Travel firm saves Neston charity's Lapland trip

Neston-based Northern Lights, which has been taking children with life-limiting illnesses to meet Santa for 30 years, had booked this year's five-day festive get-away with the airline, which went into administration last week.

The crisis left the charity with no flights, hotel or activities for a party of 32, including 20 children.

Northern Lights committee members spent all morning on the day of Monarch’s announcement trying desperately to make alternative arrangements to ensure the children would still be able to enjoy the magic of Lapland.

But after speaking with several travel companies specialising in Lapland trips and searching for a holiday online, they were struggling to make any progress.

In a last-ditch attempt to find a solution, Northern Lights chair Karen Jones contacted Niamh Daly from travel firm Perfect Getaways, which has a branch in Neston.

The company rallied round – owner Nicola Palmer pitched in while Shirley Daly led the search – and managed to come up with everything the charity needed.

Karen said: “Nothing was too much trouble for them and they made numerous calls to ensure that our specific requirements would be met for the 20 children travelling.”

Although the group will now travel from Doncaster Airport with further details still needing to be finalised, Perfect Getaways have ensured Northern Lights’ 30th anniversary trip to Lapland will still go ahead.

Karen added: “We would not hesitate to use Perfect Getaways for our future travel needs and we hope to build on this relationship.”

Alan Johnson, Lapland co-ordinator for Northern Lights, said: “What a great new asset to Neston who opened at just the right time. Thanks to Perfect Getaways, the hunt for Santa is still on!”

Monarch Airlines, who reported a loss of £291 million for the year to October 2016, ceased trading last week, leaving 110,000 holidaymakers stranded abroad.

A total of 300,000 future bookings were cancelled.