Leighton Baines ensures Christmas comes early for Alder Hey youngsters
Monday 12 December 2016 18:53, UK
Christmas came early for a group of inspiring patients from Alder Hey Children's Hospital when Leighton Baines treated them to a surprise trip to Everton's training ground.
Baines, an official patron of Alder Hey Children's Charity, arranged for the youngsters, aged six to 18, to go on a tour of the Finch Farm facility and watch the first-team being put through their paces by Ronald Koeman.
The England left-back then joined them as they took part in their own training session with coaches from Everton in the Community.
The group were only given news of the surprise experience minutes before they were boarding coaches to begin their journey to Finch Farm - courtesy of a video from Baines played to them at the new Alder Hey hospital.
"It's a great day," said Baines. "As players, we take as much from things like this as we give.
"It's something we all take seriously, the work that we can do and the things we can do within the community to help. As a club, we have a strong relationship with Alder Hey at this time of year, obviously, but beyond that as well.
"You hear their stories and you read a little bit about the kids before you go into meet them and you expect to go in and see that they're really struggling and maybe not in good humour. But you walk into the opposite. They're bubbly, full of positivity and it's tough not to be inspired by that.
"I've been chatting to a couple of the parents and they said how the kids' faces lit up when the players came in and joined in a little game of football with them and it's those things that can be priceless really."
John Armstrong, Director of Philanthropy at Alder Hey Children's Charity, said: "The trip to Finch Farm is a really exciting opportunity for the children to come and see the first-team train.
"Some of these patients are our long-term patients who have been treated with us for many years so it's a great opportunity for them to get out of the hospital, to get into a new environment and see some of their heroes."
