In April this year, a new era began for the former Convent of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph at Eastfield in Scarborough. Cayton Bay Lodge, as it is now called, has become a centre for Chrysalis Holidays run by the Epiphany Trust charity. The Trust’s respite holiday programme is offering around 600 places this year for adults with learning difficulties. Set up in 1991, Chrysalis offers themed holidays for people from 18 to 90 years old from adventure weeks in the Lake District to tours of tea shops, from the railways of North Wales to a beach holiday in the Algarve. For the last 10 years, the Trust has owned a house in Anglesey, but recent expansion led the trustees to look at the possibility of a second centre, this time near the north east coast.

When Bill Hampson, Church President of Lowton Independent Methodist Church and founder of the Epiphany Trust, heard about Eastfield Convent, he contacted the Daughters of Mary and Joseph and was invited down to Kent to tell them about the work of the Trust, and particularly about Chrysalis Holidays. After a few months of discussion, the Sisters very generously agreed to give the Trust a 10 year lease in return for a peppercorn rent. The building is perfect for the charity’s needs, requiring only minimal alterations to the bathroom facilities to allow wheelchair access, and as Bill said ‘It is an answer to prayer that once again shows how God moves in ways far above any hopes and expectations we might have’.

The Epiphany Trust was founded in 1996 in response to the atrocities of the Ceausescu regime in Romania. After its initial support of the Lugoj orphanage, it was a natural progression to provide support for those same young people now leaving the orphanage to make their way in the world, which for many scarred by the emotional deprivation of their young lives, is proving to be very difficult or impossible. So the Epiphany Trust opened The Arc, which has become home to Adam, Ana Maria, Codruta and Simileana for the past four years. A second house, ‘Arc 2’ is now being built, the roof is on and when the interior is completed, it will accommodate six more young people, giving them the opportunity to live independently and learn life skills previously denied them. Sadly, Romania is still struggling economically and children are still being abandoned to the orphanage system.

Besides its work in the United Kingdom and Romania, the Epiphany Trust also supports projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka, Burma, Pakistan and India. If you would like to know more about the Epiphany Trust, go to www.epiphany.org.uk or contact them at St David’s, Park Road South, Newton-le-Willows, WA12 8EY, tel (01925) 220999.

Many people would benefit from supported holidays, and their carers would benefit from respite, so if anyone would like more information, please call the office or e-mail micah@chrysalisholidays.co.uk