BREAKING NEWS!!!
ELLIE'S HAVEN TO BUY PROPERTY FOR CONVERSION

Ellie's Haven is a charity that plans to offer relief to families caring round-the-clock for children suffering long term and life limiting illnesses.

It plans to do this by offering free holidays so that families can spend quality time together away from their normal surroundings.  They’ll be able to relax and share experiences with other families and with Julie and Nigel Libby, the inspiration behind this project, who sadly lost two children to early deaths from complex medical conditions.

To this end, Ellie’s Haven plans to buy an existing property and convert it into a holiday haven in south-east Cornwall.   The haven will cater for up to two families at a time and the accommodation will be free of charge.

The charity recently agreed to buy a suitable property, subject to getting planning permission for a change of use.   It has already raised sufficient funds for the purchase but it still needs to raise a considerable additional sum to pay for the conversion work.
 
Ellie’s Haven hopes to be able to spell out further details of its plans once contracts have been exchanged.   If there are no hold-ups, conversion work on the property should start this year so that the charity can start offering holidays to eligible families in 2013.
 
A survey of prospective users indicates high demand for this non-medical centre, which is far less costly to establish and operate than a conventional children's hospice. However, it complements rather than competes with hospices, focusing on providing holidays for the whole family rather than medical care for the disabled child.
 
The charity gets its name from Ellie, Julie and Nigel’s daughter, who passed away on 5th January 2012, just a few weeks before her seventh birthday.