The idea
The Holiday Home can sleep 6 people plus a baby, and we give free week's accommodation to families, couples, or single people from Cheshire West & Chester, who would otherwise not get a holiday. It has full self-catering facilities, a veranda with ramp access, and can easily accommodate people with disabilities. It is located at Talacre Beach Holiday Park and we provide holidays between March and the Autumn Half Term. The on-site facilities include a free indoor pool, gym, games area, bar and entertainment.
These holidays are often the only chance some families get to take a break and are therefore a much-needed spell of rest, enabling family members to recover or recuperate their strength together, perhaps after a bereavement, an illness, or a period of financial or other hardship.
The Holiday Home is 12 years old and will need replacing in 2023. It will cost £47,183 to replace and to date we have raised over £25,439 towards our target. Our bid is for the balance of £21,744
What we'll deliver
- A Fully Accessible Replacement Holiday Home
- 300 Holidays for disadvantaged families over the next 10 years
- A fully accessible outside raised seating area on a veranda
- Free access to all on site facilities including swimming pool, gym and entertainments
- Free Transport to and from the Holiday Home
Why it's a great idea
Replacing the Holiday Home will enable us to continue to provide free holiday accommodation to families from Chester & Ellesmere Port that would otherwise have no opportunity for a holiday and/or a period of respite and relaxation. We provide this support direct to those in need through our own contacts in the community, through the faith based communities in which we are based and through contacts in local schools and social services. We offer this support to families of any faith and none in a totally inclusive approach. In practice a high proportion of those we help are from single parent or disrupted family circumstances, and because we offer free transport to and from the holiday home and give spending money to all children, we can help those families with no means of transport and with little extra money for treats and entertainment. Many of our guests face mental and physical health issues and in recent years our guests have also included local Syrian and Ukrainian refugees.
Steps to get it done
- Finalise negiotations and place order for replacement holiday home
- Order accessible decking with ramp
- Deliver and install replacement holiday home and decking
- Install additional internal equipment (eg utensils and appliances)
The operational costs for the holiday home include a significant annual site fee, utilities, cleaning and incidental repairs and maintenance. We employ a cleaner, who lives close to the site, and any repairs and maintenance are carried out by qualified contractors. All of the other work involved in transporting our guests, ensuring they are settled in, carrying out checks to the home before and after use, and the annual opening/close down is completed by our team of volunteers.
We believe that this support ensures our guests have a relaxing time, enjoying the onsite facilities which are paid for out of the annual site fees together with access to the extensive local sandy beaches.
The annual running costs are not part of this application and are covered by our existing fundraising activities. More details of these can be provided on request.
