Derbyshire widower makes memorial gift to Peak District children's holiday charity

Peter Savidge, who lives just outside Matlock in the village of Wensley, was reading this newspaper last month when he came across a story on Derbyshire Dales civic chairman David Burton and his work with Send A Child To Hucklow.

Councillor Burton is using his year in office to raise funds for the charity, which brings children to the Nightingale Centre in Great Hucklow for the kind of outdoor adventure break they might otherwise never get to enjoy.

Since her death two years ago, Peter had been looking for a way to create a legacy for his late wife, Sheila, and the news story gave him a brainwave.

He said: “I immediately thought, ‘yes – that's it.’ This is a really great thing for children to experience. Sheila was brought up in east London in the 1950s and never knew the countryside existed.

“Through a penny fund paid into by her granny she went on a two week holiday with other children on a farm near to Cirencester. The introduction to farm animals and the freedom of the countryside left such an impression that her love of the outdoors remained with her for all of her life.

“It was this love that focused our move to Derbyshire and her love of the outdoors and such lovely countryside, especially the Peak District.”

Peter made a generous offer of £1,000 to the charity – roughly the cost of providing four children with a five-day stay in Hucklow – and Cllr Burton met with him last week offer the charity’s thanks and invite him to visit the Nightingale Centre next year.

Cllr Burton said: “I always find it extremely moving when the children arrive at Great Hucklow and get off the coach. They are on another planet from where they've come from and it's honestly hard to keep the tears back. There's something very special about what is achieved there.”

Continuing the fundraising campaign, Derbyshire Dales District Council has now launched a donation page at https://tinyurl.com/4ed64nnh where anyone can support the chairman’s appeal.

To learn more about the charity, go to www.sendachildtohucklow.org.uk.

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