Alan Johnson MP

Alan Johnson MP grew up in London and was orphaned at the age of 12.
It was around this time he found himself leaving on a CCHF trip he thinks was organised by his school: “It was the [...]   full story

Cindy Butts

Cindy Butts, deputy chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, learnt respect for other creatures when a CCHF holiday in 1979 brought her face to face with the first cow she had ever seen in her l [...]   full story

Wally Malins

Wally Malins was born in 1916, and grew up in Battersea, “one of thousands of young people born into hard times. “Our home was never free of kids - I was the oldest of eight brought up [...]   full story

Rose Little

This is me on the right with Barbara Powis, daughter of the lovely  family I stayed with in Colchester approx 1950.

As I lived in the East End it was lovely to see  the countrysid [...]   full story

Betty Gordon

For Betty Gordon, born in London’s East End a month after World War II broke out, the austerity of rationing was broken for two heavenly weeks in the summers of 1948 and 1949 by a feast of gl [...]   full story

Edith Walker

If it had not been for the chance of being a bridesmaid, Edith Walker would have spent her first CCHF holiday in 1930 in Grays, Essex - just a few miles away from where she lives now.

[...]   full story

Stella James

Stella James, took her first CCHF holiday aged 7. Now a young grandmother of 40, she always remebers her holidays with the Rew family in Brentwood, Essex.  “It was very rural back in the [...]   full story

Colleen Wilson

“I was born in Bethnal Green in the East End in 1936 and moved to South London where most of my [...]   full story

Yvonne Knowles

“I was born on the 22nd January 1953full story

Doris Brown Redgate

Doris was born in Acton, west London, in 1927 to a poor family, and never knew “such wonderful things as the beautiful Devonshire countrysi [...]   full story

Barabara Buckingham Stewart

“I had three CCHF holidays, starting in 1949, and my sister, Molly, two years younger, went wit [...]   full story

Ellen Green

“I was born in 1928 and lived at the Angel Islington with my grandmother, father and sister. My [...]   full story

Charles Green

I was never lucky enough to go on a holiday. I am just 81 and as a small boy lived in Stepney, East L [...]   full story

Jacqui Huckins

Jacqui Huckins and her husband Roy hosted  David and Roy Everson from Bermondsey in the summer of 1956, after Jacqui responded an appeal from her local  Women's Insittute in Combe, Oxford [...]   full story

Dora Zimmerman

In the 1940s my Aunt Dora (Mrs.S.Zimmerman) of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, h [...]   full story

Sally Biffa

“I first heard about CCHF from the headmaster of my son's school. He and his wife had children [...]   full story

Anne Robinson

Anne Robinson was intrigued when in 1992 she read of a need for Brentwood families to host inner-city children for two weeks of summertime fun and fresh air.

“We just had one c [...]   full story

Barbara George

“I was a host family in 1966/67. At that time I lived in Ramsgate in Ke [...]   full story

Dawn Simmonds

“I hosted three children during the sevent [...]   full story

Judy Nelson

Judy Nelson was responsible for several families in Addingham, near Ilkley in [...]   full story

Joan Gifford

As a young mother living near the golden sands of Bude, Joan Gifford was anxious to [...]   full story

Dr Bob Klaber

Dr. Bob Klaber was 15 when he decided to give up part of his summer holiday to help less fortunate children enjoy the magnificent grounds of Oundle School, his own year-long playground in Northampt [...]   full story

Ben Preston

About a year after graduating from Bristol University I was looking for a career change. I'd been working in the catering trade since uni but was [...]   full story

Grace Farrelly

“I volunteered with CCHF on about 9 or 10 holidays as both a supervisor [...]   full story