In Spring 2024 Blackpool will be brought to life by a herd of uniquely decorated, amazingly creative, elephant sculptures. The free, family-friendly art trail – a collaboration between Brian House Children’s Hospice, Wild in Art and Andersen Press, brings David McKee’s popular children’s character Elmer the Patchwork Elephant to life.

Coral Island are delighted to be supporting the trail and have sponsored one of the Elmers - which will be revealed in 2024. 

The uniquely decorated Elmers will be positioned around key landmarks, including Coral Island as well as streets, and open spaces in Blackpool for eight weeks. But that’s not the end… after this the herd will come together – the only time they’ll all be in the same place at the same time, for their fantastic final farewell event!

The herd of Elmers will deliver a ton of fun and laughter and attract local residents and visitors from far and wide to discover, and re-discover Blackpool, making art accessible to all. Each Elmer is sponsored by a local business or organisations, making the trail deeply rooted in our wonderfully unique local community

Visitors and residents can explore the town centre, parks and open spaces while following the Trail to discover all of the bold and eye-catching large Elmers.

The Trail also includes a herd of mini Elmers decorated by some of the Fylde coast’s most created children and young people, each designed and painted by local schools and youth organisations from across Blackpool.

 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A message from Homestart - the local charity we support  across the year about our 'licence to party' event in 2021... 

First and foremost we want to say a huge thank you to the whole Coral Island team for their immense support in 2021, and rolling into 2022.

Following a meeting in 2021 - we were blessed that Coral Island chose to work with Home-Start Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre.

Initially Coral Island sponsored four local families and donated £6,000.00 - Thank you.

This made an immense difference at a time where we are seeing more families needing our support. Following Covid, we have seen an increase in the demand for services such as ours - mental health and isolation are a core element of what we are seeing as well as financial worries. Our Volunteers spend time with families, in their home and work through their worries and concerns - we aim to empower our families to address their circumstances and work them to find solutions.

Our experience of working with Coral Island then turned to so much fun - we were able to put the 'fun' back into fundraising and we held a fantastic collection day where a team of volunteers were able to 'meet and greet' at the entrance points and fundraise - this included the kind donation of keyrings and chocolates for everyone that donated and we raised £681.62 - raising awareness as well as funds. The team were blown away by the support on the day as well from such a friendly and welcoming team of Coral Island staff, and Coral Island went even further by providing lunch for the team as well as drinks through the day - Thank you. 

December saw our biggest event of 2021 when Coral Island opened the doors of the Buccaneer for our 007 - Licence to Party event! 

This turned the bright lights of Coral Island into a stunning backdrop for a Black Tie dinner event and it was exceptional.

Every attendee had such an amazing evening and the feedback blew us away - from the venue through to the food, the staff, the prizes and the generosity of Coral Island once again - Thank you.

Everyone went home with a huge smile, fantastic memories and a question of - are you doing this again next year?

Once again, the kindness shown by the team was something that we haven't experienced before and in sponsoring the whole evening - this allowed our fundraising for this night alone to be £6,600.19 and awareness of the fantastic facilities at Coral Island and the service the Home-Start provide.

But, on behalf of Home-Start Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre I want to say a heartfelt thank you - I feel blessed to have such a fabulous relationship with an iconic venue in Blackpool!