Reds stars drop in with festive cheer

22 December 2004

By IAIN St JOHN

Wrexham FC players visited the Children's Ward at Wrexham Maelor Hospital on Tuesday

KIND-hearted Wrexham FC players left the trials and tribulations of a troubled season behind to bring festive cheer to youngsters in hospital during the Christmas season.

The entire first team squad took the time to visit the Children’s Ward at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

The footballers dropped off Christmas presents and gifts to the ward and took time to speak to the youngsters.

The hospital staff were delighted to see the players and thanked the club for offering their help.

Team captain Darren Ferguson said: “We are just glad to be able to help; it’s good we can do this for the children at the hospital. Obviously it’s not nice for children to be in hospital, especially at this time of the year.

“We would like to do more things like this, to be honest. We are aware the football club is an important part of the Wrexham community and things like this help our role in the community.”

In a season which has seen debts spiral out of control and the club go into administration, the sight of youngsters in hospital has put things into perspective for the players, Ferguson said.

The Scot added: “Being in hospital is never a nice experience, especially for young children at this exciting time of year. Seeing children lying in hospital beds over Christmas certainly puts everything in perspective.”

The gifts were supplied by Sainsbury’s, and Tony Thomas from the club’s Football in the Community programme thanked the store.

He said: “The support from Sainsbury’s has been fantastic. They have been a great help. They gave us lots of gifts for the players to hand out to the ward and were very generous.

“The whole first team squad have come here today to show how important our work in the community is.”

Andy Scotson from the hospital said: “We appreciate the kind gesture from the club, especially at this moment in time with all the pressures the club is under.

“It is very generous of them to give us their time.

“Over the years the club has been very supportive to the hospital in many ways and we thank them for their continued support.”