1891
Established
29
Schools in 2024
368
Holidays in 2024
Welcome to Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre
Since 1891, Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre has given children facing challenging circumstances in their daily lives, the chance to experience something many of us take for granted – a holiday by the sea. We are a small but determined Derbyshire charity with a big impact, built on the belief that every child deserves joy, adventure, and memories to cherish.
Why we do what we do
Too many children in Derbyshire are growing up in poverty or difficult circumstances. Many will never enjoy a holiday, feel sand between their toes, or experience carefree time away from daily struggles. These missed opportunities don’t just take away fun – they limit confidence, wellbeing, and hope for the future.
What we do about it
We provide free, fully supported seaside holidays at our centre in Skegness. Here, children are cared for by our dedicated staff and volunteers, enjoy good food, laughter, trips to the beach, and activities that nurture their confidence, resilience, and friendships. These holidays give children a break from challenges at home and the chance to return happier, more confident, and ready to thrive.
Why we’re needed
For many children, this is their very first holiday. The difference is lasting – they come home with memories, smiles, and a sense that they matter. With rising child poverty, our work is more needed now than ever.
How you can help change a child’s life
Donate – just £384 funds a holiday for one child. You can do this by using either our ‘Go Fund Me‘ or ‘Just Giving‘ appeal pages,
Fundraise – take on a challenge, hold an event, or join one of our campaigns.
Volunteer – give your time at our centre or support us locally. Email: [email protected]
Partner with us – schools, businesses, and community groups can work with us to bring hope to children.
How you can help change a child’s life
- Connect & share with others – follow our journey on social media as we plan for a brighter future. Share our mission and story to help us raise awareness.
- Share your story – have you or a close family member visited our Centre for a holiday? Share your story with us – we would love to hear from you! Email us [email protected]Come along and join in – look at our events page to see what’s going on, where and when, come along, have a chat about what we are up to and how you might be able to help.
Together, we can continue to make a lasting difference in their lives. Every contribution, big or small, creates brighter futures for Derbyshire’s children.
Our Story
135 Years of Changing Children’s Lives
For 135 years, Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre has been helping children discover the joy, freedom and wonder of a seaside holiday. Since 1891, thousands of Derbyshire children facing poverty, family difficulties, bereavement, caring responsibilities, disability, or other challenges have been given the opportunity to escape their everyday worries and enjoy a few precious days by the sea.
Today, that mission is just as important as it was 135 years ago.
Why We Need Your Help
Many of the children we support have never had a holiday. Some have never seen the sea. Others are carrying worries that no child should have to face.
A holiday may sound simple, but for a child it can be transformational. A week away means:-
* Making new friends
* Building confidence and independence
* Learning new skills
* Having fun and feeling cared for
* Creating happy memories that last a lifetime
Most importantly, it gives children the chance to simply be children.
“I didn’t want to come home. It was the best week of my life.”
The Difference You Can Make
In 2026, we restarted our holiday programme and children are once again paddling in the sea, building sandcastles, exploring new places and discovering new confidence in themselves.
Every donation to our 135th Anniversary Appeal will help provide free residential holidays for Derbyshire children aged 6–11.
* £5 helps provide treats and activities.
* £15 helps cover food and transport.
* £32 a month can fund an entire holiday place over a year.
* £380 can give one child a complete life-changing holiday.
Looking to the Future
As we celebrate 135 years of service, we are not simply looking back at our history we are building the next chapter.
With your support, we can ensure that many more children experience the magic of the seaside, the kindness of caring adults, and the opportunity to flourish.
Be Part of Our Story
Whether you donate £5 or £500, every gift helps create brighter futures for Derbyshire children.
Please support our 135th Anniversary Appeal today and help us continue changing lives for another 135 years.
Thank you for helping Derbyshire’s children flourish!
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Contact Us Today
Some of Our Valued Supporters
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As we prepare to celebrate 135 Years of Holidays, Hope and Happiness tomorrow at Derby Cathedral, we want to take a moment to recognise the organisations whose generosity has helped make this special occasion possible.
A heartfelt thank you to our Principal Event Sponsors – Vaillant UK, COSY Foundation and L.E.A.D. IT Services.
Their support has enabled us to create a fitting celebration of an extraordinary story that began in 1891 and continues today. Thanks to partners like these, we can shine a light on the thousands of Derbyshire children whose lives have been touched by a holiday by the sea and inspire support for the generations still to come.
Tomorrow’s service will bring together music, dance, theatre, storytelling and personal memories as we journey through our past, present and future. We’ll hear from former holiday guests, enjoy performances from talented young people from across Derby, premiere a film from our first holiday since 2024, and launch our appeal to help create the next generation of seaside memories.
This celebration is not simply about an organisation. It is a celebration of people – the children, volunteers, supporters, schools, communities, churches, businesses and donors who have believed that every child deserves the opportunity to experience joy, friendship, adventure and belonging.
We are incredibly grateful to our sponsors for helping us bring this vision to life and for standing alongside us as we look towards the next 135 years.
📍 Derby Cathedral
📅 Saturday 13 June 2026
🕒 3.00pm
There is still time to join us. We’d love to welcome you as we celebrate this remarkable milestone together. ... See MoreSee Less
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A great day of fundraising for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre in Chaddesden, Derby. ... See MoreSee Less
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Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre fund raising | Sunday 7th June 2026 | The Big One Chaddesden Carnival Day
This was our fourth time at the fun day in Chaddesden, Derby. We weren't sure if the event would go ahead as the forecast was a little pessimistic. However the sun was shining this morning so we were delighted to be able to set up our stall early doors.
We'd decided to run a Tombola, not the traditional Italian Tombola which has been played in Italy for centuries and has become a beloved tradition. For most people in the United Kingdom that have ever been to a fete, a church jumble sale, or a fun day, the Tombola we play involves drawing tickets from a 'bucket' and looking to see if your number on the ticket ends in a 0 or a 5.
On the prize table sit many items that have a corresponding matching ticket ending in either a 0 or 5. If your ticket matches it, you take home that prize.
Of course to arrange this you need to have prizes, thanks to all of our supporters that donated the prizes, you have to have tickets, lots of them; some of course get folded and popped into the bucket, and 0 and 5 tickets go onto the prizes. A lot of preparation!
Our other big draw for the folks that were there was Plinko - a game of chance, where disks are dropped down a freefall path and into prize number slots. A great addition to the fund offering; and on top of that there's now a new Plinko dance that's viewable to anyone that comes to our stall in future to witness. You won't be disappointed!
Our final tempting game was guess the birthday of the giant Teddy. A simple concept and one that led to a winner being drawn later today.
Was it worth it?
Undoubtedly and categorically yes it was. We had many folks visiting our stall and investing in one of the three games on offer. We chatted to so many who either had themselves or knew of someone that had been to the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre and of course from their perspective we were able to provide details about the remarkable charity whilst also seeing the delight on the faces of so many people that took home prizes.
We were lucky enough to have 5 of us there to provide coverage for the day, namely Alison, Fae, Jim, Mazza and me (Simon Evans). Thanks to Alison for making this all happen, without her fantastic organisational skills and ability to find prizes, the day couldn't have happened.
In total we raised £285 from the activities on the day. We were also delighted to gather some names of people, potential volunteers for the future, plus adults who’d stayed there as youngsters.
Amazing!
Please visit the website to learn more about what they do and how you can help; donations are always welcome, along with volunteers to help in fundraising.
www.dchc.org.uk
Here's to another 135 years! ... See MoreSee Less
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📣 Introducing one of our youngest super stars! 📣
We're very proud to announce that our very own junior ambassador Corey Dobson was a winner at last night's #derbyvs Awards from Community Action Derby in the Young Volunteer category.
Ten-year-old Corey won for his amazing work raising £2,000 for our charity after being a guest with us in the past.
Disappointed when we couldn't open last year, Corey decided to do something about it and completed a sponsored walk of 100 miles over four weeks!
Not just that, Corey hosted cake sales at his school to raise more vital funds.
Now Corey's a junior ambassador for our charity and we couldn't be happier that he won a Young Volunteer award last night.
The awards night was brought to us by Community Action Derby in partnership with Derby Homes and supported by Cosy.
We're proud of you Corey! ... See MoreSee Less
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Corey must come visit the bees and goats at cosy @angie dobson
Hes so proud and was so surprised he had won. He still doesnt understand that the work he does is so special and appreciated. Hes gone to school today a very tired, but very happy boy 🥰🥰
Congratulations Corey. Super work well deserved. What a wonderful example of the future generation we have in our community 👏🏼
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