#holidaysforgood - Help us to help refugees
Donate £25 and to say thanks, you’ll have the chance of winning a holiday! Can we reach £50,000?
The refugee crisis isn’t going away. There’s no obvious solution, but we feel we need to act - a human response to a human problem.
We've curated an extra-special selection of holidays and a wonderful first prize, for such an important cause. One lucky person will get to stay at four Sawday's and Sawday’s Canopy & Stars Special Places. Where you go is up to you. The first prize is worth as much as £3,500.
You’ll be able to choose your favourite four from over 75 places across the UK. From Canopy & Stars treehouses, yurts, cabins and boats, to Sawday’s cosy pubs, self-catering barns, coastal cottages, grand manor houses and quirky B&Bs. Places with character, warmth and charm. All run by lovely people, who care.
But we also have, entirely thanks to our wonderful and generous owners, 70 runner-up stays at an irresistible selection of places across the UK. From the quirky and rustic to luxury, these holidays are up to £1,000 in value and over £20,000 in total.
Why are we doing this?
The refugee situation across Europe is desperate and we feel compelled to try to help. So we've got together with our owners to support a vital camp shelter building project in Dunkirk. And we are now asking our wider community of guests to help make this happen.
Our original target was to raise over £25,000 and so create shelter for over 170 people. In less than two weeks we increased the target to £35,000 enough to create 60 shelters and help 240 people. Now, only seven days later, we have been so completely overwhelmed with the response to this campaign that we are asking: Can we hit £50,000 and help 345 people?
100% of money raised will go to Help Refugees, a brilliant UK-based charity who are the building partner of Médecins Sans Frontières. They are building much-needed shelters, kitchens and community spaces in this new camp.
Thousands of people who have fled war, violent regimes and the very real threat of terrorism in their own countries, and who wish to seek asylum in the UK, are living in the Calais and Dunkirk camps. They are living in inhumane conditions, and the ‘official’ community is doing precious little to help.
There are many grassroots organisations doing incredible work in response to the global refugee crisis, supporting displaced people in conditions which we would find impossible. We want to focus this fundraising effort on one specific project, with tangible results, so you can see exactly where your donations are going. We have thoroughly researched the best way of supporting the refugee crisis, and I have been over there to see for myself, so this is our considered response. If the situation changes dramatically in Dunkirk, then we will divert funds to another Help Refugees project within Europe.
What’s it like in Calais and Dunkirk
There are thousands of women, children, and young and old men living in totally inadequate tents and shelters. In strong winds these are easily blown down; when it rains they get wet inside causing bedding and clothes to be soaked through; in temperatures below freezing they do nothing to keep inhabitants warm, and fires spread quickly because the plastic is highly flammable.
Refugees living in these camps are especially susceptible to illness because of the cold, damp conditions and the inability to dry clothes. They cannot warm up and recover after falling ill. New-born babies are living in these conditions, and some have had to be rushed to hospital. There has been wide-spread scabies in the camp as well as measles and other contagious infections. Shamefully, the French and British Governments’ response has been to build higher barriers, demolish large sections of the camps and increase police violence - on helpless people escaping war and inhumane regimes in their own countries.
If you need any more of a reason WHY it's so important to help, then please watch this brilliant film by Jim Kroft.
The situation, and the arguments around it, are complex. The case for effective support to fellow human beings is simple.
What we hope to raise and the impact it will have
Through our community of guests and owners we aimed to raise £20,000. To this amount Sawday’s and Canopy & Stars have donated an additional £5,000. In less than two weeks we increased our original target to £35,000 enough to create 60 shelters and help 240 people. Now, only seven days later, we have been so completely overwhelmed with the response to this campaign that we are asking: Can we hit £50,000 and help 345 people?
By giving £25 or more you will be entered into the free-prize draw, but if you'd rather donate a lower amount we'd be so grateful for whatever you can give. Donations start from £10.
The difference this will make to those living in Dunkirk is huge. One thoroughly insulated, solid-walled, durable shelter, suitable for a family or four adults, costs £580. If you'd like to donate a shelter for four, please click on the £580 donation button.
Not because anyone wants to stay in these camps forever but because we believe these people deserve to live in a dignified way, with a roof over their heads and a door that can be locked at night.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and we so hope you can help us to help refugees. Please donate now.
Donate now
Best wishes and thanks in advance.
Alastair Sawday
Founder Director of Sawday's and Canopy & Stars
Our generous owners supporting this campaign and the holiday prize selection
South East
*Wriggly Tin – 3 night stay for 2 people in a shepherd’s hut
Beechwood – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
Vintage Vacations Airstream – 3 night stay for 4 people in an airstream
7 Longport – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
Nut Plat Retreat – 2 night stay for 2 people in a living van
Barclay Farmhouse – 1 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
Snoadhill Cottage – 1 night stay for 4 people in a B&B
The Georgian Flat – 4 night stay for 2 people in an apartment
*31 Rowan Road – 1 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*The Dairy at Streat Place Barn – 3 night stay for 2 people in a cottage
Glottenham Castle – 4 night stay for 5 people in a yurt & geodome
Swan House – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*The Ship Inn – 2 night stay for 2 people in an inn
South West
Harptree Court – 1 night stay for 2 people in a treehouse
The Oakhouse – 3 night stay for 2 people in a cabin
Home Orchard Cabin – 2 night stay for 2 people in a cabin
Bramblewood Yurt – 2 night stay for 2 people in a yurt
Quiet of Stars – 3 night stay for 2 people in a cabin
Tregerrin Barns – 3 night stay for 4 people in a cottage
Trewithen Tabernacle – 2 night stay for 2 people in a tabernacle
The Wild De Go – 2 night stay for 2 people on a boat
The Hideaway – 3 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*The Batmans Summerhouse – 2 night stay for 5 people in a cabin
*Bulleigh Barton Manor – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
Leewood – 2 night stay for 2 people in a safari tent
*The Lamb Inn – 1 night stays for 2 people in an inn
The Old Forge – 2 night stay for 2 people in a shepherd’s hut
The Anchor Inn – 1 night stay for 2 people in an inn
*The Gate House – 4 night stay for 10 people in a house & cottage
Mundays Meadow – 2 night stay for 10 people in a camp
Lower Wiggold Cottage – a 3 night stay for 4 people in a cottage
Lima/Posey – 2 night stay for 2 people in a shepherd’s hut
*St Anne’s – 1 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
The Stables – 2 night stay for 4 people in a cottage
Jericho – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*The Beeches – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
Crooks View – 2 night stay for 2 people in a shepherd’s hut
*Huntstile Organic Farm – 5 night stay for 4-6 people in a B&B or cottage
Puckshipton Arkette – 2 night stay for 2 people in a wagon
Rushall Manor – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
East
Little Gatley – 3 night stay for 2 people in a cottage
*The Barn, Tudor Lodgings – 3 night stay for 2 people in a barn
*Mill Farm Hay Barn – 3 night stay for 2 people in a barn
*Washingford House – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*The Stable at Belle Grove – 3 night stay for 2 people in a stable
East Midlands
*Mappleton Manor – 3 night stay for 6 people in a house
*The Gathering – 4 night stay for 6 people in a safari tent
*The Gorse House – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
The Old Rectory – 1 night stay for 4 people in a B&B
North
No 1 Harrogate – 2 night stays for 2 people in a B&B
North Shire – 3 night stay for 4 people in a hobbit house
Copper Beech Glade – 2 night stay for 7 people in 3 gypsy caravans
Ellerbeck House – 3 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*St Aidan’s – 2 night stay for 4 people in a chapel
*Thorpe Hall – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
Ponden Hall – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*Nether Westwick – 3 night stay for 2 people in a cottage
Wales
Plas Efenechtyd Cottage B&B – 1 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*Hen Dy, Nanhoron – 7 night stay for 7 people in a house
*The Slate Shed at Graig Wen – 1 night stay for 2 people at a B&B
Penhein Glamping – 7 night stay for 6 people in a tent
*Little Oasis Pandy – 2 night for 2-4 people in a railway carriage or Gypsy wagon
*The Old Vicarage B&B – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
Come By – 3 night stay for 2 people in a Shepherd’s Hut
*The Sleepout – 2 night stay for 2 people in a cabin
Kinton Cloud-House – 2 night stay for 2 people in a yurt
Old Larch Yurt – 2 night stay for 2 people in a yurt
Scotland
Brockloch Treehouse – 2 night stay for 2 in a treehouse
*Melville Terrace – 3 night stay for 4 people in an apartment
Kincaple Stables – 3 night stay for 4 people in a cottage
*The Keepers Cottage – 7 night stay for 4 people in a cottage
*The Lochan Shepherd’s Hut – 2 night stay for 2 people in a shepherd’s hut
*The Peatcutter’s Croft – 2 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
*Mackeanston House – 1 night stay for 2 people in a B&B
* denotes pet friendly
Read the full prize draw terms and conditions here.