The children’s department at Sandwell General Hospital was treated to a visit from Santa Claus as Jolly Ol’ St. Nick handed out presents donated by New Square Shopping Centre in West Bromwich.
Santa visited Lyndon One as well as Priory and Lyndon Ground wards to give presents to kids who may not have the chance to celebrate Christmas at home.
“We are extremely grateful for what New Square and Hills Funfair have donated this Christmas and we also appreciate the time and effort they have put into their gift and letters for the kids,” said Avnash Nanra, ward manager on Lyndon Ground.
“Every child deserves a happy Christmas and seeing outside organisations help this happen and put smiles on the children’s faces is truly heart-warming.”
The gifts were donated by the team at New Square and The Entertainer within the shopping centre and Steve Burr, Centre Manager for the shopping centre, is happy to see the presents make a difference.
“We thought it would be nice for us to bring Santa to the kids as, unfortunately, some kids will not be able to come to us to meet him or to even go home for Christmas,” said Steve.
“It makes me feel really humble to see the kids on the wards and makes us realise how lucky we are to be healthy and with our family throughout the holiday season.
“We made sure that we would be able to cater for all ages and that we had a gift for everyone.”
Santa has set up a grotto in New Square and has been working with the team at Hills Funfair, who has previously been involved with Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust by holding a beach party this summer and donating the proceeds to the children’s wards.
“After our success in the summer with the beach party, we felt like it would be good to continue to give back to the local community by supporting our local hospital,” said Patrick Hills, manager of Hills.
“We worked with New Square to get the grotto open and more people have visited since we explained where the money was going, because we’ve seen that everybody in the community wants to support the Trust.”
The children on the wards were delighted to see Father Christmas. “It is not nice for a child, or their parents, to be in hospital over Christmas as it is usually a time to spend with your family and friends,” said Avnash.
“So by giving them the chance to meet Santa we can bring Christmas to them, and hopefully put on the best day possible.”
ENDS
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