Special Report: Reuben’s Retreat launches £1m fundraising campaign

Charity calls on industry to help it complete ambitious building project. Juliet Dennis reports

Reuben’s Retreat is calling on the travel industry to support a fundraising campaign to complete its build.

Officially launched at this week’s Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards 2025, the ‘One in a Million’ campaign will enable the charity to finish the building project it launched 11 years ago to convert a former hospital site in Derbyshire into a retreat for families of children with complex medical needs or those who have lost a child.

Founder Nicola Graham credited the industry as instrumental in its support since she set up the organisation in her son’s name.

The charity hopes to raise the £1 million remaining build funds within 23 months – the age Reuben (pictured) was when he died in 2012 after suffering an aggressive brain tumour. The target mirrors the charity’s original campaign in 2012 to raise the initial £1 million, which it achieved by the summer of 2014.

“Our original vision was to raise £1 million in 23 months for Reuben’s Retreat,” said Graham, adding: “There is something beautiful in circling back to do the final million in 23 months.”

The charity bought the site in 2014 – before it had raised its first £1 million – and work started on the lodge, now the main office, in 2015.

By the time the work is complete, the charity estimates it will have spent more than £6 million on the build. The fundraising won’t stop there, however. “It will cost approximately £1 million a year to provide annual support for families at the retreat, so we cannot forget that – it’s a balancing act,” said Graham.

Accommodation suites

The campaign will fund four accommodation ‘suites’ for bereaved families or those with children with complex medical needs.

These will each allow six to eight family members to stay at the retreat for a break away from home. Two of the suites will be on the ground floor and fully accessible, with an interconnecting suite to allow larger family groups of up to 12. Two further suites will be located on the upper floor.

“The ultimate goal has always been to complete the retreat so families can stay and make memories; that vision is now within reach with the love and support of the travel industry,” said Graham.

Graham credited her experience of working in the trade – she was at Red Sea Holidays when Reuben died – and the family’s own holidays, for making her realise the importance of making memories.

“We would not be doing this if it wasn’t for the travel industry, if I hadn’t had all this experience in my career,” she said.

“I started in the industry as a modern apprentice at 16 and throughout my career I’ve had many wonderful experiences, from college right through to ship launches on the biggest liners in the world with my husband and my two kids, for whom travel was part of their upbringing.

“This was part of their education; without all those experiences I would not have been able to bring these learnings to Reuben’s Retreat.”

Providing a place to stay is a vital part of Graham’s vision.

She said: “Families of children with complex medical needs would not ordinarily get the opportunity to go on holiday and make memories, often due to poor accessibility, availability and increased costs. We wanted to create a place where families could enjoy time away together. Having lost Reuben, I hold holiday memories like pieces of treasure close to my heart. Every family deserves the opportunity to be together.”

‘Huge difference’

The facility will offer countless benefits to families in need – and could be one of very few in the country, particularly for larger family groups, according to Graham.

“It will make a huge difference,” she said, adding: “Families will be able to use the hydrotherapy pool, the movie, sensory and play rooms.”

The size and accessibility of the suites are key features of the project.

She said: “We will potentially be one of the only facilities in the UK able to cater for multiple children in wheelchairs. We are not a hospice; however, we fit neatly alongside as a complementary support for families.”

For Graham, the project is intensely personal and the importance of providing a retreat to allow others to create memories is vital. “Each life, no matter how brief, changes the world,” she said.

Work to build the suites cannot start without raising the full £1 million. Graham stressed: “While we continually raise funds to support our families, we need to raise our final-build million, then we can press ‘green for go’.”

Industry support

The campaign is for funds on top of the retreat’s operating costs. It cost some £460,000 to run Reuben’s Retreat in 2024, or about £38,500 a month, and it currently looks after more than 750 individuals.

This compares with 2013, when the charity spent £68,000 on annual running costs.

For Graham, launching the £1 million campaign at the Globes is also significant. In 2013, Reuben’s Retreat was Travel Weekly’s chosen charity and it used the event to launch its fundraising campaign.

“The beauty of this is a large proportion of people at the Globes would have been part of that first million fundraising – and will be part of the final million build,” said Graham, adding: “They will be one in a million because they’ll ensure we get that one million.”

Exceeding expectations

Graham said the work so far on the retreat had surpassed her expectations, adding: “It’s better than I imagined, because post-Covid there was so much scaremongering around building and labour costs, and with so many unknowns, there was a fear the work would take a lot longer.

“But now it’s there – it’s within reach and so doable. We’ve got the potential.”

With the end in sight, the reality of what the charity can achieve has created mixed emotions for Graham.

“It’s daunting, emotional and exhilarating,” she admitted. “There is a huge sense of responsibility. It’s a vision, not a dream, to finish this.

“My dream would be for Reuben to come home, but it’s the next best thing. Even in 23 months, Reuben left his mark on us and our world.

“We want to make a little bit of the world better in his name.”

The story so far

August 23, 2012: Nicola Graham sets up Reuben’s Retreat two days after the death of her son Reuben. Campaign launches to raise first £1 million by mid-2014.

2013: Fundraising drive at Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards raises nearly £18,000.

2014: Charity acquires former Woods Hospital in Glossop, Derbyshire.

2015: Building work starts to convert lodge into charity’s main office building, the start of a 10-phase project.

2015-25: Renovation work includes completion of bereavement centre, hydrotherapy pool and sensory, movie and messy play rooms.

2025: Charity launches ‘One in a Million’ campaign to raise £1 million to complete accommodation for families of children with complex medical needs or who have lost a child.