Holiday Rush

Retired people in the South West have been booking holidays for later in the year in large numbers after receiving their vaccinations, according to the region’s leading coach operator Bakers Dolphin.

Confidence is returning that the tourism market will bounce back after Easter with online and telephone bookings rocketing in the last week.

Amanda Harrington, Sales and Marketing Director for Bakers Dolphin said: “It seems as if the first thing people do when they return home after receiving the Covid-19 protection is to start booking a holiday to look forward to.

“We are also getting so many requests for day excursions that that we are rushing out a special Day’s Out brochure in the next few weeks with ideas for trips to Stately Homes, gardens, museums and great scenery.

“Many people missed out on holidays and now want to get away as soon as they can. It is difficult for us to plan at the moment as we do not know when restrictions will be lifted. Bookings are very strong for resorts in Cornwall and the South West and also for Scotland. 6 “We are finding they are less strong for overseas, but people are keen to get into Italy, Spain and Austria on tours as soon as the regulations allow.”

Since last March Bakers Dolphin has found that people are willing to book ahead and then change if necessary or have a refund when circumstances dictate. They know their money is safe as Bakers Dolphin is a bonded company, and are flexible with a choice of money back, re-booking or refund vouchers when tours have been cancelled due to restrictions.

The coach operators are now expecting 2021 to be a bumper year for holidays once the vaccine roll-out is completed and Government ends all restrictions.

Amanda Harrington said: “The strongest takeup is for holidays in July, August and beyond but we still have people keen to go away at Easter if they possibly can.” Bakers Dolphin prefer bookings to be made through their website: www.bakersdolphin.com but telephone bookings are still being taken by staff working from home. Shops in Broadmead and Westonsuper-Mare are currently closed.

5 Tips on how to help children during lockdown

After a year of disruption to the lives of our children and their education, the announcement of the latest lockdown would have raised concerns about the re-introduction of home-schooling for the coming weeks.

However, it is possible to make this period as successful as possible without having an adverse effect on your child’s development and education. We’d like to share with you a few tips that we hope will be helpful for your children and the family as a whole.

Tip 1 (Keep Children Organised)

As we know, children need some form of structure and boundaries, this is especially true during challenging times like these.

Look at producing a schedule and keep a routine: plan a daily or weekly schedule together, or give them the chance to create one for themselves.

You could look at adding meal-times, school work, play, chores or anything you can think of to make the structure of the day helpful for your family.

Tip 2 (Keep Children Learning)

Whether online or home schooled, using fun and creative ways at home to learn can support your children’s development – and of The BBC will be broadcasting a number of educational lessons to suit many age groups throughout this lockdown period. Click here to find out when lessons will be broadcast.

Tip 3 (Keep Children Active & Busy)

Physical activity is important for children’s health and well-being. There are plenty of things you can do at home as a family to stay active and have fun. We can keep them active with chores and helping out in family activities such as cooking and cleaning. Maybe using your allocated time period of exercise to take a family walk or utilise your indoor space to take part in some online physical activities. The Premier League ‘Super Movers’ initiative is a great way of being able to keep active at home. Check out the different videos that you can do with your children by clicking here.

Tip 4 (Keep Children Creative)

Staying at home can quickly become boring and young brains need challenges and opportunities to grow. Keep children’s minds alert and interested by organizing time and activities to encourage their creativity. Whether it’s allocating time to draw, paint, write or read, making sure that your children are creative will help to keep them away from boredom.

Tip 5 (Keep Children Healthy)

Children need healthy and balanced diet to grow and develop. A healthy diet is more important than ever right now, as children need to maintain their immunity and keep a balance with limited physical exercise. If you need to home-school, then maybe you can incorporate the cooking of a healthy meal as part of your schedule. This could be an opportunity for children to try new fruit, vegetables and new recipes. You may find that your choice favourite family meals could increase dramatically. Keep a check on comfort eating though, especially sugars and processed foods.

As difficult as these times are for us all, we do have an opportunity to turn our family life into a positive by making healthy changes to our lifestyles and helping to educate our children in a different way.