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Recent Services 'SEND A CHILD TO HUCKLOW' SERVICE 
York Unitarians invited Rev. Ernest Baker, Secretary of the Send a Child to Huckow Fund, to take the service on Sunday 27th November, and to launch the Chapel's annual appeal for this worthwhile Unitarian charity.
The Send a Child to Hucklow Fund is celebrating its Jubilee in 2012, and all money raised from October 2011 to September 2012 will be doubled by the Boland Trust. Ernest spoke of the origins of the Holiday Homes at Great Hucklow and of the appeal by Rev. Peter Godfrey and Rev. Glyn Pruce in 1961 to provide inexpensive holidays for children, which raised £61. The first holiday was in 1962 with children from Sheffield and Manchester. The aim is to give children from problem families one happy week to run among the green fields of Derbyshire which they will never forget. The annual appeal grew and developed, and in 1976 became a charity. The target is to meet costs, all administration is done by volunteers. There is a reserve fund of gifts and legacies, and most years this has to be dipped into. The fund pays for the accommodation at the Nightingale Centre at Great Hucklow for about 250 children each year, transport for trips out, insurance, entrance fees, and provides the leaders with a float for incidental expenses such as ice creams. The cost of the holiday per child is £250. 12 holidays are planned for 2012, these are groups of 20-25 children with 4-6 CRB checked leaders, from schools or community projects in Manchester, Liverpool, Blackburn etc. and in 2012 will include a group from Southend-on-Sea for the first time. There are as many needy underprivileged children now as in 1961. Children who have never seen sheep or cows, and who come from multi-cultural backgrounds, and many have a variety of problems which act as a barrier to their education. Reports from leaders say the lasting benefits are that the children are happier, healthier, better behaved and their health and hygiene - taking showers and cleaning teeth - improves. Reports from the children say the Centre is very good - good food, comfy beds, and private space to themselves. Five days in the countryside can be the holiday of a lifetime. |