For Louise Golec’s three children, holidays are all about being outdoors, staying active, and doing what they love most: riding bikes, scrambling up hillsides and getting stuck into forest school activities. But since a tragic change in their family circumstances, accessing these opportunities has taken on a much deeper importance.
The Golec family live on a rented farm in Bishopdale, just off Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales. Louise works full time as a farrier and is raising her children – aged 5, 8 and 9 – largely on her own, after her husband David sustained a life-altering brain injury in a cycling accident 18 months ago. “We still don’t really know what happened,” Louise explains. “The police believe he hit a hare, but the surgeons described it as a catastrophic brain injury. He’s now in a care home in Wakefield, near his parents, and he’ll never come home. He doesn’t recognise us anymore.”
The couple had been together since they were 18. Now 38, Louise is navigating not just grief but a completely new life. “We’ve been best friends, colleagues and husband and wife,” she says. “Working out the new dynamic has been huge.”
With no life insurance and a physically demanding job that requires her full concentration, finding safe, affordable care for her children during the holidays became essential. That’s where FEAST came in.
“I heard about FEAST from a friend who was working at the children’s school at the time,” says Louise. “She told me about the vouchers, and then I got talking to Helen at Stage One Cycles, who we’ve known for a very long time. We haven’t looked back since.”
Helen, who runs FEAST-funded activities through Stage One Cycles, is a familiar face to the Golecs. All three children learned to ride with her – starting with balance bikes and progressing to full-on mountain biking.
“The kids really trust Helen, and so do I. This doesn’t feel like sending them off to childcare, it’s like leaving them with a friend. Helen is brilliant with children, including those with additional needs – I know the children are in good hands.”
FEAST funding has allowed the children to take part in a wide range of activities, from mountain biking and climbing to paddleboarding and forest school sessions. “They absolutely love it,” Louise says. “Helen’s taken them climbing, scrambling down Hell Ghyll, baking, doing forest schools… it’s exactly what they want to be doing. And for me, knowing they’re doing something so good for them while I work is a massive weight off my shoulders.”
Louise also uses FEAST vouchers for sessions at Embers Outdoor School, another local provider focused on hands-on, nature-based learning. “They’re brilliant too – lighting fires, playing in the dirt, just being kids.” As someone working in a high-risk job, Louise explains how vital it is to have peace of mind. “I shoe horses for a living. I can’t afford to be distracted, it wouldn’t be safe. My mum lives nearby but I can’t lean on her too often. FEAST makes a real difference, it allows me to keep working and to know that my children are doing something fun, active and enriching.”
She adds: “I’m all for bigging up Stage One. Without them, and without FEAST, I honestly don’t know how we’d have managed.”