Up until this
past Christmas the festive day television schedule has consisted of a
C-List celebrity, either Noel Edmonds or Dale Winton, handing out gifts
to needy kids, terminally ill people or those who couldn't be arsed keeping
in touch with a long distance relative. Only to be given a license payers
paid flight over to New Zealand so they can blub their eyes out on National
Telly. Luckily we were spared this kind of rubbish on the Beeb and treated
to Shrek 2 instead!
This Christmas though ABLE2UK dug very very deep inside itself and found
something called 'a heart'. Amazingly we decided to spread some happiness
on some disadvantage kids and picked the Southampton General Hospital
to spread some Goodwill. In our monthly feature called Mission Impossible
we decided to try and give every child stuck on the wards a little present.
Blimey, if Esther Rantzen still had her 'Hearts Of Gold' programme we
would had been TV stars!
So, at the start of December we called various companies to try to see
what we could fill our Santas sack with. Some companies were extremely
helpful and we ended up with a boxful of CD's, Whoppee Cushions and Yo-yos
from Universal music and an X-Box thanks to Microsoft. We also managed
to bag a heap of cuddly toys.
Our Christmas Day visit was denied after a few calls to the hospital,
which incidentally isn't the best of its kind. For instance we can reveal
a student at the local University was allowed to help an Operation, a
pediatric consultant was once found dead in the toilet, a seriously ill
four year old was made to wait nearly 24 hours and the list goes on and
on!
Of course, this
didn't stop us and at 5pm Christmas Day against the nurse wish we parked
up in the grotty surroundings of the hospital. Luckily we found a car
parking space away from the car park where visitors actually have to pay!
We stole a wheelchair from outside to carry the gifts in. Looking back
we sincerely hope that there wasn't a patient exercising their infected
legs for a few minutes around the grounds. Anyway, it was for the kids
and once on 'G' Level we made our way down the drab and derriere corridor.
To be honest, it was fairly eerie. This was Christmas Day and the reality
began to hit us. This was no place for a child to be today. You could
here a syringe drop, it was that blooming quiet.
The wards are locked, to keep unwanted visitors out. This was where we were suspecting to be turned away. Luckily we weren't and the nurses on duty were pleased to see us. This was one of the very few times we felt good in such surroundings.
At the start of December we were told there was going to be an estimated 40-50 children in on Christmas Day. The good news was that most of them had been sent home with only 5 remaining. Two of these were lads who had just suffered a server car accident and were in no fit state to meet the likes of us. So we gave the parents first choice to pick the best bits from our 'Santa Wheelchair'. One of the lads was taken down to surgery during our visit. On his return he would find his favorite band's CD, Girls Aloud on his bed alongside others. The other guy enjoyed his dance music and his folks picked out the appropriate music for him as he was fast asleep recovering from an operation.
We couldn't visit the babies for health reasons, the last thing we wanted to do was to give them deadly germs for Christmas! So the cuddly toys were left with the nurses who promised to give them to children when the returned from surgery over the next few days and weeks.
The X Box was left for the ward so children can play on it for all year round and that basically wraps up our visit. It was a very quick and quiet visit but no doubt the gifts will give happiness for a long time and the sound of the games console will come with cheers and laughter. Thanks to everyone who helped you have made a lot of children very happy. As for us? Well Christmas is now over for another year and we can get back to being our evil, twisted little selves! Well for eleven months at least.
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