Successful company boss gives thanks to holiday centre

The boss of L.E.A.D. IT has thanked Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre for helping him start off on the right foot.

Lee Jepson has never forgotten the time he had a holiday at the Skegness centre while a pupil at Nightingale Primary School in Allenton – and has kept warm memories of his time there ever since.

Lee, whose company provides IT services to schools across the country, said: “It meant a lot. I wasn’t having any holidays and I think that must have come up in conversation at school, and I think I was nominated by my head teacher to go. It would have been my only opportunity to have a holiday.”

Lee said his abiding memories of the holiday centre were of the games room, where he got an early experience into the world of tech as it was kitted out with retro-classic Atari and Commodore games consoles.

He said: “I was a tech head even then! I was with other children who weren’t from the same school and that mix was really nice – and it was a first for me.”

Lee is now a successful entrepreneur running his own company and is committed to giving back to the charity having benefited from it as a child.

This summer he and his son will be volunteering at Derby Kids’ Camp – which also provides free holidays to Derbyshire children who might otherwise not get a break.

And at the weekend he took part in the SkegVegas100 – a 100-mile bike ride from Derby to Skegness, which raised funds for both Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre and Derby Kids’ Camp.

Lee said: “Going to the holiday centre meant a lot to me. It’s the reason why I want to give back and help other children in the same way I was helped.”

Alan Grimadell, chair of Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre, said: “Our charity has been going since 1891 and it’s always very moving to hear stories such as this one from Lee Jepson who has gone on to be such a successful entrepreneur.

“It’s wonderful that he has such happy memories of going to the centre as a child and that now he is grown up, he is giving back after undertaking the SkegVegas100.

“We know that time at our centre means a lot to the children who come to us, not just because it gives them a break, but it gives them a lot of confidence too.”