A Harrogate indoor play centre is hoping to raise £3,500 with a raffle before it opens its doors on May 17 as lockdown restrictions ease.
World of their Own, which is based at Hornbeam Park, has been hit particularly hard over the past year: since March 2020 it has only been able to open for 10 weeks.
Although its owners have no intention of closing down and are determined to find the cash somehow, they hope the raffle will cover the costs.
Both Winkies Harrogate, which was based in Starbeck, and Goose, which was based at Hornbeam Park, have permanently closed as a result of the pandemic.
It means that Harrogate now only has two indoor play centres in World of their Own and Little Bees Harrogate, formerly Kidzplay.
Christa and Lee Webber, of World of their Own, have said that while they have made full use of government grants and have a supportive landlord, they still have a funding gap.
To plug that gap they are raffling off a year’s unlimited play pass, afternoon tea in the fairytale parlour for four and a wild west birthday party for 20 children.
There are 700 tickets available at £5.50 per ticket. So far they have sold 185 tickets and the deadline to buy a ticket is at 5pm on May 1. Raffall, the platform they are using, takes a 10% cut.
Read more:
Crista Webber told the Stray Ferret how this funding gap is their final hurdle:
“Every ticket sold is a massive help. We have been very frugal over the last year. When we needed to develop more space upstairs Lee built it by hand.
“We will reopen no matter what happens. If we cannot reach the £3,500 then we will need to find the money another way.
“We opened a World of their Own and it was just two months before the pandemic hit. Since then it has been an incredible struggle, which we hope we are coming to the end of.”