Nearly 60 years ago, Don Coombe, a young insurance broker at Lloyd’s of London, a life-long Scout and by then a District Commissioner, replied to a request by Lady Zuckerman to take 24 boys from poor Birmingham homes, on holiday to Jersey. After negotiating with the Scouting movement in the island, he and one other volunteer took the boys to Jersey. None of them had ever seen the sea, let alone cross it and their home life was such that the rich food so readily provided by the big-hearted Jersey folk, made some of the boys sick!

The trip made Don realize the great need to get boys out of their grim lives, to show them a better way to live. His Scout training and natural desire to help others took over and, with his enthusiastic friends, and with the ready consent of his Jersey contacts, he began an annual outing for 24 boys – but now from London, his own home town. This Jersey camp continued for thirty years.

Before each trip he visited homes to select the boys and to get a better idea of their background. One day, leaving from such a visit, a ragged little girl tugged his sleeve and said “Take me wiv yer, Mister I've never seen the sea.” A new challenge! Don suddenly understood that not just boys, but their sisters – even their whole families - needed relief from such miserable existences. So the Coombe Trust was born.

In the intervening years, the action widened into an ambition to establish a family holiday home in England. With personal funding from a Lloyd’s underwriter, a large house was bought at Westgate in Kent, and families were transported there for a week or two for a holiday most of them could only ever have dreamed about. In time, neighbouring properties were acquired, with Don determined to create a Coombe Holiday Village. There are now six such homes. Bought and fitted out (one of them entirely for disabled people) and serviced by voluntary funding, all staffed by volunteers – who also drive the Trust’s three buses to deliver and return the families to and from Westgate.

Over 6000 people have enjoyed holidays through the Coombe Trust. Some of the holiday youngsters from humble beginnings have themselves become successful in business and the professions and today are staunch supporters of the Trust. Their lives were changed by the Trust and they are anxious to repay their debt of gratitude by whatever means they can.

Another activity is the bursaries paid to two youngsters each year – one girl, one boy – to enable them to study for training or qualifications they would otherwise be denied. A whole new group of talented people is being helped into useful and satisfying citizenship. One further huge achievement was a £1million project to acquire a detached house in Catford, London and convert it into a wonderfully equipped overnight respite home for disabled children, giving their families a much needed rest from constant caring responsibilities.

For his great work in this important field of charity, Don was awarded the MBE in The New Year's Honours List on 31.12.91