Discovering Mirfield
I’m not sure what to expect as I exit the train in Mirfield, a small Yorkshire town sandwiched between Huddersfield and Dewsbury and just a short 20-or-so-minute journey from my home in Hebden Bridge. I discover the train station is midway through a renovation as I overhear two folks chatting on the platform. There is to be a much needed lift and footbridge installed which “can’t come soon enough”.
I’m on my way to interview the director of Eastthorpe Hall, Thomas Barraclough, along with his wife Victoria, to find out more about their Health and Wellbeing Centre which recently reached its first anniversary. They’re hosting a celebratory charity event in aid of fellow Mirfield resident Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust the following week, so this is the first of two visits I’ll make to the location. I arrived an hour and a half early, a misjudgement on my part as I didn’t realise just how close the property is to the train station. I now have plenty of time to explore the former industrial town and get a feel of the area where Eastthorpe Hall is situated.
A picturesque canal known as the Calder and Hebble Navigation works its way through the middle of Mirfield town centre, the River Calder curving south at the mouth of the canal before rejoining it further along. In the past, the waterway would’ve been thronging with boats helping service the textile and malt mills, coaleries and other factories that lined the banks. Now the canal is quaint and quiet with new housing developments in progress and a not quite as quaint supermarket.
As with many West Yorkshire towns, there’s a link to the Brontë family, most notably Anne Brontë who studied and worked in the area. It’s also the birthplace of Sir Patrick Stewart, a fact that’s hard to miss as there’s a large colourful painted mural, which includes his portrait, under the railway bridge as you depart the station.
For a town of its size, the main street has an impressive array of businesses and cafes. There’s a sleepy atmosphere which makes for a relaxing walk as I admire places like Saint Paul’s Church, now converted into a popular community venue - a small public park with blossoming trees situated next to it. I check the time and there’s still 40 minutes before our 11am meeting at the Hall, so I choose a cosy spot in The Whistling Kettle Tea Room and enjoy a delicious coffee while David Gray’s greatest hits play on a small TV screen. Homely and unpretentious, the tea room, much like Mirfield, is quietly content and definitely sets the tone for the rest of my visit.
Eastthorpe Hall: First Impressions
Eastthorpe Hall is a beautiful 17th Century country house set back, only a little way, from the hustle and bustle of the Mirfield main thoroughfare that is Huddersfield Road. The driveway is busy with customers and deliveries when I arrive. Even so, there’s a genuine air of serenity and calm about the place. While the house is certainly grand with its wisteria-covered Yorkshire stone walls and large period sash windows, it’s much less imposing than I had anticipated.
I enter through a sturdy oak door into the impressive reception area with exposed wooden beams and complimentary decor - a mixture of classy modern furnishings and hints of the past. I’m welcomed by Shauna, Eastthorpe Hall’s Client Services Executive, who is the first point of contact for all enquiries. She informs me that Thomas and Victoria are not quite ready so I take a seat on one of the comfy velvet sofas. In front of me, a square wooden archway opens up the reception space into a further lounge area. There’s a lot of natural light thanks to some tall windows with views of the well-tended garden in the distance. It’s an incredibly relaxing space, and I find myself fascinated by a miniature model of the Hall displayed on a mantlepiece behind the reception desk.
Now, as a self-professed history nerd, I would’ve been remiss if I hadn’t investigated the story behind this fine building prior to my visit. Interestingly, it proved quite a challenge. A quick examination of an ordnance survey map from the 1800s offered some helpful clues, and, a few census searches later, I’d discovered the identity of the Marsden family. According to records, between 1861 and 1881, William Marsden, a general practitioner and surgeon, along with his wife Jane, resided at the property - East Thorpe House as it was known then.
It is thought, though unconfirmed, that William is related to the famous Marsden of the same name, who left Yorkshire and founded two free hospitals in London, one of which was the first hospital to focus specifically on the treatment of cancer. It’s certainly a puzzle, but, in any case, I think it's very apt (and rather cool) that the Hall has historically been home to people who want to help folks feel better.
A Family Affair
After a short wait, I’m greeted by Thomas and Victoria who, along with Shauna, usher me into a small office just to the left of the reception - it’s a simple room made for functionality rather than grandiosity. The Barracloughs are in casual attire and understandably very comfortable in their surroundings as I find out about the familial links to the Hall. “My father-in-law Chris and mother-in-law Steph Barraclough bought this Hall in 1976,” Victoria begins. “It was really run down. Over the following 40 years Chris literally renovated this place. Everything, every single piece of wood that you can see he has stripped and fitted. He's even taken staircases out! He has lovingly restored this building to its former self because it was pretty much derelict when he bought it.”
Victoria explains how Chris and Steph are essentially the founders of Eastthorpe Hall as it stands now. From a family home to an award winning spa, the Barracloughs invested heart and soul into making the Hall a sanctuary. “[Chris and Steph] both have a different set of skills. Chris is very practical, very logical. He built that orangery out there that's at the front of the house. Whereas Steph is the soul. She was a nurse and in the 60’s she met Chris at medical school. She moved from London back up here and became a nurse in Huddersfield. She had [their] children and became involved in more of the holistic side of life. She was always interested in aromatherapy, so she had an aromatherapy school here” (known then as Northern School of Aromatherapy).
Once the children had flown the nest, Chris converted the house into a health spa which Steph ran with her daughter for 20 years, picking up numerous awards along the way. “Steph did a lot of Reiki, a lot of aromatherapy and reflexology. More of the holistic side. She was the heart of that place then COVID basically closed it,” sighs Victoria. “They just weren't in a position where they were going to furlough staff. I think they felt like it had run its course. It was closed for a couple of years, and then my husband, Thomas, decided to open Eastthorpe Hall Health and Wellness Centre.”
Thomas is an osteopath at the centre, following in his mother’s holistic footsteps. It was important for him to ensure the building he grew up in and loved continued to be a place of healing and, most importantly, continued to thrive. I get a sense that Victoria is immensely proud of her husband as she describes his work and involvement with the Hall, supporting however she can. “I work as a solicitor so on my days off I will come in, and if anything needs doing, I'll help. Shauna, our Client Services Executive, basically runs it along with Thomas. It's really good to be doing something good. Something actually fulfilling and actually helping people. People come out of here differently [than when they came in],” she says, smiling.
So how does the health and wellbeing centre differ from the spa? Thomas jumps in. “As the spa was so successful, we've tried to phoenix those core elements into the new business. We still do a lot of holistic therapy. Ultimately we are trying to help people. We are trying to help individuals within our community. We're on a great motorway network right in between the M1 and the M62. It's a great location. We're right next to a train station that gets you down to London in two hours. We’re really busy.”
And they are really busy. During those brief moments as I waited in reception, I witnessed a whole host of visitors leaving and arriving. It was a pleasant surprise to see such a diverse range of clientele. “The only thing that I'm really worried about is that we’re private so you do have to pay for the therapies and treatments,” adds Thomas. It’s true, Eastthorpe Hall isn’t free to use, and anything which exists at a certain standard does require charges that reflect the skills and time of the specialists. “It's not NHS. We don't have an NHS contract. We do try to keep our costs as low as we possibly can to allow the highest number of people to come, but unfortunately it does come with a cost.” It’s a tricky moral dilemma, especially as it’s apparent that the vision for Eastthorpe Hall is one that overwhelmingly strives to be inclusive rather than reserved for the wealthy. The NHS in the UK is at breaking point and heavily overburdened. In an ideal world, those who can afford to pay for treatments should seek out places like the wellbeing centre or private specialist medical practices. In doing so, it could potentially free up space and resources for those less fortunate and reliant on NHS services.
The Importance of Partnership and Collaboration
There is an impressive selection of practitioners who fill up the rooms in Eastthorpe Hall, each providing different or complementary treatments and therapies. Victoria eagerly pulls out her phone - “Shauna sent me a list, I’ve got a list!” - and proceeds to give me a rundown of what’s available. “Right, we’ve got psychology, audiology, osteopathy, aesthetics, counselling, yoga, massage therapy, hypnotherapists, podiatrists, a scalp micro pigmentation lady and a special needs consultant”. I’m curious to know if there are any specific requirements to be offered a space at the centre so I ask Thomas what his process is when looking for a potential partner.
“First of all, I want to know what their skill set is. What can they bring to the Hall? Then I'll look at the credentials. Are they the best in their game? Do they do a lot of training? Can they bring a good wealth of knowledge in what they do? Are they team players? At the Hall, we have a lot of independent practitioners, but what's lovely about working here is that you feel part of a team. I’ve never had work colleagues before because I’m an osteopath. I go in, do my job, go home. Whereas it's really nice now that there is a friendly community. Everyone is working for the commonality of making somebody's life better. It's really a feel-good factor.”
My own father was and still is a firm believer in the more spiritual side of things so I grew up hugging trees and watching people “plug in” to energies at Stone Circles and receive messages from some archangel or another. It was a lot for my teenage self to process when my father first began his “cosmic” journey, and I’m still a bit sceptical. Something that has stayed with me, though, is an ability to sense when there’s really good energy buzzing about, and Eastthorpe Hall is full of the stuff.
“When you walk into the Hall it’s like a hug,” chirps Victoria. “We've had it all redecorated, but ultimately there's still loads of wood. It's still really cosy, bright and airy. It's doing medicine differently. People might come in here to go to see the psychologist and be really scared. But you come in here, it's not bright white walls. There's lovely artwork everywhere. It's cosy, [especially] in the winter when we have fires lit. It's such an amazing, holistic and healing place to come”.
“We've got other irons in fires as well,” says Thomas, enthusiastically. “We're looking for a private GP, speech and language therapists, homoeopathy, dentistry, an acupuncturist, and a scanner. Someone to do scanning would be amazing because that would really help, certainly with the osteopathy. It’s exciting, really exciting”.
From a glance at the various partners on the Eastthorpe Hall website, it’s quite noticeable that women make up the majority of the practitioners and therapists. Whether or not this is a conscious decision, it certainly indicates that the direction of the centre is one of progressivity and inclusivity. It’s a safe space.
I ask Thomas about accessibility, particularly regarding things like physical disabilities. “It's a really interesting question,” he says, pausing for a moment. “I wanted it to be open for all, but we are restricted because it's an old house. It's really, really difficult to make changes to the fabric of the building and incredibly expensive to widen doorways and things like that.” It’s understandable, but, of course, disappointing. However Thomas stresses that plans are in motion to eventually adapt part of the building. “We open the door to anyone. We would never say no to anyone, but because we are restricted by the Hall and the age of it, it's very difficult for us to have wheelchairs and more toilet facilities. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. In the future, we are planning to change the side of the Hall quite significantly, so it's not to say that it's forever.”
It’s time to conclude the interview, and I’m struck by how easy it’s been to talk to Thomas and Victoria. Let’s not forget Shauna who has been busying away behind me, taking notes and providing information when needed. It’s been a real pleasure. With my final question, I ask them both what they hope those who use the wellbeing centre will take away with them.
Victoria is the first to answer. “I hope that whatever service they engage in, they come out feeling better than how they went in. That is it in a nutshell.” “To make that individual feel better about themselves,” Thomas agrees. “Whether or not that be because they can hear, because they've gone into a meditation session and had some space, they've had a talking therapy, whether or not they've had aesthetics done to themselves. If they can walk out of here feeling a percentage better than how they walked in, then we have done what we set out to do.”
The Main Event: Raising Funds and Raising Hope
The day of the charity event is here, and, this time my wife Céline joins me on the quick hop to Mirfield. We’re both eager to meet some of the Eastthorpe Hall partners who will have stalls at the gathering - not just to find out more about what they do, but also to investigate the possibility of using some of the treatments and therapies ourselves. There was, of course, the added bonus of being in the presence of actor Jodie Whittaker, who was giving attendees a chance to grab an autograph and a photo in exchange for a donation to the designated charity. Whittaker, a close friend of the Barraclough family, was certainly a massive draw, with a long queue already snaking into the garden when we arrived.
As part of our conversation the previous week, I’d discussed with Victoria why the centre had decided to raise funds for Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust, and she revealed a personal connection. “I am absolutely passionate about this charity. They are a local charity and they do extraordinary amounts of good. The story that I am about to tell you is the one that really hit it home and how that Trust helps.” Victoria’s demeanour changes - what she is about to say has obviously affected her deeply. “The Trust is all free. Somebody I know accessed it because their child was really struggling with self-harm. So, they accessed therapies for their child which helped them deal with what they were going through. But obviously, the parent was really struggling as well because she blamed herself. That charity supported her as well. So it's supporting everyone who's involved in that child's life to help make that family stronger and better equipped to deal with life.”
Through my own experience as a child, I have witnessed, as well as experienced, the impact poor mental health can have at an individual level and also within the family unit. Had there been access to services like Northorpe Hall during my youth, I can only imagine how beneficial it would’ve been for my parents and myself. What Victoria says next is angering, but, unfortunately, unsurprising. “Northorpe Hall has just had all of their government funding removed. They have had to make 40 members of staff redundant. It's actually criminal. It's literally scandalous. That’s why we chose to support Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust.” I know too well about the lack of accessible and affordable mental health services for adults. Cutting vital services for children like those offered by the trust is yet another decision by a heartless government to make families and young people suffer during one of the worst cost of living crises we’ve experienced for generations. As Victoria said, it is indeed criminal.
Good Vibrations
After purchasing some raffle tickets at reception, we head straight for the marquee situated on the garden lawn in order to check out some of the stalls and admire the tables of delicious looking food, which could probably feed a small army. Easily approachable, everyone we speak to is bursting with knowledge and visibly passionate about the treatments and therapies they provide. We find out about some of the incredible technological developments in the world of hearing aids via a product representative that works with Tim Husband at Hearing Therapy. Jo Garbarino, from Skinovation, explains how her scalp treatment can help bring confidence back for those who may be experiencing hair loss. Dr Rachel Lee of North Star Psychology gives some insight into what EMDR entails and enthusiastically answers questions my wife has regarding polyvagal therapy. There’s no hard sell or judgement with many partners offering affordable ways to benefit from their services. I particularly enjoy our conversation with Helen Wells, the creator of Dyslexia Results and a fellow neurodivergent. She tells us about her nickname “Calamity” before almost destroying her table display while trying to show us a video on her laptop. It’s a lovely connection, and we agree to keep in touch.
There is something very human about all the interactions we have, and it’s a really good feeling. We’re starting to get a little thirsty so we wander over to an open window where Thomas is serving drinks. He explains this is actually his treatment room and excitedly begins to show us some of the equipment he uses before taking our order. I go in search of some free seats and miss part of the conversation between Thomas and my wife. Whatever they are talking about results in them participating in a very energetic high five.
It’s not until later on during the 3-hour celebration that we realise we’ve been chatting to Steph Barraclough, who, with our encouragement, puts in a request for an Adele song to Scott “Hutch” Hutchinson, a talented local musician serenading the guests. I’m certain I’d seen Hutch somewhere before, but I’m unable to connect the dots until we’re on our way home. As it turns out, he was one of the first people to welcome me to Hebden Bridge when I posted in a musicians group on Facebook for the town last year. A sweet little connection.
A Bright Future For Eastthorpe Hall
The event is almost coming to an end. We’re currently in the reception area, having nearly forgotten to park ourselves in the queue for the Whittaker meet and greet, when Steph bids us adieu. “Apparently I’m making a speech!” she laughs. She joins Victoria as well as representatives from Northorpe Hall under a small gazebo on the patio near the orangery. Victoria speaks to the modest crowd that had gathered around them about community, family and the importance of supporting each other - there is a sincere fondness and love for the partners and staff at the centre. I sense that the reference to family is not one merely regarding blood relations. She’s visibly emotional, and it’s clear Victoria is deeply invested in her mission to help Thomas ensure that Eastthorpe Hall has many, many more anniversary celebrations to come.
A chocolate cake with a single candle is presented to the group, and Whittaker begins drawing the raffle. The Gods of luck are shining down upon us, and our numbers are called. Twice!
The choice of prizes is impressive, with lots of partners and local businesses getting involved. The event has been a resounding success with the total funds raised for Northorpe Hall amounting to almost £2,500. As we’re leaving, Victoria spots us and bounds over for a hug. Her positive attitude and warmth is as endearing as it is infectious. My wife and I agree, as we travel home, that we’ll most certainly be back.
Eastthorpe Hall is a breath of fresh air. Although standards are high both in terms of the building itself and the partners who frequent it, the centre doesn’t come across as a typical exclusive luxury wellness experience. It’s not that at all. There’s a deep passion for affordable accessibility without skimping on quality. Community is also a core focus as is a desire to offer services that are actually needed rather than the latest lifestyle fads. There is a genuine want to do good, to help people get better and be well. You can really feel it. It’s in the walls and in the people who make up Eastthorpe Hall.
For more information about Eastthorpe Hall Health visit their website here.
Words and interview: Alfie Whitby (they/them)
Read our interview with Justine Haworth from Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust here.
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