Being a bit of a natural organiser, and with experience, I know after the 'general interest' stage, not to accept bookings without payment. So, I organised a trip for last March for around 30 home educators. Of course, last winter was known for the Beast from the East, particularly the return of the mini-beast mid-March... the same time we were meant to be going to Kidzania. On the day, everybody who was planning to drive cancelled, and though 5 or 6 families (including us) bravely got to the train station, all the trains were cancelled. It was a bit of a nightmare. Thankfully Kidzania were really understanding, and allowed us to postpone our booking until the May (the next date that we could all attend that was not during school holidays). The trip took place, and everyone had a good time.
Meanwhile, lots of DD1's dance friends were going on various residential courses with their schools. As my girls are home educated, I didn't want them to miss out of the experience, not least because I remember all the fun I had when I was on residentials at that age. So, when they asked if they could go on such a course, I stepped up to organise it.
Simultaneously, I contacted loads of activity centres within a 2-3hr radius of where I live to ask them a myriad of questions, whilst also started a FB group of people who were interested in joining us, if I organised a trip. Within days we had over 100 members who were interested, and wanted a say in the type of thing being done.
It is often said that the only thing home educators have in common is that they don't use schools, and that is very true! I had parents who would only allow their children to come if they didn't have to; and others who would only allow their children to come if they could attend too. Interested parents had children with a range of physical and learning difficulties, as well as a range of allergies. Some parents only wanted their children to attend during the day, not overnight (it's a residential!!). Some parents wanted all accompanying adults to have full DBS checks (if you arrange and pay for it, I'll gladly be DBS checked, but in the meantime, it ain't happening!). Some people would only attend if I arranged transport too (nope). And yet others wanted a say in everything, but had no intention to come.
Eventually, between all the venues that replied to me, and all the parents with their own conditions and questions that they desperately wanted me to ask, it got narrowed down to one activity centre that does everything we want it to: Parents can attend if they want to, or they can leave their children alone. There is a choice of 4 night (M-F) or 2 night (W-F) trips. They can cater for all physical and learning disabilities, and have even allowed some free Carer places for adults who have to accompany their children. They will accept DLA as part of the booking. "Supervisors" do not have to be DBS checked; but all their instructors are DBS checked and have first aid certificates etc. They can cater for all eating requirements and allergies as long as they know about them in advance. And we can put in our preferences for the activities we do (though they can't be guaranteed, as there will be other groups on site at the same time). All in all, it looked really good. The only requirement is that we need a minimum of 8 children on each trip (4 night or 2 night) in order for them to go ahead. Phew!
The system they use is that after booking, an initial deposit is required after 4 weeks; an interim deposit is required after a further 6 weeks; and the final balance is required 3 months before the trip.
Despite having over 100 adults in the FB group, when it actually came to asking for money, a lot of people decided that they were no longer interested. That was to be expected, and why I always ask for money upfront, as I can't afford to fund any shortfall! We had around 30 children sign up, over the two trips, so a nice amount.
As time went on, some people had to drop out of the trip. Initially it was younger siblings, or parents who felt they no longer needed to attend. For some people their circumstances changed, so they are no longer available. And for a couple of people, they had to pull out due to allergies. For each change, we were charged a cancellation fee equal to the individual deposits paid so far.
Meanwhile (again), last year Beat the Street came to my town. As I had asked the question whether other people wanted to join us, it was defaulted to me to set up the team. Actually, it was a lot of good fun. Because all members of the family could join in, we had over 100 participants on our team, and we actually won the section for 'Community Groups'! Our prize was £300 of Decathlon Vouchers, and was up to me to organise getting the prize. Some people wanted the prize to be split by the number of points won per person, others wanted an even split by family, others still thought it should all go towards the children, and some people didn't want a prize at all, and wanted to nominate their winnings to a charity. In the end, I made the executive decision to divide the prize by the number of participants, and allocate the vouchers accordingly. So for example, in my family there are 4 of us, so we had ~£12 to spend. Because the vouchers were an email code, I could not physically divide the vouchers, but had to buy what everybody asked me for. Once it was sorted, it was actually quite easy; everybody got what they wanted (eg trophies or bags, or sports equipment) and we managed to get 42 sets of hats, neckwarmers and gloves for a homeless charity in my town. This was before Christmas, and we're now in March, and hopefully tomorrow, the last of the prizes will finally be collected!Back to the residential, and people are still dropping out; even after they've paid the final balance!
Also, though the activity centre has been really accommodating for all our random needs, the first set of invoices that I was sent through, in January, were incorrect - not least because they hadn't removed the two sets of deposits that I paid last year. We have already past the 3month deadline for paying the final balance, and the invoices have still not been corrected. I'm in this awkward situation where I don't want to pay them any more money until I know it's right, but I also don't want to forfeit out booking that as been many months in the waiting (or 'making' - I can't remember the right word). But, things are looking good, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to pay the final amount this coming week. And, we've managed to sort out various mementos and souvenirs for those attending who wanted them.
So last year, I organised a day trip in this country, that had problems.
This year, we're going to a 4 night residential in this country, and I've had problems.
Please, please, please remind me not to up the ante again, and attempt to organise a residential either for longer time or in a different country. Nope. I don't want to do it.
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