Willerby Holiday Homes teams with Ant & Dec to honour teacher
The retirement dreams of a retired teacher from Wigan have come true, thanks to leading UK manufacturer Willerby Holiday Homes and Saturday Night Takeaway stars Ant & Dec.
“Inspirational” Kath Crawley, 60, was gifted with a new luxury holiday caravan by Willerby when she appeared on the hit Ant & Dec show earlier this year.
Inspirational teacher thank you
And this month, the stylish leisure home, complete with all mod-cons, was officially handed over to Kath at Avon Wood Holiday Home Park on the shores of Windermere.
She was put forward to the hit TV show by her colleagues and pupils at St Thomas’ CE Primary School in Wigan, and by Kath’s’s daughter Becky, in recognition of her selfless service during her 32-year career there and commitment to her local community.
Kath has had a family base at Avon Wood in Newby Bridge for more than 50 years and, having retired in July, she is now enjoying her new two-bedroom Willerby Brookwood at the picturesque location.
Luxury Holiday Prize in the Lakes
She said: “It’s hard to put into words what this means to me. The sentimental side of it is absolutely massive because, as a family, we can carry on something that my grandma Maud started 52 years ago.
“I absolutely love my new holiday home and the park. We can now come here as a family for at least the next 20 years thanks to Willerby, the park owners Andrew and Christine Morris, and everyone involved. I can’t thank everybody enough.”
ITV approached Willerby for the giveaway as the UK’s holiday homes brand leader, and the Willerby team pulled out all the stops to help make the surprise happen live on the primetime TV show.
Luxury Holiday Home – Willerby Brookwood
The Willerby Brookwood sleeps up to six people and features a comfortable open-plan lounge, spacious kitchen and stylish breakfast bar.
Kath said the design of her caravan is perfect and she plans to spend as much time as possible in her new home-from-home with her partner, Paul, and other members of her family.
New home-from-home
She said: “It’s truly amazing how much more modern and spacious it is compared with our previous holiday home. The furnishings are lovely and it’s so light and airy.
“It’s double glazed and has central heating, which is a first for me and means it is fully accessible whatever the weather. Our previous holiday home was single glazed and had just a gas fire.
“Retirement is a new chapter. I’ll be able to go up to the holiday home more, do more walking and maybe take up canoeing. We now have a lovely base to do all of that from.”
Andrew Morris, owner of the family-run Avon Wood, worked with Lake District holiday home distributor Kendal Caravans to ensure Kath’s previous holiday home was removed before the Willerby Brookwood was sited, including installing the decking area.
