Hundreds of strangers offer free holidays to Grenfell Tower firefighters and survivors

Firefighters at Grenfell Tower
AP
Chris Baynes4 July 2017

Kind strangers are offering free holidays to firefighters who tackled the Grenfell Tower blaze and survivors left homeless by the disaster.

More than 370 holiday homes have been put forward by members of public who have responded to a campaign launched in the wake of the inferno.

The short-stay offers have come mainly from small businesses, B&Bs and guesthouses across the UK, but also some in Spain and Cyprus, said the founder of the Grenfell Tower Holiday Appeal.

Angie Mays, from Ilfracombe, Devon, launched the campaign with friend Kay Gilbert and said they had received messages from as far afield as Australia telling them "how great an idea it was".

A male firefighter, his partner and their two children were the first to take up and offer and will head to a cottage in Marsden, West Yorkshire, for a week in July.

Other firefighter families have also been in touch and are considering accepting free holidays, said Mrs Mays.

She added: "I'm so happy that firefighters are using the appeal, I only hope in time that they are able to come to terms with what they have experienced that night and after.

"They are true heroes in my eyes - putting their lives at risk and going above and beyond to save lives.

"I only hope our appeal offers them some comfort and respite from their experiences, giving them time to switch off their minds and relax."

Grenfell Tower Firefighters - In pictures

1/24

Ms Mays said in the long term she hoped survivors would feel ready to take up the holiday offers, but that it was probably "too soon to be talking about things like that now - it's too raw".

But she urged any survivors who did feel ready to get in touch.

Separate Facebook groups have been also set up to provide holidays in Cornwall and the Highlands.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT