Who doesn’t love Christmas? Presents, Santa, sparkle, and a table groaning with food – it’s a day full of indulgence during the darkest days of winter.
But it’s also important to remember that the festivities can’t necessarily be taken for granted and that financial hardship and other tough situations bite harder in some households than others.
That’s why the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre is a charity that still performs as important a role today as it did when it first started back in 1891. The centre gives holidays to children who may not otherwise get a break, and it also opens up before Christmas to treat youngsters to a fabulous week of festive celebrations. This year, nominated children have been given a trip to the cinema, a theatre performance put on by a local school, huge quantities of presents, meals out, takeaways, plus a slap-up Christmas dinner followed by a trip to the panto.
And it’s all provided through the generosity of local businesses plus those closer to home. Kind-hearted staff at Pentagon Vauxhall in Derby, who have nominated the holiday centre as its chosen charity, sent the holiday centre literally sackfuls of presents for children to enjoy. One local business in Skegness even provided a job-lot of batteries to avoid the classic drama of Christmas day: a new electronic present but no means to make it work.
Florence (left) and Lexi at the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre.
So what do children make of their Christmas holiday week?
“I’ve loved it here,” says Lexi, seven. “Today I’ve got loads of presents and I can’t actually believe it!”
“My mum said I’d be coming home with a big pile of presents,” adds another child. “She didn’t say anything about three piles!”
Other children said they loved the days out and trips to the theatre that have been organised, while others appreciated the games room and craft activities they can enjoy back at the centre on Scarborough Avenue.
“What’s been really nice this year has been that local businesses have let them come to their establishments to eat,” says centre manager Ali Byerley. “People in Skegness have been absolutely wonderful. So many members of the public have just knocked on the door – lots of people are aware of us. We couldn’t do this without them.”
Charity chairman Alan Grimadell, who went along to the centre with his wife Louise to play Santa for the day and deliver presents donated by Pentagon Vauxhall, says it is truly a magical time of year for the children who go along.
“We’re known for providing holidays over the warmer months of the year for children in Derbyshire,” he says. “But perhaps not everyone knows we do open up for this week before Christmas as well. I think it’s very important we do. Christmas is such a magical time of the year but we all need to remember that not everyone will necessarily get all the trimmings. That’s why we’re proud to offer a Christmas break and it’s great to see how much these wonderful young people really appreciate it.”
To find out more about the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre and how you can support it, see www.dchc.org.uk/. With a million people living in Derbyshire, the charity’s plea is for people to be ‘One in a Million’, donating £4 a month by texting DCHCMILLION to 70085.
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The Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre has been given its own perfect Christmas present – in the form of new patron Don Amott.
Derby’s very own caravan king, Don said it was an “honour” to have been asked to join Sir Henry Every and former Derbyshire lieutenant Willie Tucker as patron of the much-loved charity.
“It’s a charity that is so close to my heart,” said Don. “I’ve supported them for a number of years. I was born in Derby and I’ve lived in Derby all my life, and it’s a lovely thing to be part of.”
Don’s support of the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre goes back years, through holding functions for the charity while chairman of Derbyshire County Cricket Club where a long-standing member of staff had even been to ‘Skeggy home’ as a child.
And of course, the charity’s central holiday theme is also an appropriate link to his own business which owns five premium parks in Lincolnshire where the centre is based.
“I go up to that area most years for a couple of weeks,” he said. “It’s a lovely part of the world.
“I’m a Chad lad myself and I love salt of the earth people, putting something back into the community. I’m at an age now where I can put something back myself and I think it’s lovely to do that.”
Charity chairman Alan Grimadell said: “It’s wonderful to welcome Don Amott to our charity and I’m so pleased that he has agreed to join our other two patrons. He’s such a well-known figure in the Derby and Derbyshire community and it will be a huge benefit to the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre to have him on board. Many thanks to Don for becoming a patron and we look forward to showing him the amazing work that our charity does for children who need a bit of a break.”
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For more information, email Lucy Stephens on lucy@penguinpr.co.uk or call her on 0771 983 9446.
