Haven Raised (GBP)78,000 to Support BBC Children in Need With Holiday Park Charity Events

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire - Oct. 31, 2012) - In February of this year Haven announced their commitment to raising GBP 100,000 for BBC Children in Need before the appeal show on 16 November. As the largest holiday company in the UK with 35 parks all around the country, Haven will be part of different competitions to help raise money for charity.

Naomi Woodstock, Charity coordinator for the brand said, "We decided to work with BBC Children in Need as they help a large number of small individual charities all around the UK. As soon as it was announced, the teams both on park and in the central support team immediately came up with some amazing and ambitious ideas."

Some of the team at Devon Cliffs Holiday Park in Exmouth swam the channel, from Dover to Calais, on 7th September. This included General Manager Dave Bennett whose run marathons before but never attempted anything like this. He said: "It was a massive challenge but we trained hard and it paid off. This is a great achievement as we raised money for a worthy cause." The team raised nearly GBP 4,000 which was distributed amongst charities, including BBC Children in Need.

Team members from Perran Sands and Riviere Sands joined together for a triathlon. One team swam from St Ives to Riviere Sands, another cycled from Riviere Sands to Portreath and the last team walked from Portreath to Perran Sands along the coastal path. General Manager June Donnery, who took part in the swimming task of the triathlon, said: "The majority of us are not sporty and, to be honest, hadn't had a lot of time to do any training but we all encouraged and supported one another." The task took them from 8.30am until 7.00pm and they raised nearly GBP 6,000, all of which will go to BBC Children in Need.

Other activities range from bake off sales to a dance marathon, pyjama marathons to sky diving, summer fetes to zumba-a-thons all take place on Haven parks up and down the UK.

Haven are opening their lines up to take appeal calls on the night in their call centre in Hemel Hempstead. Team members are volunteering to man the phones and Pudsey Bear will be on hand along with some Haven characters to keep them going through the night.

John Dunford CEO for Haven stated the creativity and commitment from the team and the support from the guests and owners on park has been overwhelming.

There are many more events planned at different Haven parks in the lead up to BBC Children in Need on Friday, 16 November. Contact individual parks or go through Haven's social media channels www.facebook.com/havenholidays or www.twitter.com/haven to find out about specific events. Get involved and have fun helping a charity that will make sure your donation is put to good use.

For more information contact Havenpressoffice@haven.com or call on 01442 868010.

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