Summary
We provided two breaks for children with cancer and leukaemia and their families – one to Haggerston Castle Family Caravan Park and another to Hilton Coylumbridge near Aviemore. This allowed them to relax and have fun as a family, but also to meet others in the same situation as them.
What Short Break Hoeseasons Caravan Park did
We took 12 families caring for children with cancer and leukaemia (complex needs) on a four-day break to Haven Haggerston Castle Caravan Park near Berwick, where they enjoyed activities such as crazy golf, horse riding, bungee trampolining and a water park. These breaks took place in July Initially, we planned on taking 19 families to Hoeseasons Caravan Park in Blackpool, but many families said they would prefer to stay closer to home in case of an emergency – Blackpool is quite a long drive and you must change trains if travelling by train. After six months, we found that several families were more interested in a break at the Hilton Coylumbridge hotel in Aviemore rather than a caravan park – we have sent families there in the past and they have really enjoyed it, and as a result, many other families expressed a desire to go. As we still had more of the Better Breaks grant left over than expected (a result of Haggerston Castle being cheaper than Hoeseasons and incurring fewer transport costs), we decided to send 20 families to Aviemore. These breaks mostly took place in March. We have a strong working relationship with the hotel, who regularly offer us a large discount on rooms and meals. Families were able to enjoy some much-needed tranquillity and took part in activities such as walks, cycles and trips to nearby attractions like Loch Morlich, the Highland Wildlife Park and Landmark Forest Adventure Park.
For both breaks, we prioritised families who had not been on a break before or had a terminally ill child and therefore limited opportunities to enjoy a family holiday.
“We had a brilliant time. The hotel was perfect, very family friendly, loads to do or chill out…Time together with other families in the same boat is therapy for me and my family. Just not having to think about the cooking, cleaning and hospital appointments was great and it gave us the time to enjoy each other and the lovely folk on the same journey. Thank you CCLASP.” – parent
What CCLASP SCIO has learned
We have developed our flexibility by listening to what families wanted and changing the breaks accordingly, so that both carers and cared for children could enjoy themselves as much as possible and that the breaks catered to their individual needs better. It was also important that we kept the breaks as similar as possible to the Hoeseaons break outlined in our initial application as we needed to strike a balance between what had been approved by Better Breaks and what our families wanted.
Our project budgeting skills have improved. Initially, we created a projected budget based on the costs of Hoeseasons, but we were able to save money by sending families to Haggerston Castle – at their request – instead. This meant we had to create a new budget in line with the altered breaks but maintaining similar costs to those originally proposed so that we could still send a similar number of families on breaks with the total grant.
We have found that by listening to families and tailoring breaks to their individual situations, we built our reputation for providing special breaks for families. Parents and carers often recommend the breaks to others, meaning that more families will come to us for support in future. We are always eager to engage with new families.
How CCLASP SCIO has benefitted from the funding
Receiving funding from Better Breaks meant that we could offer breaks to more families than ever before – there is a constant demand for this kind of activity and the funding helped us to address this. We are in the process of fitting out our new support centre, which has proved to be a lengthy and expensive process, so it was helpful to know that we had the financial support in place to be able to send families on breaks and that we did not need to sacrifice this popular service for the sake of funding the centre. Parents and carers often recommend our breaks to others, for example those that they have met in hospital, therefore cementing our positive reputation and increasing the number of families, children and young people who come to us for support.