STAFF of Butlin’s holiday resorts have raised £60,000 so far this year for the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) charity, with nearly half of it coming from Minehead alone.

The Minehead resort has seen £28,000 brought in by fund-raising events held since the start of 2025.

The money will go to GOSH’s appeal to build a new world-leading children’s cancer centre, for which Butlin’s aims to raise £1 million by 2028.

GOSH has been the company’s official charity partner for the past decade, although the relationship started in the 1970s when the holiday firm’s founder Sir Billy Butlin gave money to buy the UK’s first paediatric CT scanner for the hospital.

The Minehead team has fund-raised in numerous ways this year, including more than £1,800 by four members skydiving from 12,000 feet, £2,000 raised by teen cancer survivor and a former cast member Corey Foster, who ran in the London Marathon, and the sale of guitars signed by artists taking to the stage for Butlin’s Big Weekenders, which saw a record-breaking £3,000 in June with a guitar signed by artists from the Ultimate 80s Weekender.

The sale of guitars signed by artists playing at Butlin's Minehead Big Weekender's has been helping to build a new children's cancer centre for Great Ormond Street Hospital. PHOTO: Butlin's.
The sale of guitars signed by artists playing at Butlin's Minehead Big Weekender's has been helping to build a new children's cancer centre for Great Ormond Street Hospital. PHOTO: Butlin's. (Butlin's)

In addition, the Minehead team hosted an annual football tournament and a swimathon in the resort’s Splash Waterworld pool, with more than £1,500 achieved by the two events, as well as bake sales, lost property sales, and bingo nights.

The Minehead resort will host a headline fund-raising event on August 24 with what is set to be the resort’s largest ever annual ‘Family Fun Day’, featuring appearances and performances from Butlin’s own entertainment and characters, alongside games, arts, and crafts, and music.

Next month, 11 team members from Minehead will take on the ‘Pier to Pier’ challenge, a 26.4-mile walk from the Brighton Pier to the Bognor Regis Pier.

The team will join walkers from Butlin’s resorts in Bognor Regis and Skegness, and support office in Hertfordshire for the company’s largest ever fund-raising event.

Minehead resort director Craig Goodwin said: “I could not be prouder of the work and effort the whole team has put into organising and participating in the fantastic fund-raising events and activities so far this year.

A football tournament in Butlin's Minehead holiday resort was one of many fund-raising events this year to support Great Ormond Street Hospital. PHOTO: Butlin's.
A football tournament in Butlin's Minehead holiday resort was one of many fund-raising events this year to support Great Ormond Street Hospital. PHOTO: Butlin's. (Butlin's)

“The team has already raised an incredible amount for Great Ormond Street Hospital, and it is an amazing way to celebrate the 10-year partnership with our official charity partner.

“We have some great fund-raising events planned for the rest of 2025, pushing us closer to our £1 million goal by 2028.”

Construction of the GOSH children’s cancer centre began in June following four months of deconstructing an existing building.

The new centre will increase capacity by 20 per cent and will include digitally-advanced inpatient wards tailored to children with cancer, a new critical care unit, and a new hospital school.

It is set to transform cancer care for GOSH with the latest imaging equipment, including the UK’s only dedicated PET-CT scanner for children, as well as green spaces and a roof garden.

More information about the Butlin’s/GOSH charity relationship is available on the company’s website.