with streams of families arriving in the morning. "Vanny the Unicorn” was the star of the show, and appeared to know that she was! There was a constant queue of families waiting to meet her.

There was a great deal for visitors to do, and some were juggling getting to watch the sheep shearing, horse shoeing and TailWaggers Dog display team, whilst also ensuring they hitched a ride on the Tractor Safari or the horse and carriage.

In the middle of the day, the Centre was engulfed by families ordering burger and chips and the Hog Roast just outside also did a roaring trade, alongside the Granary Restaurant and Cafe. The Steaks Roadshow in the marquee was much enjoyed, and visitors were able to look round the local food products in the Food Fayre, as well as purchasing from the cake stall.

The Garden Nurseries was busy all day and visitors also enjoyed looking round the sensory gardens and following the nature trail down into the valley, popping into the bird hides on site.

Throughout the day, it was also wonderful to be able to catch up with some longstanding supporters of Caring For Life, many of whom popped into the PR and Exec tent in the main yard, to chat with staff members there and catch up.

The day ended with a few supporters joining the staff and staying on for a short time of fellowship in the Centre at the close of the afternoon. It was really good to take time to thank the Lord for His goodness and blessing on the day.

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#CragHouseFarm #OpenDay2019 #CaringForLife #VannyTheUnicorn #SheepShearing #HorseShoeing #WailWaggersDogDisplay #FoodFayre

Open Day Madness

It’s that time of year again, when we at Caring For Life are busy getting ready for our annual Open Day.

The large food demo and vendor marquee is set up.

With that comes a great deal of hectic activity that we tend to call, “Open Day Madness”!

A great deal is involved in ensuring that the whole site is ready for a mini invasion by the general public, and much thought goes into planning what will take place where! 

We are tremendously grateful to volunteers who help us in the run up to Open Day, as well as on the day itself, and we could not take on such a large event without their help. 

New to our Open Day this year will be the Tailwaggers Dog Club, and also a Food Fayre, showcasing local food producers. Everybody needs to be catered for, with the site carefully planned and marked off. 

Cutting grass and putting up tents and gazebos can be tricky in heavy rain or windy weather, so inclement weather conditions can really add to Open Day madness! But our prayer is that everyone who comes along will really enjoy the day, and that many people who previously knew little of our charity's work, will go away inspired and encouraged by the ministry of Caring For Life.

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#CaringForLife #OpenDay2019 #OpenDayPrep #CragHouseFarm #CharityEvent #FarmInLeeds #FamilyFun

In Royal Company

We are in royal company talking about mental health.

HRH Prince William speaks openly about mental health CREDIT: PA/BBC

Last week at Caring For Life many of our pastoral staff gathered for a training course on mental health and well-being. The staff gathered together from almost all aspects of our work. Some came from offices, others from the Supported Living homes, some from being out and about in the city on our Housing Support team and some from the horses and cattle. I think the two hour training course might have been the longest time they had sat still all week!

We are very conscious of the need to be well informed as we care for and support so many people who struggle with mental health issues. At Caring For Life we are in the fairly unusual position of supporting people with a very wide range of needs.

We don’t set very tight referral criteria but rather try to reach out to the people who need it most. For this reason we try to keep ourselves well informed and we liaise closely with specialist agencies and encourage our beneficiaries to engage with them as needed.

We are also aware that we need to be very careful to look after our own mental well-being so that we can continue to love, support and walk alongside those in our care and share Jesus’ love with them. Supporting troubled people is never straightforward and it can be very demanding so we were reminded to be careful to seek support and to support each other.

BBC One Documentary: A Royal Team Talk

We were interested to see that, just a few days before our training course, HRH Prince William featured in a BBC documentary called A Royal Team Talk alongside a few famous names from football.

The Duke of Cambridge (centre) with (from left) Jermaine Jenas, Gareth Southgate, Peter Crouch, Thierry Henry and Danny Rose CREDIT: PA/BBC

Their focus was men’s mental health and the need to normalise the issues so that men feel free to talk about them and seek the help they need. It was an excellent programme and it seemed quite significant that a member of the British royal family was leading the way in these issues. It was also good to know that we at Caring For Life were focusing on the things that are really important to those in our care and the equipping ourselves better to meet their many and varied needs.

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#MentalHealth #HRHPrinceWilliam #TheDukeOfCambridge #BBCOneDocumentary #CaringForLife #ARoyalTeamTalk #JermaineJenas #GarethSouthgate #PeterCrouch #ThierryHenry #DannyRose