Background

The Cobweb Foundation was established as a result of our own personal experience of the unsuitability of holiday accommodation for families in which one or more members are disabled, and also the lack of help and support available to us - it was established with the intention to provide holidays for families in which a member of the family was either chronically sick or disabled. Over the last 10 years we have provided holidays for many families who because of circumstances have been unable to enjoy a family holiday for many years. .

Initially, we restored a derelict cottage near to Keith, to provide holiday accommodation (Parkhead Croft known as The Parkhead Project), starting work in 1994, the cottage took approximately two to three years to complete, with the work done by ourselves and some enthusiastic friends, and family volunteers, until they reached a standard we were happy with.

They are warm, comfortable, bright and cheerful, and have been carefully restored with accessibility as our first priority.

Both are fully accessible to wheelchairs;

We built the first cottage with the help of sponsorship from a few companies, national and local, but as word of what we were doing spread, we found more companies were prepared to come forward with sponsorship in one form or another. A second cottage, that is larger, has been restored by the same means,

From this simple beginning, the idea of the Cobweb Foundation grew, with the foundation becoming a registered charity (SC 029400)in 1999, and looking at how we could be most effective in addressing the issues that led to the formation of Cobweb.

The Cobweb Foundation aims to:

• provide holidays in suitable and appropriate accommodation for families who  have a disabled member and who would not otherwise be able to afford it  

• assist with the provision of necessary equipment and facilities to alleviate the difficulties faced by disabled people in their daily life

• raise awareness of the needs of disabled people

In September 2000, we opened an office in Dunfermline with the purpose of raising funds for the work of the Foundation, as well as promoting and assessing the need for free holidays at the Parkhead Project.  We are also starting to meet requests that the office has begun to receive, for help in purchasing the necessary aids needed by people in their homes, for advice and help with form filling, and quite often, just for a sympathetic ear. However, our ability to provide this service is limited by our existing capacity and resource availability.  

As the Foundation was founded as a result of the personal experience of the Directors we are able to bring first hand knowledge and experience to all of our activities. We were surprised at the number of families who stayed at our properties who were not receiving basic entitlements such as benefits, or were living in unsuitable houses, or had no knowledge of the living aids and/or services which would greatly improve the quality of their life

On a more long-term basis, the Foundation is looking to purchase a site, to open a disabled holiday and respite centre.  This centre aims to set the standard in the provision of leisure and holiday facilities, a “centre of excellence” which meets the needs of disabled people and which will also provide training to disabled and non-disabled people, so that these standards become widely disseminated.

We also intend to take fully into account the needs of the families and carers in a holiday situation by providing a caring service, to allow them some quality time of their own.

A survey of families with a disabled member carried out by the Cobweb Foundation, found that 90% did not think there was enough genuinely accessible holiday accommodation.  Many gave examples of accommodation that was advertised as “fully accessible” but which on arrival was not - for example there were steps or narrow doorways etc.

Many more also informed us that they did not go on holiday, as the cost was prohibitive. Because of responsibilities, many families with a severely disabled member are totally reliant on benefits.

Their families usually accompany children, but some have carers. Many of the children hadn’t had a holiday before they came to stay with us, some of them come from inner city areas, and had never visited the countryside, seen forests, the sea, or cows, sheep, horses, etc in real life.

We changed that.  

Since March 2000, the Cobweb Foundation has been subsidising holidays for such families.  We are able to provide equipment, and where required specialist aids.    As needs vary each cottage was adapted specifically for the use of the individual family using it at the time. During 2004 we allocated 72 weeks at the two cottages for use by families in which a member is disabled or chronically sick.

In 1994, when we started to convert Parkhead Croft to meet the needs of disabled people, we had little idea where it would lead us.  As we discussed the idea for the Cobweb Foundation with other people we were overwhelmed by the response, support and help offered. Over 4000 small businesses in Scotland have supported Cobweb, since its inception and other such diverse sponsors as, Barclays Bank, Phil Collins and Glasgow Rangers and Celtic football clubs have all helped us in one way or another.

Most importantly of all, many disabled people have welcomed our work and our vision and are actively supporting us.  

It's now time for us to move on, and we will hopefully be able to offer breaks in other locations in the near future.