Leicester Children's Holiday Centre (Mablethorpe)

Friday; a quick trip over to Mablethorpe with my Vice-chairman to have a look at arrangements for the new season of children's holidays at Leicester Children's Holiday Centre (Mablethorpe).

We provide free seaside holidays for children from Leicester and Leicestershire who wouldn't otherwise get a holiday. There are many reason why children come to our Holiday Centre - poverty, bullying, neglect, illness or loss of a family member; the list is almost endless. Our only criterion (apart from the age of the children - 7-11 years) is that the child will benefit from the holiday. Of course, the benefit is usually family-wide; everyone gets a break.

Leicester Children's Holiday Centre (Mablethorpe)

I often think the building looke a but unpreposessing but it is placed just behind the dunes on Mablethorpe mbeach - one of the best beaches in the country and its appearance is no guide to the fun and enjoyment it contains.

The dormitories look bare but they will soon be full of colour, children's paintings and designs.

We really need to replace our beds and some of the curtains but this is just one of the many expenses we have to meet regularly.

This is the dining hall with a small stage at the end where a group of the the children put on a show each week for their companion holidaymakers

And I just thought I'd put this in - it's a buffet for our visitors; the children sit down for meals and enjoy good local food which takes account of cultural needs, etc. though a child asked last year "Why are we having another meal - we've already eaten today?"

Time to include a few pictures of our children just having fun...

Even in England, the sun shines sometimes!

Discos - always popular

And, of course, that wonderful beach

And a weekly visit to Pleasure Island

This takes us back to the beginnings of the present building at the turn of the last century. This mared the change from camping in the dunes, then the building of two wooden buildings, one for boys and one for girls, and finally, the building of our existing Centre.

My job now is to get more people involved in putting on events, fundraising for the maintenance and refurbishment of the Centre and stregthening the Charity so it can continue for the next hundred years.

A more magical sight

What could be a more magical sight than the Diamond Jubilee Flotilla?

Well... yesterday, before it all happened on the river, we sat in our garden and watched the sparrow chicks fledging.

In a quiet moment, they flew out rather tentatively and sat in the Pineapple Broom Tree as if they couldn't quite believe they were finally out in the daylight and fresh air.

After a few minutes, the mother flew in with a couple of caterpillars for them and this went on for about an hour until they got the feel of things.

Some time later, one of the juvenile blue tits which had fledged a couple of days ago was feeding from the peanuts when the sparrow mother flew in and drove him off the claim the peanut feeder for herself and her brood.

A more magical sight!