Frequently Asked Questions
Is the event suitable for the age of me / my MACS child?
We were surprised and saddened to see this mentioned a couple of times. We can’t stress enough this event is for all ages, absolutely everyone is welcome. We believe the activities will spark an interest for all ages – and who doesn’t love trying something new or a Sunday at a theme park?
For our very youngest members it’s true that the event probably offers more for the parents, but this absolutely isn’t a negative and it’s often how life-long friendships and connections are formed.
For our MACS adults it’s a chance to try things that you may not have had the chance to do when younger, to meet others of a similar age, or even talk to those younger than you but wondering what the future holds.
Anyone with a MAC condition is free, regardless of age.
If you have more specific questions about your own individual family circumstance then please drop enquiries@macs.org.uk an email and we’ll do our best to answer.
Do I have to attend the theme park on Sunday?
No, there’s absolutely no obligation to attend the park on Sunday. We know a few families don’t wish to attend the park on the Sunday, and there’s absolutely no obligation at all. We are putting together a guide of other suitable activities in the local area for those who will be staying beyond the Saturday and may want something to do.
The distance is too far for us. What can we do?
While we totally appreciate we will never make it perfect for everyone, and if money were no object we’d hold a Drayton weekend in every region.
We can try and help though – please remember we have our Helping Hand scheme and we’d welcome any applications from those of you who’d love to attend but may need financial help with travel and staying over an extra night.
Another theme is that you’d prefer more local events, in particular in the north west, Wales and Scotland. We want this also. However, we’ve unfortunately not been able to find any willing volunteers in the North-West region, Wales and only one in Scotland. We have the funds and the support to help you put these events on, so if you’d like to see this then please do get in touch.
Why isn’t the event held in Scotland or during Scottish school holidays?
We truly don’t wish to exclude our Scottish families. This year, the event falls during term time in Scotland due to venue availability. Last year, the September date affected everyone similarly. We’re considering moving the event to the start of the school holidays, but other VI charities also hold events then, making scheduling tricky. Juggling dates is never easy. Again, if you are able to attend from Scotland with some assistance from us as outlined in the above 'The Distance is Too Far' question, we really would love to hear from you. We’d also happily put on more events as soon as we have volunteers to help do this.
Why isn’t the weekend longer, like the old-style “family weekends”?
This comes up in conversation and on our surveys quite a bit. We get it! We all want more.
Following last year's Thriving at Thirty! overnighter event, survey results showed that the majority of respondents were more than happy with a one-night event, with only a couple of responses expressing the preference for two nights. Additionally, there are several factors that make this difficult...
Firstly, cost – many of our wonderful funders won’t fund an event such as this, and so we find the funds ourselves. Prices have risen dramatically in the last few years and so an event for 200 people is incredibly costly. We try not to pass that cost onto you and keep our prices at a minimum.
Those who are familiar with the old-style “family weekends” often request a similar format. Since Covid, things have changed. Many companies - for example, those who do tech demos - won’t work weekends anymore and those who will require a minimum attendance we often can’t meet.
We used to provide childcare and off-site activities, but we want a more together feel and so we pack all our activities into one day for the entire group.
Safeguarding, risk assessments, minimum numbers, massive cost increases, staff time… all contributes, so for now, and quite probably for a while going forward I’m afraid the best we can offer is an overnight stay with the option of help if you wish to increase that.
This year we have also added the park to the Sunday as many from last year wanted the day to be extended. If successful we hope to repeat this, or perhaps look at alternative activities for the second day – so while it’s not a traditional 2-night event we’re trying to fill it as much as we can.
We hope that answers some of the comments so far – we really do appreciate them so keep them coming!