Family weekend in Littlehampton with the London & Southeast Burn Services
At the end of September, the Children’s Burns Trust welcomed six families to Marine Court in Littlehampton for another fun packed family weekend.
Eleven staff and volunteers from the London and Southeast burns services came together to support another wonderful programme to ensure that that the children and their parents had fun, whilst also being supported with their ongoing recovery following the impact of a burn injury in their lives.
Despite waking up to heavy rain on Friday morning the clouds cleared for a lovely day at Fishers farm. The children and parents enjoyed the challenges of the climbing wall the barrel bug safari, the ghost train and the giant jumping pillows and the staff were happy to join in with the fun too. We visited the animals and enjoyed a ride around the farm on the tractor-trailer.
On Saturday morning the children enjoyed a trip to the park and a ride on the steam train at the miniature railway, followed by well-deserved ice creams all round, whilst the parent’s attended sessions on scar management and wellbeing in the comfort of Marine Court.
In the afternoon everyone enjoyed time on the beach, and whilst a few were brave enough to go for a swim, others enjoyed a paddle and a small group built a wonderful sand fish, decorated with shells and stones.
Back at Marine Court the children loved the swimming pool sessions and these were followed by art and craft sessions and outdoor play activities.
On Saturday evening the children were entertained by Jonathon’s Punch & Judy show, magic tricks and balloon animal making and then everyone came together for Martins musical quiz and evening games session.
The feedback from the families who attended has been joyful to read, and reinforces the importance of these events for all those who attend.
“Our family just wanted to express our thanks and appreciation for the wonderful weekend and care you all showed to us following our daughters’ burn incident back in March 2022.
Mum, Dad and their two daughters who attended the family weekend. Before we came to the Children’s Burn Trust Weekend, we were uncertain of what to expect and daunted by the fear of the unknown but you were all so kind and reassuring from the moment when we arrived at the Fishers Farm, which took away our apprehension. During our weekend we were able to meet other families and share our fears, anguish, compassion and hopes with the knowledge and expertise provided by the staff. We felt open and confident to talk and gain experience from them and the other families.”
A huge thank you to the Fire Fighters Charity for the use of the wonderful facilities at Marine Court and to Trudi and the staff on duty over the weekend for looking after us all so well.
