Two-week holiday prize comes gift-wrapped
Dec 22 2008 by Tony Henderson, The Journal
A FAMILY from the North East has won Britain’s biggest Christmas present. It took 900ft of wrapping paper to enclose the 34ft x 40ft x 20ft gift, applied by a team of eight people over eight hours.
Finishing it off was a golden ribbon stretching 150ft and with a 6ft glittery bow!
Underneath the wrapping paper was a lodge containing tree, lights, decorations, hampers, toys and festive drink.
The enormous present on the shore of Windermere in the Lake District was the main prize in an online competition run by holiday park company White Cross Bay for a family who had suffered an “Annus Horriblis”.
The prize went to the Carr family of Sunderland who lost their figurehead when grandfather Robert Carr, 65, died.
During his last trip to his beloved Lake District in 2007, he fell ill on the first night and ended up in the local hospital for the duration of the stay. He died from cancer in April this year.
The family will now spend a two-week Christmas break in a luxury holiday lodge on the four-star White Cross Bay holiday park on Lake Windermere.
Widow Gloria Carr, 61, entered the competition because the prize would mean a much-needed family break which will include daughter Lisa Haan, 38, a dinner lady, and her partner Colin Hart, a forklift truck driver, of South Shields.
There to help rip off the wrapping paper and share in the prize were Lisa’s daughters Jessica Haan, 10, and Taylor Haan, eight, and Colin’s mother Joan Hart, 73.
Gloria said: “Christmas is a time of year you do feel emotional. I was dreading spending it at home or even at my daughter’s without my husband there.
“It will be nice to be somewhere that there are many happy memories for us all because Robert loved the Lakes so much. We fell in love with it in 1968 – a year after we were married. We loved the peace, quiet and the scenery of the Lakes.”
Caroline Guffogg, of White Cross Bay Holiday Park, said: “We were touched how the family had lost a loved one during what was already a tough year. We agreed they needed a proper family Christmas get-together where they could remember their grandad who loved the Lakes.”
