Residents at Cabrini House, Diagrama’s home for adults with learning disabilities have enjoyed a day trip to Chessington World of Adventures, to experience the rides available and meet different animals.
The day trip forms part of a regular programme for residents which is designed to provide stimulation and integration through a variety of activities.
After arriving at the park residents were invited to suggest rides they wanted to go on and together they made a plan for the day. Each resident had the option of going on each ride or watching from the side, but almost all the residents participated in all of the activities.
Support worker Claire Morlham said: “We started our day at the park with the new Gruffalo river ride and everyone went on it in little groups. Kerry, one of the residents, was laughing cheekily as she was putting her hands in the overhead fountain and getting us all VERY wet! We then made our way to the Black Buccaneer, a huge swinging pirate ship and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, with faces changing from joy to terror and back to joy again as we went up and down on the ride.
Claire added: “After we had recharged our batteries by eating lunch in the show area we headed off to see the animals on the Zufari experience (a jeep ride through the animal enclosures). Everyone went on this together and they saw giraffes, white rhinos, zebras and many other animals. After that we all headed back to the other side of the park and went on the Vampire Rollercoaster. Residents enjoyed the spooky ride and tried to do their best scary impressions to try and make others in the queue jump. It was very enjoyable and a very happy moment.”
“At the end of the day we headed back to the minibus for the journey home and everyone was recalling their best bits throughout the day and how grateful they were to have been brought there. Everyone had the same thing on their mind by the end of it - CAN WE GO AGAIN NEXT YEAR?
"It was a great day out and a chance to experience the thrills of a theme park and see lots of unusual animals which will provide many memories for residents to share with each other, hopefully for years to come.
"It was lovely to see all of the residents just have fun and enjoy the social integration. They all got to choose what they wanted to do or what they didn’t want to participate in. They're now busy planning their next trip."
Cabrini House is based in Orpington, Kent. More information on Cabrini House is available here.
