Canoeing at Lochwinnoch

This trip was to Castle Semple visitor centre at Lochwinnoch.

The participants were: Teigan Duffin, Abbi Hanna, Kaitlin McKay Sandy Hamilton and Chanelle Kelly. Staff were: Patricia Hutchison, Susanne Gibson, Elaine Montague and Donnie Macaulay.

The weather remained good throughout the day which was a bonus for all.

The centre had arranged both a canoe trip as well as a shoot round the loch in a speedboat.

 The day started with the group getting split between the canoe and the speedboat.

Abbi, Kaitlin, Sandy and Elaine boarded the canoe and got settled as one of the instructors demonstrated how to use the paddles.

Abbi and Kaitlin took to paddling like experts as they quickly made their way across the loch. Soon the canoe was sailing off into the distance across the loch

 The other young people began boarding the speedboat for their adventure and soon it was smiles all round as they boat left the dock and turned into the loch.

The day was enjoyed by all who participated, staff included, although some preferring the speed of the speedboat while others preferred the slow ambling pace of the canoes. At one point Sandy decided that he wanted to pilot the speedboat but he eventually allowed the centre staff to take control.

All in all the day was a great success and thankfully the weather was good to us. The day was made extra special as there was a classic car rally taking place in the car park. Some of the young people appeared to enjoy seeing some of the old cars.

This is a link to the blog site of one of the families that use Silverton Short breaks services. Well worth a read!
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Our redeveloped garden!

These are some photos of the work recently carried out redeveloping our garden area.

The work was carried out during school hours and as such the garden was out of bounds to our visitors for the duration.

Thankfully as you can see the workmen had the best of the weather to carry out the work.

Here you can see the foundations of was to become our sandpit and water feature.

On the far left you can see the building of the stage area has begun.

Shhh! No one talk to the guys.....we don't want to delay them too much!

In the background you can see the 'Hobbit house' is coming together.

Work is coming to a conclusion now. Not long to wait!

All that's needed now is some flowers for the new beds.

....and here we have it. Our new garden area!

In the foreground you can see our water feature with hand pump.

Here you can see the completed 'Hobbit house' and stage area alongside our raised flower bed.
There is still some more work to be done in other areas of the garden which will allow the trampoline to be re-positioned and yet another raised flower bed to be built. It's getting there though!

Who are we?

Welcome to the new blog for Silverton Short Breaks. We are an Action for Children respite project based in Hamilton Scotland. We provide overnight respite to young people with additional needs. We are a purpose built unit with six themed rooms as well as a play room, a sensory room and a conservatory that is soon to become our new reading/computer room. We have also recently redeveloped our garden to include a sandpit with water feature, a 'Hobbit' style house, a covered stage area and raised flower beds. Making the garden an even more accessible and fun area for all of our guests. 
Our staff are fully trained and have many years experience of working in this field.

In addition to overnight respite we also provide an outreach program where the young people have a chance to experience a variety of activities outwith the project. 

We also run a number of clubs at the weekend at various venues across South Lanarkshire.

Through this blog we will keep you updated on what is happening at Silverton over the coming months. We'll also include  lots of photos of events and activities.

Be sure to check in as often as you can!