Charity hits £5m child holiday village target

Sam Fletcher-Goodwin, co-founder of Kids' Village said securing the funding feels like a dream

A charity founder who survived childhood cancer said she was "overwhelmed" to have reached a £5m target to build a holiday village for critically ill children and their families.

The Kids Village charity wants to provide free-of-charge respite breaks in ten lodges on land donated by a farming family in Wychnor, outside Lichfield.

One anonymous donor gifted £2.9m to the scheme. "When you say it out loud it seems unreal," said co-founder Sam Fletcher-Goodwin, who described reaching the target as "like a dream".

The charity is now hoping to open the "magical village", described as a UK first, in 2027, giving children and parents a space to "breathe, relax, have fun".

Kids Village was founded by Ms Fletcher-Goodwin and her parents after she was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 9.

Now 31, she said: "I just feel very, very grateful, grateful to be alive, and to be able to say we are doing this."

Ten lodges are planned for the site outside Lichfield

The 30-acre site is inspired by her family's visit to Give Kids the World Village (GKTW) in Florida when she was a child, something that gave her hope in the darkest moments.

"You could have ice cream anytime of the day, there was gifts on the door, your bedroom in the lodges were double the size of the adult's bedrooms," she told BBC Radio WM's Ed James, himself a trustee of the project.

She said it felt amazing to know they would be able to help take children in hospital to a place in the English countryside "so special, so magical".

"I am completely overwhelmed with both joy and gratitude that we have reached this milestone. It's been a really emotional time for me and my family, who have been dreaming of creating this for so long," she added.

Now that the capital funding had been achieved, the next target was to raise money to keep the village going and create the experiences for families, Ms Fletcher-Goodwin said.

"We are a teeny-tiny team trying to do something absolutely massive."