CHESHIRE West and Chester Council has donated special festive gifts to the borough’s children spending Christmas Day in hospital.
Upton councillors Jill Houlbrook and Hilarie McNae visited the Countess of Chester Hospital on behalf of the council to donate 40 reindeer bears with glowing noses for staff to distribute on the Children’s and Neonatal Units, meeting three children and their parents along the way.
The gifts, which were made at the Bear Factory, were given to each child to help make Christmas special, and for them to keep and take home with them when they are ready to leave hospital.
Cllr Houlbrook said: “Many of us take it for granted that we will spend Christmas Day at home with their friends and family but for some families in our borough this is unfortunately not the case.
“We met three incredibly brave children and their parents, who really are inspirational, and I hope our gifts go a little way towards making sure they still have a lovely Christmas.”
Cllr McNae said: “It was an absolute honour to donate the bears to children on the two wards and meet children who will unfortunately be spending Christmas Day in hospital.
“We met some of the staff, who do an incredible job and have done their best to makes the wards as nice for the festive season as they can under the circumstances.”
Children’s unit manager at the Countess of Chester, Anne Martin, said: “The donations from the council were extremely kind and really will help us achieve our aim to provide a family friendly and festive atmosphere at what can be a very sad time of year to be in hospital.”
