Tag Archives: christmas

Sparkling Sundays at Babbacombe Cliff Railway

Take the little ones for a ride on Babbacombe Cliff Railway this year and visit the Station down at Oddicombe Beach where they can write their letter to Father Christmas. With elves, a singing polar bear and plenty of festive spirit this lovely event is something a little bit different from what’s on offer elsewhere in the bay.

Both stations and the carriages will be decorated, sparkling and ready for lots of Christmas cheer and the Top Station will once again feature the spectacular Cliff Railway Sleigh and Reindeer, ideal for some very festive photo opportunities before travelling down to the beach.

On arrival at the bottom the children will have a chance to write and post their letter Santa with plenty of help. There will be mulled wine and mince pies for accompanying adults and some special little gifts for the children to take home. The event is being run with the much appreciated support of the Friends of Babbacombe Cliff Railway and the St Marychurch branch of Sainsbury’s.

This special event in the run up to Christmas will run on the three Sundays in the December, the 7th, 14th and 21st from 11am to 3pm. Tickets are just £2.50 per child and the normal £2 return price per adult. The Cliff Railway team look forward to seeing you soon. Oh, and don’t forget your camera for some pictures of the children with the wonderful sleigh. For more information visit www.babbacombecliffrailway.co.uk or www.facebook.com/babbcliffrail

Charity Christmas Card Competition

Children throughout Torbay have been invited to design a very special Christmas card. The winning designs will be used by local charity, Torbay Holiday Helpers Network, next year.

THHN provides free fun filled holidays for families who have seriously ill children, families who are bereaved; having lost a child or parent and families who have a terminally ill parent . Set up just over five years ago by Luke Tillen, the charity now works with scores of local accommodation providers, businesses, attractions and groups to provide very special holidays for very special families who are having an unbelievably difficult time.

Roger Matthews and Rebecca Davies, part of the THHN team, decided that it would be nice to involve local children and primary schools in a project to help design a Christmas card for them to use next year. Children in Reception to Year 6 are being encouraged to come up with a design that they think represents Torbay. THHN Founder and Chairman, Luke Tillen, said “We’re really excited about getting local children involved in this project. Over the past five years many of the local schools have done fundraising for us or got involved in some of our events and the children are always so supportive. They really seem to appreciate how lucky they are when they hear about the children in the families that we provide holidays for. Their generosity of spirit never ceases to amaze me.” He added “We’re very much looking forward to seeing what designs they come up with and quite what they think represents Torbay.”

The charity has once again teamed up with one of their biggest supporters, Babbacombe Model Village. Everyone who enters will be in with a chance to win a trip to the Model Village for their entire class and the child who creates the winning design from their year group will also get to take their class for a fantastic visit to see the little folk of Babbacombe and receive a visit from THHN Memory Maker Man. From the six finalists, three winners will be chosen and their design will go into production for use as next year’s THHN Christmas cards. The three winners will also win some ToysRUs vouchers, courtesy of Teddy Mountain.

Simon Wills, General Manager of Babbacombe Model Village, said “We’re always very happy to support THHN and the work that they do. Over the past five years, Luke and the team at THHN have provided hundreds of free holidays to families who are having a really tough time. We have been privileged to have many of those families visit us at the Model Village and providing some prizes for the Christmas Card competition is our absolute pleasure.”

Letters and information about this exciting competition have been sent to headteachers at all the local primary schools and if your child’s school is not getting involved but your child would like to take part please just e-mail who will get all info over to you. In the meantime, team THHN are looking forward to seeing the designs flood in.

For any school who has not received information about this competition but would like to get involved please also e-mail

Sparkling Seaside Fun

Sunday 8 December was a busy day at Babbacombe Cliff Railway, with hoards of families visiting the Cliff Railway Christmas Den on Oddicombe Beach for crafts, pressies, story-telling, and lots of festive spirit (plus mulled wine and mince pies for the grown ups), all part of their special Christmas Sparkle event.

Marketing Manager Nicky Allen said “It was a lovely day.  The children really enjoyed themselves and we have had so many fantastic comments.” The event has been organised and run by Cliff Railway Administrator Sarah Foley and Nicky said “Sarah has done a wonderful job creating a really cosy Christmas den and filling it with activities.  There’s a fabulous festive feel to the place and there’s even music playing in the carriages as you travel down the cliff to the beach.  Sarah seems to have thought of everything and we’re delighted with how well it’s gone.”  The event is on for the next two Sundays, 15 and 22 December from 10.30am to 2.30pm and costs just £5.95 per child.  The price includes return travel for a child and an adult and all the activities in the Visitor Centre as well.  For more information and some pictures of what’s been going on visit www.facebook.com/babbcliffrail

Gruelling Christmas Challenge

How does cycling 25 kilometres and then running 5 kilometres sound?  What about, if, once you had done that you did it again and again and again for 24 hours?  That’s exactly what Glen Bevan is planning to do to raise money for the Torbay Holiday Helpers Network (THHN) on 22 December at the Winners 2000 gym in Torquay where he works as a fitness instructor.  Glen got the fitness bug around 10 years ago after suffering a collapsed lung and has never looked back.  Good friends with Luke Tillen, Founder and Chairman of the THHN, Glen said “I’m always looking for a  new challenge.  I know a lot about the THHN and the great work that Luke and his team do and wanted to do something myself to help raise money for them.  I decided it had to be a pretty tough challenge if people were going to sponsor me and thought that the tougher I made it the more money I should be able to raise.  That’s the theory anyway.  Luke is an old friend and I couldn’t think of a better charity to support.”

Glen is hoping for plenty of support in terms of sponsorship, cheering him on and generally helping to keep him awake.  The challenge will last for 24 hours and Glen will only stop for occasional food and comfort breaks along with a couple of leg massages along the way.  Glen added “I’ve never done anything like this before.  The training has been very tough and has pushed me to my absolute limit but I’m not going to give up.  As well as raising money for the THHN I hope it will help raise awareness of the work that they do.  At Winners 2000 we’re great supporters of Luke and the THHN and very passionate about helping in any way we can so that the THHN can provide as many of their wonderful holidays in this great area to people who are having a really tough time.  The more people who find out about what they do, the better.”

Luke Tillen said “The challenge that Glen has taken on for us is amazing and I hope people realise the months of relentless and gruelling training that Glen has put into this.  He trains most days for around 5 hours per day.  He is motivated by the feedback we get from the families who come on a THHN holiday and he knows how important our project to build a bungalow to cater for families with high level care needs is.  He’s determined to help us raise as much money as possible and he truly is a THHN legend.”

If anyone would like to support this incredible challenge, Glen has set up a Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/Glen-Bevan. To donate by text simply text THHN75 and the amount to 70070.  To find out more about the THHN and Winners 2000 visit the THHN website at www.thhn.co.uk or find either organisation on Facebook.

College and Cliff Railway Christmas Partnership

Babbacombe Cliff Railway has a fantastic Christmas planned for this year. Building on the success of previous Christmas events held at the Cliff Railway, member of staff, Sarah Foley, took on the task of organising this year’s activities and has all sorts of exciting things planned for the children.  The idea was to do something a bit different, giving the children that visit the chance to get creative and make something special to take home with them, as well as writing and posting their letter to Father Christmas.  As part of her plan she had a vision of a sleigh and reindeer to greet children as they arrived for a bit of Cliff Railway sparkle.

Needless to say, such accessories are in pretty big demand as the festive season draws near and when Sarah was put in touch with South Devon college lecturer Jonny Standing things started to look up.  Jonny said that his Carpentry Level 1 students would gladly take on the project and they set to work creating a magical reindeer and sleigh for the Cliff Railway to use.  Sarah said “I am thrilled with it. It’s even better than I imagined and the students have all worked so hard.  We’re really grateful to them all.”

Jonny said “The students really enjoyed working on the reindeer and sleigh.  It’s great for them to make something that they know will be used and enjoyed by others.  It’s also particularly nice to work within the community and I was over the moon with the way the students liaised with the Cliff Railway and managed the project from start to finish in their teams, working as an effective production line.  It’s amazing that they have only been on the carpentry course for ten weeks.”  The project inspired Jonny to offer the service to local schools and the students have now made 19 reindeer for various schools including Priory School, Coombe Pafford, Watcombe and Furzeham Primary with the schoolchildren painting them as part of a competition.

Once created the project was handed over to the Painting and Decorating department where Paul Robbins and his Level 1 students took on the job of painting and varnishing it.  The finished reindeer and sleigh will be unveiled on the first day of the Babbacombe Cliff Railway’s sparkling event on Sunday 8 December.  The event runs on the three Sundays in the lead up to Christmas on 8, 15 and 22 December from 10.30am to 2.30pm and there will be lots of fun and crafts down in the cosy Christmas Den on Oddicombe Beach.  Of course, the reindeer and sleigh will be in pride of place in the Top Station setting the scene as passengers board the Christmas Cliff Railway.  Tickets are just £5.95 per children (to include 1 adult) and a truly sparkling seaside Christmas experience is guaranteed.  Oh, and don’t forget your camera for some pictures of the children with the wonderful sleigh.  For more information visit www.facebook.com/babbcliffrail