Wigan Athletic players and staff paid a visit to Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, to spread a bit of festive cheer; however, it was a little different this year.
Bringing in a variety of Christmas gifts from Smyths Toy Store at Robin Park and their own merchandise from Latics Store, the players and staff from the football club took some time to have a socially distanced chat with staff from Rainbow Ward at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary this December.
The club’s staff and players worked together to kindly raise some money to help purchase a variety of Christmas presents for the ward.
Staff from Rainbow Ward came outside to safely greet the players, including; Thelo Aasgaard, Kyle Joseph and Adam Long, as well as members of staff from the club, Nick Taylor and photographer Bernard Platt.
The Trust’s Tree of Hope was also lit up in Blue and White in honour of the clubs visit.
Wigan Athletic’s Head of Digital and Communications, Ashley Houghton, said: “It has been an incredibly challenging year for the staff at the club but in the absence of our regular Christmas visits we wanted to make sure we spread festive cheer to many children in Wigan.
“It is well-documented that we have faced a crisis within a crisis given the difficult year we have all had but our remaining staff all came together to donate and ensure we could deliver as many presents as possible.
“Sadly, the players and staff cannot go out to directly hand out the presents as they normally would but it has been really heart-warming to see the gratitude of the staff at each of the places we have delivered to.
“Everyone I have ever worked with at Wigan Athletic has always recognised the importance of being a football club that represents our town well and I think the work of the Community Trust and DW Stadium through the COVID-19 outbreak is something we can look back on proudly.”
Paediatric Sister for Rainbow Ward, Heather Dineley said: “We’re really grateful to the players for giving up their time to come and drop off some gifts for the children.”