Children’s seaside holiday centre needs volunteers
A CHARITY which provides free seaside holidays to disadvantaged children is on the look out for new volunteers from the Loughborough area.
The Leicester Children’s Holiday Centre in Mablethorpe is one of the oldest charities in the county, having been set up in 1898.
Each year, around 350 children between the ages of six and 10 enjoy a week-long holiday full of fun activities, sports, games and storytelling.
In 2016, 32 children from the Loughborough area were gifted a getaway at the holiday centre and now the charity is urging people from Charnwood and North West Leicestershire to get involved.
Chairman Shaun O’Donnell told the Echo: “The centre is really close to the beach so it’s the perfect place to give these youngsters a proper traditional holiday by the seaside.
“Children are largely referred to us by schools but people can also apply on our website.
“There are so many social reasons why children are referred to us, not just poverty, and we want to make sure that we continue to give these children the best possible holiday.
“It might say ‘Leicester’ in our name but we absolutely do not just cater for children from the city; we have children from Loughborough, Coalville, Melton and many other places too.”
Despite helping children from all over the county, Shaun says the vast majority of the charity’s support comes from the city so he is now trying to raise awareness and gain volunteers in Loughborough too.
“While we do need money and rely on people’s generosity to operate, we do need assistance too,” said Shaun.
“We take children from the Lough- borough area every year so it would be nice to get people from here assisting us and raising money as well.
“There are lots and lots of ways in which people can help us - if you have got a skill, I can find a use for it!
“It would be great to get someone with a marketing background, a business background, someone good at managing people, someone in publishing or just someone who is happy to spend an hour or two outside a supermarket collecting money.
“Anything at all that people can do would be so appreciated.”
• To find out more information about the Leicester Children’s Holiday Centre in Mablethorpe, please visit the website at: http://leicesterchildrensholidaycentre.co.uk
You can call the charity on 0116 251 9863.
You can also find the charity on Twitter @kidsthorpe or on Facebook by searching LCHC Mablethorpe.