Charity of the Year

NOVA Children's Project and Tree of Hope

Each year a charity is nominated by the children, and 25% of all funds raised by Friends of Holmewood are donated to this charity. Throughout the year the charity is invited to come along to the events. Due to Covid, it was decided to extend the support to NOVA for an additional period, closing in June 2023.

NOVA Children’s Project, based in Southborough, is a specialist short breaks service for children and young people who have moderate to severe learning disabilities. They believe no child should miss out on accessing activities and experiences due to their disability, and the children have fun, socialise and develop their independence in a safe and friendly environment, whilst giving parents a much-needed break.

Before the end of the Summer term, the children voted in the new charity, Tree of Hope. Tree of Hope is a small children’s healthcare charity, based in Tunbridge Wells.  They help families who have children with long term health conditions or disabilities in the UK, to improve their health and quality of life by supporting their family to fundraise for specialist care that is not freely available through the UK healthcare system.

The children supported are all individuals with no two sets of needs the same, and the children who need help often tend to be those with either very rare conditions or complex needs, although there are some exceptions of straightforward conditions that the NHS are just unable to help fund.