Thomas Cook staff reunite for 'final goodbye' at Suffolk holiday park

The holiday reunion will take place at Broadland Sands Holiday Park

Hundreds of former Thomas Cook staff will be reunited for a "final goodbye" after a holiday park offered them a free weekend break.

Up to 600 people, including staff and their families, will meet up at Broadland Sands Holiday Park in Suffolk in November.

One staff member said the break would give former colleagues the chance to make some happy memories.

The tour operator, which collapsed last month, employed 9,000 staff in the UK.

Within 24 hours of the offer being made by Park Holidays, all of the park's 150 holiday homes had been booked by former Thomas Cook staff. Most had been based at the company's Peterborough HQ.

Cat Atwell said the event would be a "proper goodbye" for former Thomas Cook colleagues

Cat Atwell, who had been a senior travel advisor at the firm and has helped organise the event, said: "So many people want to go because we were just told we didn't have a job, just like that. No-one got to have a final goodbye, it has been awful, everyone wants to go to spend some happy time with their colleagues."

"It is just for us and our families, a lot of people lost their holidays as well and wouldn't be able to go anywhere otherwise," she added.

Money will also be raised at the event for ABTA Lifeline, the charity that helped hundreds of staff members with emergency food vouchers and redundancy advice.

Park Holidays UK marketing director Geoff Barnes said: "As members of the holiday industry ourselves, we were also deeply saddened by the news and wanted to reach out to try and soften the blow in some way."

The holiday park has offered all of the accommodation for free and guests will also have access to leisure facilities.