'I was a psychiatric nurse - now I'm bringing a stately home back to life'

Neil Power started as a volunteer at Wentworth Woodhouse after spending 33 years in psychiatry

For 33 years, Neil Power was a psychiatric nurse, working on a daily basis with patients who had committed serious crimes.

This week, he's trying to fit a pair of red trousers into a fireplace so that it looks like Father Christmas is stuck in the chimney.

The chimney is one of many to be found at Wentworth Woodhouse, a Grade I listed stately home near Rotherham with hundreds of rooms that need decorating for Christmas.

An "army" of volunteers is now preparing for the house's festive events, but with a small number of paid staff and no furniture of its own, the operation relies on people giving their time and skills to decorate the rooms.

One of the volunteers is Neil, whose psychiatry work covered areas such as substance misuse and child protection and he was based in high-security hospitals, but he quickly grew "bored" after retiring.

He joined the team in 2017, when the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust acquired the ancestral home of the Earls Fitzwilliam from a private owner.

The Georgian mansion was semi-derelict at the time, with many of the staterooms in poor condition. Yet it has always been at the heart of a community which is both rural and industrial, and throughout the 20th Century the Fitzwilliam family were major local employers.

Local volunteers flooded in because of their love of a "gem" where their ancestors had worked, or simply because they appreciate the house's beauty - it has one of the longest facades in England and is comparable in scale to far more famous stately homes.

"I volunteered more out of being nosey than anything else. Very, very quickly, I fell in love with the place," Neil says.

His regular role is as the events and filming officer for the house, which has been a location for period productions such as The Crown, Victoria and Gentleman Jack, but during the festive season he makes decorations from toy soldiers to Victorian lamp-posts.

"I get paid for a hobby, I absolutely love it. It's given me a whole different lifestyle that I never knew, I'm using creativity I didn't know I had, and I'm using my imagination I never knew I had."

Victoria Nowell (l) and Julie Vickers (r) both started volunteering after retiring

The volunteers had a lucky break after an embroiderer who trained at the Royal School of Needlework offered her services.

Victoria Nowell spent 35 years as a civil servant, but has rediscovered her sewing skills and has made all the quilts on display in the house.

Helping her to dress the rooms is Julie Vickers, whose background is in education and finance. Both have now retired and started volunteering two years ago.

When the BBC visited they were preparing a children's bedroom with a "Christmas morning" theme.

"Unfortunately, I tend to make the blankets quite big," Victoria admits.

Victoria and Julie are working together on textiles projects around the house

Julie, who lives in the nearby village of Greasbrough, says the house is an "absolute gem".

"It was an opportunity for me to come and help out, do what I could, and meet people.

"Victoria and I met yesterday - it's like we've known each other a lifetime."

Volunteers are the "driving force" behind the Christmas celebrations

Wentworth's staff have gradually been bringing rooms back into a condition where they can be enjoyed by visitors.

The estate - the surrounding land is still owned by descendants of the Fitzwilliams - played an important role in the local economy, as the family owned collieries and ironworks nearby.

A number of tragedies hit the dynasty in the 1940s, after the death of the eighth earl, and there were sales of the mansion's contents, which included furniture, silver, sculptures and works of art. The house was eventually sold by the family in 1989.

Helen Flower, the events and programming manager for the preservation trust, says volunteers are the key to putting displays together.

"The house is empty, so what we've got is a combination of donated items and props that have been built from leftover items and wood.

"Volunteers have given their time, skills, equipment, advice, and creativity - it's a huge team effort.

"They're really the driving force behind it."

In 2023, more than 16,000 people visited the house during its Christmas event, which was inspired by classic fairytales.

This year, the house is being decorated around the theme of the poem The Night Before Christmas.

Visitors will be able to tour the exhibition from 4 December until 29 December, excluding Mondays and holidays, and there will be a light trail in the gardens.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.