History

Holcot

Holcot (short for holiday cottage) is a strictly not-for-profit, Christian group holiday centre, set in the beautiful Kent countryside. It operates on a self-catering basis providing a homely, well-equipped, facility for groups of disadvantaged youngsters to come together for fun and friendship. Whilst part of the property dates back to the late 1800’s, Holcot itself was opened in July 1933 and the King George V Jubilee Trust Hall in 1935.

Further information on Holcot, including photos can be found on their website:

www.holcotgroupholidaycentre.co.uk

To make a booking enquiry/arrange a visit please email:

lesley@holcotgroupholidaycentre.co.uk

Charity Orgins

In December 1997 our founder, Frances Andrews, came together with a group of like-minded Christian friends to form an action group with the aim of preventing the sale and demolition of this much-loved place. Frances herself had ties with Holcot dating back to the 1930’s but it was not until the summer of 1985 that she took up the position of Warden, handing over the reins at the end of 1997 to her daughter Lesley, so she could devote all her time to saving the Centre.

It was just over two and a half years later, in the summer of 2000, that we joined forces with the John Coldman Charitable Trust who purchased Holcot and literally ‘saved it from the wrecking ball’. Whilst the debt we owe them can never be repaid, as our founding trustees promised, we have worked alongside them, tirelessly from the start, helping with some of the regular running costs and constantly fundraising to pay for the many renovation projects.

We would also like to acknowledge the encouragement and support we received from the charity commission as well as work done by our good friend Robert Dudgeon of Hilders Farmhouse who ensured that The Friends of Holcot Charitable Trust could become officially constituted in 2002.

Finally, our origin story would not be complete without paying tribute to another … Graham Coldman, MBE. Graham came into our lives when we were at our lowest and, for more than 20 years, he was our friend and our guide. When we needed advice, he was there and when we needed practical help, he was the first in line with a paint brush. He truly was our ‘knight in shining armour’ and will be forever missed.

Community Projects Origins

Frances was always looking for a new challenge and, even whilst all this was going on, she began raising funds to run completely free residential camps for children who never had holidays. These camps provided the opportunity for children from Frances’ old home town of Dagenham in Essex to come together with children from Edenbridge and were immensely popular.

However, she was also a practical woman and, having grown up in poverty, she was very aware that the money needed to run a week’s camp would easily pay for the children AND their families to have a few coach days out together and make some fantastic memories. So, by 2012, this little initiative evolved into our free memorable coach days out project.

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