Community spirit celebrated at theme park events
A special weekend at Gulliver’s Valley theme park saw thousands of toys donated to KidsOut, a charity supporting children affected by domestic abuse.
The four Gulliver’s parks around the country – including in the Rother Valley – stage a ‘Toy Bank Weekend’ each year, with entry discounted for families that bring a new, unused toy to donate.
This year’s event saw an incredible 2,625 toys collected across the four sites.
Phil Bracegirdle, resort manager at Gulliver’s Valley in the Rother Valley, said: “The children who receive these toys have been through some challenging circumstances and KidsOut is a charity we love to support.
“It was great to see the enthusiasm of our young visitors to donate toys during the weekend and our thanks go to all the families who helped us reach such a fantastic total.”
KidsOut is a national charity that supports thousands of these children by providing them with brand-new toys on arrival in refuge and again at Christmas.
It also takes them on fun days out.
The toys collected over the weekend will be included in the boxes of new toys that children receive when arriving in refuge so they have something to call their own.
Louise Sherwood, community engagement manager, at KidsOut said: “A massive thank you to everyone at Gulliver’s and their visitors across the four theme parks. The weekend was a tremendous success and the staff that helped on all sites were amazing. The donated toys will make such a difference to the children we support in Refuge.”
Toy Bank Weekend wasn’t the only big success at Gulliver’s Valley recently – Food Bank Weekend in May proved to be popular with visitors, with lots of much-needed supplies donated for New Hope Food Bank in Killamarsh, which provides emergency food to individuals and families who are in short-term crisis across the Rother Valley area.
Phil said: “So many toys and so much food donated over the two weekends, these events show what a fantastic community spirit there is among our visitors.”