Stuart Boon and Xavier Andrews walk to Blackpool
On 21st October 2025, Stuart Boon and Xavier Andrews will embark on a walk from Derby to Blackpool. The walk is scheduled to take 4 days with them arriving into Blackpool on 24th October 2025.
Stuart Boon and Xavier Andrews are putting their best foot forward next month as they take on a four-day sponsored walk from Derby to Blackpool in aid of Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre.
The pair will set off from Derby Cathedral at 8am on October 21st and finish at Blackpool Tower at 3pm on October 24th 2025. The walking route will be: Derby to Buxton; Buxton to Manchester; Manchester to Preston; and Preston to Blackpool.
Xavier Andrews, from Derby, said he was raising funds for Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre because he wants to help the children have ‘a nice holiday’ and to have ‘a better experience’.
Stuart Boon, from Osmaston, Derby, reflected on his own memories as an 11-year-old who went to the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre. He said: “In 2009 I walked it from Derby to Skegness, [it] took me five days.”
To help Stuart and Xavier reach their target of £1,000 please use the link below
https://www.justgiving.com/page/stuart-boon-xavier-andrews-1
Get your Santa suit ready – The Derby Santa Run is back!
Kick off the festive season and join us on Sunday 30th November at Markeaton Park for the popular Derby Santa Run.
No running experience necessary! Whether you want to run, jog, dance or stroll, our 5k course is perfect for everyone!
Enjoy festive tunes from our brass band, snap photos and explore the seasonal stalls packed with family-friendly fun.
Cost is £15 with every ticket including:
- Entry to The Derby Santa Run 2025
- FREE santa suit and beard
- FREE finisher’s medal (kindly sponsored by TrentBarton)
- MEET fellow supporters and trustees of the DCHC
- An opportunity to meet Lambie, (the Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity Mascot)
Run, jog or walk 5km – it’s all about festive fun whilst raising funds for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre!
When you register to sign up for the run, you’ll be asked which charity you want to support – please choose Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre so more children from Derby & Derbyshire can enjoy a life-changing seaside holiday.
Sign up here:- https://www.thederbysantarun.co.uk/
"It's the hardest thing I have ever done by a light year but totally worth it!" Peter Ennis
📣It's question time!📣
👋 We'd like to introduce you to our team - so over the coming weeks we'll be doing just that.👋
First up - introducing our very own CEO, Janine Holmes.
❓ Why did you get involved with the DCHC?
"Having worked in education I knew the value of residentials and holidays and felt very strongly that ALL children should have access to these regardless of whether their parents could afford to send them."
❓What does your role involve?
"Everything and anything! I manage all aspects of the day to day running of the charity - from opening the post and keeping in touch with our generous donors to creating the long term strategy and recruiting the best staff and volunteers. I represent the charity at events and in the community."
❓Best moments?
"Waving off a group of excited children to begin their next adventure at the seaside! Every time I meet someone who has visited the centre as a child and still remembers the impact it had on them."
❓Best thing about Skegness?
"Can't beat the penny fall machines on the pier! And a cone of chips on the beach!"
❓Coast or countryside?
"Ooooh difficult one! I live in the countryside and never want to take that for granted but there's nothing like the sound of the sea, smell of the sea air and being able to stare at the horizon as the sun goes down."
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Derby Daybreak Rotary Club quiz night | 10th October 2025
A massive thanks to the organisers of the quiz night last night in Belper. Thanks also to Nicky our quiz master for asking the questions and running the evening with such precision.
Following the quiz came the raffle; 21 prizes that we all wanted to win. As there were 60+ people at the event 40 went home disappointed!
Overall a great night that created fun and funds for the Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre and Canine Partners; for charities such as ours we live and breathe by the generosity of organisations and events like these.
It will be great to see some of you in Skegness at our open day on 18th October.
Janine Holmes
Simon Evans
#charity #DCHC #derbyshirechildrensholidaycentre
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
🌟 A Huge Thank You! 🌟
We’re so grateful to everyone involved in the Charity Night held in our honour — and delighted to have received an incredible £2,000 donation for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre in Skegness!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed, donated, performed, and supported the evening — and who worked so hard to make it a success.
From all of us at DCHC — thank you for making a difference!
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
That's fantastic well done chaddesden social club for a great charity 😀
Amazing well done 👏 xxx
Chaddesden Park Social Club - that’s absolutely amazing, thank you for running the evening and continuing to support us. 👍
Thanks Community Action Derby for the post! Please contact us if interested to find out more!📌 Community Noticeboard - Children's Holiday Centre in Skegness available for weekend hire 📌
Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre is now making its Skegness Centre available for weekend hire by youth and uniformed organisations (such as Scouts, Guides, youth drama or choir groups and Cadets)!
The package offers exclusive use of the building, flexible accommodation for up to 34 children/young people and 10 leaders, and a well-equipped kitchen for self-catering.
For more info visit the Community Noticeboard page on our website: www.communityactionderby.org.uk/communitynoticeboard
Community Noticeboard is the place for Derby's voluntary and community sector to offer and request support and services, resources and equipment.
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
5th October 2025 | Oh what a night!
We can't think of a better phrase to capture the event held at the Himalayan Gurkha Restaurant (Derby) on Macklin Street last night. Whilst Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons weren't there we certainly had an eclectic mix of people at the sell out event who made it genuinely amazing!
We had people from all walks of life, a fantastic hand magician in the form of The Great Martini (goodness knows how he did those tricks), brilliant food, and a set of raffle prizes that consisted of activity prizes, beverages, and more.
The food was absolutely top notch, Narawaj and the rest of the restaurant team had performed miracles in the kitchen serving delicious dishes, vegetable samosas, chicken tikka and poppadom's for starters, followed by lamb, chicken and vegetarian mains with pilau rice and copious naan breads. The chefs at the Himalayan Gurkha Restaurant (Derby) really helped to make the night a brilliant success.
On the night we raised a stupendous £775 to go towards the Comeback 2026 appeal for the Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre
Thanks to everyone who attended, who made it a special night and one we will definitely repeat, fun, charity, prizes and curry, what's not to like!
Thanks go to the generous companies that provided the star prizes, namely:-
Derby Uncovered
Ritz Cinemas
The Escape Room Guys
Beauty By Jan
The Reiki Barn
Derby Conference Centre
Simon Evans
Janine Holmes
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Thank you all for being such great fun, really enjoyed performing for you all ! Andy "The Great Martini"
Morrisons | Swadlincote, Derbyshire | 4th October 2025
Today the Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre were delighted to have had our table and pop up banner in the Morrisons supermarket in Swadlincote.
We were, as ever overwhelmed by the level of engagement from the people that visited us.
Events like this are vital for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre to raise funds, but there is another key aspect that comes from being there. What's that you might ask? Well it's the opportunity to engage with so many people; some of whom actually have direct links to the seaside home in Skegness. Like so many people we meet if they haven't been themselves, they know people who have had a holiday with us.
We are always so delighted when hearing them talk about their time there, and stories of others have been there is really humbling. Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre has been around for 134 years, providing free holidays for children who otherwise wouldn't get them.
The event raised £133.23 for us, money that will go directly towards our Comeback Appeal 2026, where we are aiming to raise a total of £150,000 to bring back our life-changing holidays to disadvantaged children in Derbyshire and spread joy and hope to even more children in 2026.
There are of course other ways for people to support us, volunteering and fundraising being the primary roles.
We are including the open donation campaigns for ease of locating and hopefully to enable donations to be made:-
Stuart Boon and Xavier walk to Blackpool
www.justgiving.com/page/stuart-boon-xavier-andrews-1
Comeback 2026 appeal
www.justgiving.com/campaign/comeback2026
There’s also a lot of information available about ways to volunteer and how we’re planning for next year on our website
dchc.org.uk
Today is also a special day for us as Derbyshire Live interviewed Keara Potter who as a 10 year old visited our centre in Skegness; I’ve included a link to the story below:-
www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/i-stayed-derbyshire-childrens-holiday-10547531
Thanks to everyone that supported us today, especially Morrisons for allowing us to use their supermarket foyer and to the people that spoke with us for their stories. And of course thanks to everyone who supports us, whether that's from donations of money, time or generous gifts, we very much appreciate it.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to learn more.
Janine Holmes
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
📣It's question time!📣
👋 We'd like to introduce you to our team - so over the coming weeks we'll be doing just that.👋
First up - introducing our very own CEO, Janine Holmes.
❓ Why did you get involved with the DCHC?
"Having worked in education I knew the value of residentials and holidays and felt very strongly that ALL children should have access to these regardless of whether their parents could afford to send them."
❓What does your role involve?
"Everything and anything! I manage all aspects of the day to day running of the charity - from opening the post and keeping in touch with our generous donors to creating the long term strategy and recruiting the best staff and volunteers. I represent the charity at events and in the community."
❓Best moments?
"Waving off a group of excited children to begin their next adventure at the seaside! Every time I meet someone who has visited the centre as a child and still remembers the impact it had on them."
❓Best thing about Skegness?
"Can't beat the penny fall machines on the pier! And a cone of chips on the beach!"
❓Coast or countryside?
"Ooooh difficult one! I live in the countryside and never want to take that for granted but there's nothing like the sound of the sea, smell of the sea air and being able to stare at the horizon as the sun goes down."
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Derby Daybreak Rotary Club quiz night | 10th October 2025
A massive thanks to the organisers of the quiz night last night in Belper. Thanks also to Nicky our quiz master for asking the questions and running the evening with such precision.
Following the quiz came the raffle; 21 prizes that we all wanted to win. As there were 60+ people at the event 40 went home disappointed!
Overall a great night that created fun and funds for the Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre and Canine Partners; for charities such as ours we live and breathe by the generosity of organisations and events like these.
It will be great to see some of you in Skegness at our open day on 18th October.
Janine Holmes
Simon Evans
#charity #DCHC #derbyshirechildrensholidaycentre
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
🌟 A Huge Thank You! 🌟
We’re so grateful to everyone involved in the Charity Night held in our honour — and delighted to have received an incredible £2,000 donation for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre in Skegness!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed, donated, performed, and supported the evening — and who worked so hard to make it a success.
From all of us at DCHC — thank you for making a difference!
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
That's fantastic well done chaddesden social club for a great charity 😀
Amazing well done 👏 xxx
Chaddesden Park Social Club - that’s absolutely amazing, thank you for running the evening and continuing to support us. 👍
Thanks Community Action Derby for the post! Please contact us if interested to find out more!📌 Community Noticeboard - Children's Holiday Centre in Skegness available for weekend hire 📌
Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre is now making its Skegness Centre available for weekend hire by youth and uniformed organisations (such as Scouts, Guides, youth drama or choir groups and Cadets)!
The package offers exclusive use of the building, flexible accommodation for up to 34 children/young people and 10 leaders, and a well-equipped kitchen for self-catering.
For more info visit the Community Noticeboard page on our website: www.communityactionderby.org.uk/communitynoticeboard
Community Noticeboard is the place for Derby's voluntary and community sector to offer and request support and services, resources and equipment.
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
5th October 2025 | Oh what a night!
We can't think of a better phrase to capture the event held at the Himalayan Gurkha Restaurant (Derby) on Macklin Street last night. Whilst Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons weren't there we certainly had an eclectic mix of people at the sell out event who made it genuinely amazing!
We had people from all walks of life, a fantastic hand magician in the form of The Great Martini (goodness knows how he did those tricks), brilliant food, and a set of raffle prizes that consisted of activity prizes, beverages, and more.
The food was absolutely top notch, Narawaj and the rest of the restaurant team had performed miracles in the kitchen serving delicious dishes, vegetable samosas, chicken tikka and poppadom's for starters, followed by lamb, chicken and vegetarian mains with pilau rice and copious naan breads. The chefs at the Himalayan Gurkha Restaurant (Derby) really helped to make the night a brilliant success.
On the night we raised a stupendous £775 to go towards the Comeback 2026 appeal for the Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre
Thanks to everyone who attended, who made it a special night and one we will definitely repeat, fun, charity, prizes and curry, what's not to like!
Thanks go to the generous companies that provided the star prizes, namely:-
Derby Uncovered
Ritz Cinemas
The Escape Room Guys
Beauty By Jan
The Reiki Barn
Derby Conference Centre
Simon Evans
Janine Holmes
1 CommentComment on Facebook
Thank you all for being such great fun, really enjoyed performing for you all ! Andy "The Great Martini"
Morrisons | Swadlincote, Derbyshire | 4th October 2025
Today the Derbyshire Children's Holiday Centre were delighted to have had our table and pop up banner in the Morrisons supermarket in Swadlincote.
We were, as ever overwhelmed by the level of engagement from the people that visited us.
Events like this are vital for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre to raise funds, but there is another key aspect that comes from being there. What's that you might ask? Well it's the opportunity to engage with so many people; some of whom actually have direct links to the seaside home in Skegness. Like so many people we meet if they haven't been themselves, they know people who have had a holiday with us.
We are always so delighted when hearing them talk about their time there, and stories of others have been there is really humbling. Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre has been around for 134 years, providing free holidays for children who otherwise wouldn't get them.
The event raised £133.23 for us, money that will go directly towards our Comeback Appeal 2026, where we are aiming to raise a total of £150,000 to bring back our life-changing holidays to disadvantaged children in Derbyshire and spread joy and hope to even more children in 2026.
There are of course other ways for people to support us, volunteering and fundraising being the primary roles.
We are including the open donation campaigns for ease of locating and hopefully to enable donations to be made:-
Stuart Boon and Xavier walk to Blackpool
www.justgiving.com/page/stuart-boon-xavier-andrews-1
Comeback 2026 appeal
www.justgiving.com/campaign/comeback2026
There’s also a lot of information available about ways to volunteer and how we’re planning for next year on our website
dchc.org.uk
Today is also a special day for us as Derbyshire Live interviewed Keara Potter who as a 10 year old visited our centre in Skegness; I’ve included a link to the story below:-
www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/i-stayed-derbyshire-childrens-holiday-10547531
Thanks to everyone that supported us today, especially Morrisons for allowing us to use their supermarket foyer and to the people that spoke with us for their stories. And of course thanks to everyone who supports us, whether that's from donations of money, time or generous gifts, we very much appreciate it.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to learn more.
Janine Holmes
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
