Whizzing on the Vampire Ride, racketing round on the Scorpion Express and sploshing through the Gruffalo River Ride helped make a fantastic day out for young carers from Bournemouth. The forty-six children travelled to Chessington World of Adventure for this day to remember all thanks to Variety The Children’s Charity.

Frances Cornelius, chair of Variety Wessex, said: “What an absolutely fabulous day we all had. Chessington certainly provided a wonderful day that started with an unexpected surprise. All the children had the opportunity to feed the loveliest and friendliest giraffes with their favourite leaves.”

It was a real highlight of the day as the children climbed up to be level with the giraffe’s heads. They were amazed to see their extraordinary and surprisingly large faces close up and their long tongues flicking out to take the leaves from their hands. The giraffes were incredibly gentle and the children responded by being calm and quiet as they fed these magnificent creatures. That all changed, of course, once the pupils from Bethany and St Clements School went on the rides. There were squeals and shrieks of excitement especially when the children sploshed down the steep water slide on Tiger Rock.

Throughout the day the party was helped by park guest experience manager James Fuller, who sorted out special fast track tickets for the rides and insured that everyone arrived on time at the Temple Restaurant for a delicious lunch.

The day ended with a stop for supper at McDonalds at Ferndown.

Frances Cornelius said: “a big huge thank you to Chessington for providing such an enjoyable day, Ian Woolley for inviting Variety Wessex to hold raffles at all his monthly Retro events to provide extra funds for our days out, Andy our driver and Laguna coaches for safe, reliable journeys, McDonalds at Ferndown for always making us feel so welcome and Judy Hiscoke for always being such a support for these visits. Finally I want to thank Dana and Abby from Teds in Ringwood for donating a soft toy for each child to go home with”.