Holly’s Great Park Christmas Grotto to fund bereavement support for St Oswald’s Hospice families

If you are on the lookout for a fabulously festive family experience this December, look no further than Great Park estate and the home of young fundraiser Holly Peretti!

The very aptly named Holly, age 13  from Great Park, Newcastle has chosen to take on some festive fundraising this year as part of her Duke of Edinburgh Award – by turning her garden into a winter wonderland support of St Oswald’s Hospice!

Holly and family, including mum Chantalle, dad Richard and younger brother Charlie, age 11, have worked hard to create a spectacular display outside their Newcastle home and are encouraging their community to pay a visit. Even their puppy Arlo is getting in on the action, sporting a range of festive knitwear to greet visitors!

Featuring twinkling lights displays, cute inflatable characters and more Christmas trees than a small forest, visitors to Hollys Grotto are in for a Christmas cracker!  Holly’s own ‘North Pole of the North East’ has new things to discover around every corner.

And of course, there is Santa’s Grotto, where the main man himself will make an appearance this coming Saturday  7^th December.

Holly’s family have supported our hospice in the past and she wanted to do some fundraising for us at Christmas. Her idea came to life after her family decorated the outside of their house for Halloween and got lots of positive comments from local residents. The family decide to go all out and create a magical place for other families to visit, turning their garden into a winter wonderland and their shed into a cosy Grotto, complete with fireplace, lights and other decorations.

Dad Richard Peretti who works for the North East Ambulance Service said:

“We like to support local charities as a family and St Oswald’s does so much for our community. Holly sadly lost her Nanny around ten years ago and received bereavement support from another organisation which really helped her. When she saw that St Oswald ‘s Hospice was running a Christmas appeal to raise funds to pay for bereavement support sessions, she really wanted to help. Our family enjoy going for a drive at this time of year and spotting the decorated houses, so this year we thought we would give it a go ourselves.”

Holly has already hosted a fundraising stall in Great Park Morrisons, selling Christmas gifts, pin badges and books and plans to hold a non-uniform day at her school, Great Park Academy, where she will present to her students about the work of the hospice. But it is her Grotto that she hopes will capture the hearts of her community and help her raise the £450 she needs to fund 30 bereavement support sessions for adults and children.

Holly hopes to raise money towards the our recently launched ’12 Ways of Christmas’ appeal, to fund 12 items or services on our festive wish list. One of the items on the list are bereavement sessions to support children and adults who have lost a loved one. It costs £450 to fund 30 of these one-on-one sessions, which offers support to people from across the North East who are struggling with grief and loss.

Holly said “I wanted to raise enough money to help those who are in a position like me when my nanny died. St Oswald’s Hospice is an amazing charity, and I just hope I can do it justice. I have loved seeing people visit my Santa’s Grotto and Winter Wonderland, seeing their happy faces make me smile”

Visit Holly’s Grotto – and see Santa!

Holly’s Christmas Grotto can be found at 22 Shotton View, Great Park Newcastle  NE13 9DE. The lights will be switched on daily from 4pm – 8pm and everyone is welcome to drop in and visit. Those wishing to donate to Holly’s fundraising efforts in person can put their change into the wishing well in the garden or scan the QR code using their phone. Holly has also got her own JustGiving Fundraising page which can be found at: Richard Peretti is fundraising for St Oswald’s Hospice Limited

For those planning to visit over the weekend, Santa will be making an appearance on Saturday 7^th December from 12pm – 3pm. Cakes and hot chocolates will be served by Elf Holly and her family and they ask for a £5 donation per child to visit Santa, with each child receiving a small gift. All money raised will support the our  Christmas Appeal. Hollys family have asked that anyone wanting to visit Santa  message the event Facebook page with the time they would like come and how many children are visiting, so they have idea of numbers.

A huge thank you to Holly for coming up with this magical way to support St Oswald’s Hospice patients and families.