Dalleagles Welcomes First Group of Young Carers
Honeypot House Dalleagles is Open!!
Our new House in East Ayrshire opened for a group of Scottish Young Carers from Edinburgh last weekend. The group of 12 young carers, 6 boys and 6 girls aged between 8 and 11, came for a fun packed weekend away from juggling school with their stressful responsibilities at home.
The group got to explore the brand new house for the first time, as you can see from their faces, they were pretty impressed!
The break included a visit to Head of Ayr Farm Park. Inner-city children’s imaginations soared while ‘driving’ the giant combine harvester they sat in, petting exotic animals including Wallabies and Llamas or coming face to face with scary tarantulas and snapping reptiles. They also explored Dumfries House, the Estate of King Charles, where they negotiated the maze and had a marvellous time playing in the soft play area.
The children fed back that the most fun was free time chilling with other young carers, where shy and nervous children found their confidence, one child arrived fairly shy but found her voice and was blasting out Rihanna in a talent show. The children relished the American Theme Night, where hot dogs and giant Spaghetti Bolognese was served to them, a chance away from them being the ones doing the service at mealtime!
“The children loved the diverse range of activities provided in our arts and crafts room and the fun of having a sleep over with other young carers and chilling out! ”
“Residential opportunities for young carers in Scotland, and elsewhere, are vital. The new Honeypot House is an absolutely perfect environment for children and the facilities will only improve with time - the plans sound very exciting! I particularly enjoy the nurturing environment our young carers were able to experience. Each and every child had the most amazing experience on this residential and are already talking excitedly about returning next year.
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One of the young carers in attendance, Charlotte, 11, helps care for her Mum Carrie, who is undergoing chemotherapy for Cancer Treatment. For the past two years she has helped with everything from feeding and walking the dog, to doing the grocery shopping. Charlotte is unable to have sleepovers as she shares her room with her older brother, and it is too small. Charlotte loved the Dalleagles house, especially the room set-up, getting to have a sleepover with five other girls all weekend! She came home to her Mum saying how excited she was that she had made new friends and can’t wait to return next time and see them on the next break! Carrie, said she was thrilled at the opportunity for young carers to have a house specifically for them, the first of it’s kind!
“‘We are thankful to be mortgage free on Honeypot House Scotland, thanks to the Richard Porter Family Foundation, Mr Simon Clarke and a group of Fundraisers called The Spoilt Ramblers who traversed the entire coastline of Scotland to raise the funds to buy the house outright for Honeypot. ”
However, we aren’t done yet! We have exciting plans to develop the beautiful Dalleagles house with an outdoor activity play park, a Go Kart Track and Baseball Court, and to build a dedicated studio extension to house our educational booster programme (SEAL) , to help young carers struggling at school to thrive. We hope that members of the public will support these plans which rely on voluntary contributions.
We are especially grateful to the Scottish Children’s Lottery and The Scottish Children's Lottery Trust for bestowing a generous grant on Honeypot to pay for the first two breaks. Plus, Shot by Amanda for capturing the first magical moments.
A group from East Dunbartonshire will be arriving at Dalleagles this weekend. we can’t wait to share more on the impact the new house is having on Scotland and the lives of many young carers who need Honeypot’s support!