Merthyr Town FC played Santa yesterday with a Christmas donation to the Children's Ward of Prince Charles Hospital.
To have seen the faces of the staff and young patients of Prince Charles Hospital's Children's Ward when Matthew Harris strolled through the corridors with a giant cuddly wolf on his shoulders was quite something. Indeed, it was smiles all around yesterday as representatives of Merthyr Town Football Club visited Jill Davies and Sue Parry on the Children's Ward to hand over a Christmas donation.
After raising a tremendous £415 from various fundraising events, including the Under 14's Football Tournament at the Engine House this past Sunday, as well as the hard work of Jayne Abraham and the staff of Wards 5 & 6, the children were able to reap the benefits with a plethora of gifts for all. At 10:30am yesterday morning, Steve Williams, Matthew Harris, Luke Jones and Marcus Griffiths, along with Mark Abraham and several other representatives arrived to the interest of several of the youngsters and the warm reception of the staff.
The Teen Room will now enjoy the benefit of an Xbox 360 with a collection of games, Nintendo DS games and a pile of DVDs, whilst the younger children will no doubt be happy to see a bunch of new puzzles and arts & crafts materials, as well as their new mascot: the as-of-yet unnamed wolf donated by Matthew Harris.
Mark Abraham, Community Liaison Officer and the man behind the Christmas donation was overwhelmed with the positive reception and offered his thoughts on the event: "It was an absolute pleasure to be able to arrange such a donation for such a deserving service. The first team players that attended really got a buzz from the positive comments and warm reception and one little girl who had recently had surgery had her Christmas made a little brighter when she had a personal bedside visit from Steve Williams". Steve was one of the players who took time off work yesterday, along with Chairman Meurig Price, photographer Peter Harman and MartyrsTV crew member Matthew Davies, in order to be a part of the very special presentation.
"The gratitude and appreciation goes both ways in this case, for as great as it was for the ward to receive these gifts, it was equally as great that we were afforded the chance to give something back. It humbled the boys immensely." said Mark, who has spent the last month and a half rallying the support of fundraisers to try and help out the hospital during the festive period.
Mark offered his parting thoughts on the donation and wanted to congratulate and commemorate the hard work of all involved, "A massive thanks to everyone who donated or took part in the fundraising, from those ladies doing the charity walk, to the Engine House and the under 14s tournament to my mother's ward 5 and 6, you've really made a difference to these children this Christmas and the gifts are things that will get continual use for a long time to come"
