An appeal to provide free holidays for firefighters involved in the Grenfell Tower disaster has taken its first booking.
A London firefighter will stay at a Richmond holiday cottage after the stay was donated by the home’s owner.
Holidays in dozens of Yorkshire Dales B&Bs, holiday cottages, bunkbarns, hostels and guest houses were offered to the firefighters affected by the tragedy which claimed the lives of around 80 people.
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The offers followed an appeal by Susan Briggs, who runs the Masham-based marketing company The Tourism Network.
The firefighter, his partner and his dog will stay at Garden Cottage, in Richmond.
Owner Marcia McLuckie said: “When Susan Briggs emailed with her idea of offering holidays in the Yorkshire Dales to the Grenfell Tower firefighters, Dennis and I saw it as a brilliant way to help.
“It is easy to forget the people who have to deal with major catastrophes, and to focus solely on those most obviously in desperate need, but the impact on the men and women who are working in these terrible situations must be great. What the firefighters went through at Grenfell Tower must have been like Hell.”
She added: “We felt that a holiday in Richmond was a great way of giving something that might help, even if just a little, and to say thank you for all that the fire service does for us.
“We are so pleased that we can give something in return.”
Carrie Donoghue, from The Fire Fighter Charity, is liaising with firefighters and holiday providers.
She said: “The fire fighter was overwhelmed when I said that we had received these offers from members of the public and it was a lovely thing to be able to do.”
Offers came in from around the UK s well as the Yorkshire Dales, with somebody even offering a stay in their gite in the south of France.
In total, around 120 breaks have been donated.
