Christmas cheer for bereaved youngsters in Shrewsbury
More than 100 bereaved children came together in Shrewsbury at the weekend as a charity hosted its sixth annual Christmas Party celebrations.
Members gathered with their families at the Boreatton Park PGL adventure centre near Shrewsbury for a day filled with fun, laughter, snow and lots of slime.
The celebrations were hosted by Scotty’s Little Soldiers – the charity on a mission to help children who have lost a parent in the Armed Forces smile again.
The children started their day with a group treasure hunt, giving new members the opportunity to meet and to get to know their fellow little soldiers. They were all then divided into five teams and taken on a magical adventure.
Each member travelled through six different themed rooms, including a ball pit room containing over 60,000 balls; a curly wurly room where stretching and curling were the name of the game; Mrs Claus’s kitchen where Christmas pudding was top of the menu; a slime room bursting with different kinds of slime; a UV Crazy room with UV face paint, 'fear pong' and UV twister and then finally, a snow filled Winter Wonderland.
Santa also stopped by to meet the children and provide them with an early Christmas gift.
One Scotty’s member enjoying the fun was 13-year-old Joshua Kirkham from Telford. Josh, who joined Scotty’s Little Soldiers in July 2014, was just six-years-old when he lost his dad, Lance Corporal Christopher Bradshaw, after he was killed in a road traffic incident in 2011.
His mum, Sabrina Kirkham said: “This year’s party was the best yet. It ticked all the boxes and included something for everyone. Josh particularly loved the hands-on activities, especially the ball pit. He was ecstatic afterwards.
“It’s absolutely amazing how Scotty’s does it, they manage to keep the special bonds going year after year, and you really do feel part of one big family. They manage to capture in one day, for me, the true meaning of Christmas.”
Nikki Scott, the founder of the charity, is determined to make each party bigger and better every year. She said: “Christmas is one of the most difficult times for our members, so the Christmas party is a chance for them all to come together and enjoy time celebrating the festive season. For some of our beneficiaries it is the first Christmas without one of their parents so it’s even more important they realise they are not alone and there are other children going through the same experience as they are.
“We see some really special bonds created between our members at events like this, friendships which will last a lifetime. It’s also a great opportunity for their surviving parent to meet other parents and share experiences and advice. For us, events like the Christmas Party are so important as they help us to engage with bereaved families and build a trust which opens opportunities to provide further assistance through our SUPPORT and STRIDES programmes.”
