THE NATIONAL HOLIDAY FUND FOR SICK AND DISABLED CHILDREN
Trustees Annual Report For the Year ended 31st December 2006
Legal and Administrative Information
| Name of Charity | The National Holiday Fund For Sick and Disabled Children | ||
| Registered Number | 327714 | ||
| Governing Document | Trust Deed dated 30th January 1988 | ||
| Official Address | PO Box 44 Belvedere DA17 6WT |
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| Charitable Objective |
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| Names of Trustees |
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| Basis for appointing Trustees | New or replacement Trustees are appointed by the existing Trustees. There must be a minimum of three (3) Trustees. | ||
Officers of the Charity |
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| President | Sir Richard BRANSON | ||
| Vice President | Graham COLE | ||
| Founders | Malcolm Haddow MBE Liz Haddow MBE |
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| Medical Advisory Panel | Dr Mike NOWERS MBBS M.Phil MD FRCPsych Dr Carole BUCKLEY BSc MBBS DRCOG MRCGP |
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| Director | Malcolm HADDOW MBE | ||
| Assistant Director | Trevor TAYLOR | ||
| Manager Holiday Division | Liz HADDOW MBE | ||
| Consultant Travel Adviser | Sue KING | ||
| Bankers |
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| Accountant | Mr Alan CANDY | ||
| Examining Auditor | Mr Anthony GLENN FCA | ||
| Secretary & Minute Taker | Mrs Beverley Hodges | ||
| Disney Co-Coordinators | David VERNON Jackie VERNON |
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The Main Service of the Charity
- To take chronically or terminally ill children and temporarily or permanently physically disabled children, accompanied by appropriately qualified carers and fully qualified medical staff, on a unique international adventure, primarily to Florida, USA.
- In doing so parents, guardians and carers of those children have an opportunity to take a much needed respite, knowing their charges are having the best of care and continuity of medical attention while they are away from home. It also provides an opportunity to give extra or undivided attention to others in the family.
- Each holiday is of two weeks duration with a group normally consisting of twelve children, each of whom is accompanied by a carer. In addition there is an experienced group leader, a qualified Doctor and a senior nurse. All of the groups are fully insured with the children being individually assessed.
Organisation
The Charity works to a strict policy statement which deals with:-- General Principles
- Helper Selection and Training
- Criminal Records Bureau
- Equality Statement
- Care and Protection of Children
- Data Protection and Record Keeping
- Medical Reports.
All Officers and group personnel accompanying the children on the trips give their time and services free.
Alan Candy, an experienced accountant, is responsible for maintaining the accounts, which are audited.
The medical panel is based in Bristol and London.
Chairpersons Comments
As chairman of the trustees I would like to thank all our helpers and supporters for another extremely successful year. We have sent two trips this year. Costs have risen only slightly from previous years due to not only our group leader's careful use of our resources, but also our friends in America who kindly extend hospitality to our groups.
Our year closes with the splendid news of our founders Malcolm and Liz being awarded the MBE in the New Year's honours list.
Sue Tweedale
(Chairperson of Trustees)
Directors Report 2006
'Our fundraising this year was very disappointing and is something that we need to look at'. This was how my report for 2005 started, well, as a management team we did Just that and this year has been excellent. We have continued to retain our regular fundraising whilst Trinity Fundraising has given us another dimension. I hope we can continue into 2007 on the same scale.
We had two trips this year, one in April and one in November the details of which can be found in the report of the Manager of the Holiday Division.
We have now taken 363 children on these very special holidays at a cost in the region of three quarters of a million pound. Many, many people give up a lot of time in order for this Charity to function, the management team ensure that everything we do is transparent, as it always has been from day one back in 1987; they also ensure that our administration costs are kept to a minimum.
I also wish to mention our valiant team of helpers who give up their own holiday in order to accept a 24hr responsibility for one of our children. Many come back year after year in order that our children can be given the best possible experience whilst on the holiday.
Our two new Trustees, Alan Candy and Mark Haddow, have settled into their roles well and are proving an asset to the Charity. I also wish to thank all the Trustees for their effort and commitment throughout the year.
Our charity has now been in operation for 20 years and many hours of work at the beginning has ensured that the Charity has gone from strength to strength. Over the years people have left and new people have been taken on board, however the objects of the Charity have been maintained year after year.
It was therefore an unexpected pleasure and a great honour that Liz and I, as the Founders of the Charity, were both awarded an MBE in the Queens New Year Honours list. We could not have achieved this award without the help of many people who have been involved throughout the 20 years. We thank them all.
Malcolm Haddow MBE
Founder & Director
Report of the Manager of the Holiday Division 2006
In 2006 the NHF again successfully sent two trips and re-introducing rest days by extending the holidays back to the original 14 days.
The first in April led by Andy Price with Claire Tweedale in her first role as Senior Nurse and Matt Wilson as a new Doctor introduced to the Charity by the efforts of Dr Phil Squire, a former trustee.
Andy decided to make some slight changes to his itinerary and reintroduced Busch Gardens, leaving out Animal Kingdom. He also managed to persuade Roy Thornton that he would like to feed the group in the evening on their way back to the hotel. Roy took up the challenge in his usual way and much to everyone's delight he arranged a Police escort for the group from Busch to his house. By coincidence George Bush was visiting the area two days later and so the group served as a practice run for his guards and they had no qualms in blocking off the main I75 out of Tampa at rush hour. After all, as was stated by one of the helpers, "We are special"
Dulcie (Roy's wife) then came up with another first and invited children from the local school to attend and interact with the group children on a one-to-one basis. This did have mixed reaction but all in all it was a very memorable day. The holiday went without any hitches and because of dropping one Disney day plus David and Jackie Vernon donating their annual allocation of tickets the remaining three days did not cost the Charity any money.
In November Trevor Taylor was back in his Group Leader role and he took with him a new Senior Nurse, Eimear Jones, and a new Doctor, Pallavi Patanker. The three gelled together and made an excellent management team.
They reverted back to the original itinerary, so Busch was out and Animal Kingdom back in. They did however have to take a lot of teasing from NHF USA as the first day they visited Gatorland and that night it went on fire and burnt all the front of the park and closing it down. All Trevor could be heard saying was, "Nothing to do with us"
The week before the group arrived tragedy struck Lake County Sheriffs Office, when Sheriff Chris Daniels, a strong supporter of the Charity, was killed in a freak accident at a charity event raising money for children. This did put a doubt on the groups visit to the department, but in the end it was decided by the interim Sheriff that Chris would have wanted it to go ahead. It did and was the usual successful day.
One of the helpers on this group was Nicola LeVey, the Mother of Jonathan who was a child who had benefited from a holiday but unfortunately died soon after his return. Nicola was giving serious thought to becoming a Group Leader but wanted to go as a helper first in order to help her make up her mind. Unfortunately for us, although Nicola enjoyed the trip, she did find it very tiring and to quote her, "It is a job for younger people" and she has now declined the Group Leader role. Nicola and her husband Tony have always been strong supporters of the Charity and we look forward to their continued support with more insight into the hard work undertaken by the group personnel.
We are now looking forward, and are going to train another 'Team' making three in total in order to give us more flexibility. Once again I wish to extend a big thank you to all the people involved in the groups especially those who give up their time to accompany the children and work very hard for two weeks of their annual leave.
Liz Haddow MBE
Manager Holiday Division
The National Holiday Fund of the United States Inc.
News from over the pond In 2006 we were privileged to be involved in two groups who visited the USA in April and November. Once again we were able to obtain sponsorship for five days events and food, thus saving the Charity money. Our 501(c)(3) status still allows us to claim tax exemption.
Fundraising in the USA is proving to be difficult due to the fact that no US children are involved. However our cook books have sold well and although there a few left we have made a profit. We are managing to expand the Board of Directors and next year will be joined by Wesley Meadows who brings with him many connections in the fundraising area.
David and Jackie Vernon were successful in applying to Disney for a donation and we received $1000. This on top of their annual allocation of Disney tickets, which were donated to the Charity, has no doubt been a big factor in keeping the costs down this side of the pond.
Lake County Sheriff Chris Daniels was a big supporter of the Charity, but unfortunately he was tragically killed in November before the group arrived. The visit to the Sheriffs Office went ahead as usual and I feel having known Chris personally all my life that this is what he would have wanted. The newly appointed Sheriff, Gary Borders, has also been involved with the Charity and has pledged his continued support.
The Board of Directors would like to congratulate the Founders of the NHF, Malcolm and Liz, on their MBE's. Well folks that is my update from over here and all that remains is for me to wish y'all a successful new year
Andy Brenneis
Vice Chairman NHF USA