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The Royal British Legion launches free breaks for children of serving families
The Royal British Legion is offering free Poppy Adventure Breaks this summer, for the children of serving men and women in the Armed Forces.
The one week breaks at Worksop College, Notts, Pangbourne College, Berks and The Old Malthouse in Dorset, are designed to give children an activity break with like-minded youngsters in the summer holidays. They are aimed at 12 – 17 year olds and will be rolled out in three separate areas in the UK in July and August 2008.
The breaks have been introduced in response to the results from a 2005 welfare survey, which identified a need for a scheme to occupy youngsters in the service community, whose parent(s) may be serving and away from home for long periods of time. Nearly 10% of households in the UK are lone parent households and 80,000 lone parent households are in the ex-service community.
Poppy Adventure Breaks are being provided by Kids Klub Activity Holidays. A seven night package will include full board accommodation, all on site activities, a trip to a nearby theme park, 24 hour day supervision, pocket money, insurance and transport to and from the centre via mini bus.
Ian Philip, Poppy Breaks Manager at The Royal British Legion said: “The key focus of this initiative is for the Legion to offer assistance to service families in isolation, perhaps children from one parent families, or where a parent is serving on overseas operations, or from families who have not had a holiday from home in 3 years or are on low incomes.
“ The idea of the scheme is to give children who are isolated the opportunity to build and develop confidence and skills through group activities amongst others from similar backgrounds, that is, parents with service connections. It is also hoped the breaks will provide a period of respite for parents and in particular be great fun for the young people.”
Further information on the service can be obtained by calling the Legion helpline: Legionline: 08457 725 725.
For Press Enquiries, please contact: Jenny Keeling, Public Relations Officer, The Royal British Legion - tel: 020 7302 7140; mob: 07966 548 232; email [email protected]