A LEISURE company giant has stepped in to ensure more than 50 children from Grange Park can go on holiday this summer - many of them for the first time.

Whitbread donated £500 to the Grange Park Play Scheme to send the children to Butlins in Pwhelli for a week.

It looked as though the holiday, organised by the Grange Park Play Scheme's voluntary committee, was going to be cancelled when money for the trip couldn't be raised.

But thanks to the donation from Whitbread and local businesses Ron Reddy's Butchers, Blackpool Catering Equipment and William Pye Construction, the children will be leaving for North Wales on August 15.

Chairman of the voluntary committee Councillor Les Kersh said: "Many of us take going on holiday for granted but for a lot of these children it will be their first time.

"The holiday would not be possible but for the generosity of these companies. The children are from one of the most deprived areas of Blackpool and they would not normally get the chance to go away."

Whitbread's donation came through its Whitbread in the Community programme, designed to involve the leisure group in community and education initiatives in the North West.

Jonathan Haigh, responsible for Whitbread's property development in Fylde, will gave the children a special treat for the journey before they set off.

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