Mum-of-three Keely lives in Essex with her partner and three children, aged between four and twelve. She was referred for a holiday with Family Holiday Charity by her local Voluntary Action group who are based at the food bank that she visits from time to time.
Keely has just started up her own business running a pet stall selling natural supplements and offering specialist allergy and dietary advice for animals. “I need a job that works around my family, that’s the most important thing, so that I’m there after school and at mealtimes.”
Until recently, she had always been able to keep up with the household bills but the spike in energy prices over the last couple of years had a major impact on the family when her energy supplier went bust.
I’ve never been in debt before in my life.
"Because the gas prices went up, I kept ringing my supplier to ask them to increase my payments, but they just said that they were moving me to a new company. And one day I got a letter saying that I owed £1000! It wasn’t even my fault; I’ve always paid my bills. So, I got onto the ombudsman and Citizen’s Advice and eventually we sorted it out but it really affected my mental health."
I’ve got a complicated family because my middle child is autistic and non-verbal. He needs constant care and two eyes on him all the time. The other two children help care for their brother and it’s not really a responsibility they should be taking on that young. Everyone gets affected by it and we’re exhausted as parents. So, on the holiday, all I wanted to do was relax.
Keely picked Breydon Water Holiday Park because “we wanted to go somewhere that was a holiday destination but we also have to be careful because my son’s a bit of an escape artist so I didn’t want us to be too close to the sea. I’m glad we went there; we really want to go back.
My daughter made a bunny rabbit, and my older son went kayaking. We entered into this competition in the clubhouse and I got chosen to go up on stage. It was hilarious. I had to throw some flipflops and the other person had to catch them and whoever caught the most flipflops won a holiday. I only won a sticker in the end so that was really funny, and my son recorded it all. I was showing the video to someone the other day so it’s still bringing back memories even now.
On the last day, we went on the pleasure beach rides and had fish and chips by the sea. There was an Easter pool party that the kids liked. There was a nice little family walk that we did up to a Roman castle which was interesting. Spending that time together was special, we had fun everywhere.
We were more relaxed when we got back, especially because it was a successful holiday and my son didn’t run away or anything! There wasn’t any stress"
I would definitely consider taking the kids away again if I could. It made us realise that we really needed a break and to create new memories.
