Youth at The Manor

Adventure Weekend 8-10 June 2012

philip — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:31:26 +0000

After the very successful and fantastic adventure weekends of past, we are offering another opportunity for intrepid young people in years 7 to 9 to set out into the unknown and enjoy an experience together in the Lake District. Please click here for booking forms: Adventure Weekend application form

Past Team Members Retreat 23-25 March 2012

philip — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:24:24 +0000

An open retreat for those who have served at Castlerigg Manor over the years. This year is the first time we have tried to gather people together, to come back and to share a retreat together.

£65 per person. Please book here for booking form: Past Team Members Retreat application form

Easter Open Retreat 5-8 April 2012

philip — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:16:38 +0000

An amazing way to enter into the Easter spirit, sharing the great events of the Last Supper, the Passion, and the Resurrection, with young people from across the north of England. Whether you are coming alone, or with a group of friends from school or college, this is a great way of celebrating together, making new friends, and participating in a range of activities and workshops which you will love. Please click here for the booking form: Easter Retreat application form

Family Weekend 25-27 May 2012

philip — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:05:58 +0000

Celebrating Creation Family Weekend

We will be welcoming families of all ages to join our family weekend, a great opportunity for families to be together, share with each other and with other families and to draw closer to God. Starting on a Friday evening with a buffet supper our programme will then offer time for young people to work with their own age group, time for adults to have space for prayer, input and sharing whilst having time in the weekend to relax together as a family, perhaps taking a walk in the surrounding area. Spending time as a family and sharing with others
is a real encouragement and valuable experience. A Castlerigg Family Weekend aims to offer families of all shapes and sizes the opportunity to be fed spiritually and physically and to take some time out together.

Please click here for flier and booking form: Creation Family Weekend

£75 per adult, £50 per child.

Advent Days for Primary Schools 12-15 December 2011

philip — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:40:31 +0000

Advent is always a special season of its own and doing our best to resist the mad dash for Christmas, we tried our best to respect this special season and discover Advent as a time of expectant waiting, hopeful anticipation and cheerful preparation! As part of these preparations, a number of primary schools came up for day retreats: St Joseph’s Cockermouth, St Bernadette’s Lancaster, Holy Family Blackpool and the Cathedral Primary School.

Patricia Benson, one of the retreat leaders at Castlerigg, explained how the primary school days sought to understand the great gift of Jesus through the Jesse Tree. ‘We walked through different stories in the Bible to see how God related to his people through different characters, and as we did so, the children dressed up in the different characters. We then looked at our own family tree and looked at ways in which we could prepare to receive Jesus in our own lives. The children made Advent promises which they then painted onto baubles. We finished our day in the chapel focusing on the greatest story of all when God himself became so small as a baby, facing all the challenges we face. At the end of one of the days I asked the children what they had learnt and one child answered, “Jesus only wants to be our friend”.

Impact Retreat at Castlerigg 30 September – 1 October

philip — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:18:44 +0000

Laura, one of the young people attending the Impact Retreat, writes of her experiences: “When we went to Castlerigg with Impact when we arrived we had some food then we took all of our bags up to our room and had some free time, during this free time we were able to do play in the games room or just stay on our rooms. After our free time we had a reflection led by Niamh, Ailish and Laura. After reflection we were able to stay in the chapel as long as we wanted or we could go and have free time. On the Saturday we were woke up by music at about 8. then we had to down for breakfast at 8:45 before Dec ran a workshop on how we see ourselves and others, we had to draw another person after picking their name out of the hat and write what we thought of them on the back. This was good because the theme of the weekend was “what can I see?” after this we had a break and some free time in the tuck shop and games room after this, James and George ran a workshop where you had to draw yourself now, later and then everyone had to write something nice about you on your sheet of paper. After this we had another break and then before lunch we did some preparation for mass with Father Bernard. After lunch we went for a boat ride and some free time in Keswick before we went back to Castlerigg for tea and free time. After this we had a party for George because it was his birthday. Then we had some free time before Laura and Anna led reflection before some more free time. On Sunday we woke up again for breakfast and then we did an evaluation of the weekend and had some free time before we went home. The weekend was a really good experience and was something we hadn’t all done together as a group before and we all had a really good time.”

Preston Deanery Youth Retreat 21-23 October 2011

philip — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:25:01 +0000

Aoife and Úna Hogan, two of the young people, write about their experience: ‘It was 4:15pm, 21^st October and St. Clare’s car park was filled with nineteen young people, two minibuses, a shed load of parents, a Priest, a Deacon and a Lay School Chaplain. This sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it was in fact the start of the Preston Deanery Youth retreat to Castlerigg Manor, Keswick. It all started one night about nine months ago, when three pupils from All Hallows Catholic High School, Preston and two young people from Holy Family, went to the Deanery Pastoral Council meeting to talk about faith and young people. We decided it would be best to hold a Young Peoples’ Meeting to discuss how the churches could better include teenagers and young people in the Mass and parish community. The weekend was filled with prayer, liturgy, discussion, a little romance (mentioning no names) and, most of all, fun. We gathered together to come up with ideas of how to bring young people and teenagers to church, and being young people ourselves, we knew exactly what was going to help. We discussed music, family Masses , homilies that relate more closely to our lives, and the stereotyping not just of young people but of clergy too. We began as strangers and finished by celebrating Mass together as friends. We are all looking forward to meeting again next month to further discuss the actions that we plan’.

West Cumbria Confirmation Day 8 October 2011

philip — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:28:54 +0000

Amelia Rock, assistant chaplain to St Benedict’s High School and parish youth worker at St Begh’s Whitehaven, writes: “On a winter’s cold Saturday morning, while most people were enjoying their Saturday lie in. 22 Young people from St Benedict’s Catholic high school and their Catechists were welcomed warmly by the team at Castlerigg. The group of young people in year 9 were at their last stage before getting confirmed. And even though it was a Saturday there wasn’t a complaint to be heard.The day had a different feel compared to the other two days the young people had received. And so we started off the morning with many activities to get them warmed up. And slowly the day went deeper and deeper thinking about their Confirmation saints that they had chosen, and how they can relate to their lives and how they can also be a part of the journey they will go on after Confirmation. Other activities included thinking about their own lives and how if it was made into a Hollywood film, what events would be put into it. Towards the end of the day, it became more reflective and pondering on the sacrament of reconciliation and how in our day to day lives we can get detached from other people and God. This was helped by Fr Matthew and Fr john who were there to listen to confessions. The young people and the Catechists had a wonderful day full of smiles and laughter. It made the young people have a different outlook on the sacrament of confirmation and so overall it was a brilliant day!”

Adventure Weekend 4-6 November 2011

ruth — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:46:33 +0000

This was an opportunity for young people, aged between years 7 and 9, from across the diocese, to hone up their survival skills and learn all about bushcraft, adventure, and tribal instinct – and learn how these skills can help us to understand our faith. The weather could not have been more perfect with bright clear Autumnal skies and sunshine. Hannah from Poulton-le-Fylde, writes, ‘My weekend at Castlerigg was amazing. It was all about survival and I enjoyed every second of it. we built dens, made flags, foraged for food and even learnt how to get water from trees. The prayer times took on a whole new dimension for me and really got me thinking and where better to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation than in the breathtaking Lake District! I’m really glad our youth club came to Castlerigg: I made new friendships and have come closer to God. I can’t wait to go again!!!!’

Confirmation Weekend 10-12 February 2012

philip — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:47:03 +0000

An amazing weekend at Castlerigg Manor in the heart of the Lake District for those who have recently been confirmed or are about to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. This weekend will be an opportunity to work with our young team of volunteers here at Castlerigg and others around the diocese to help you to grow and learn about this important step in your journey through life.

Booking form, click here

For those under the age of 18, click here for Consent Forms

For copies of the poster for this event, click here