Top charity urges business community to support Christmas appeal

One of Birmingham’s best-supported charities has announced details of its Christmas fundraising scheme.

Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity is urging the city’s business community to support its Out to Play appeal, which is hoping to raise £230,000 to revamp its old outdoor play area.

The charity said a modern facility would help to provide the 90,000 children and young people, plus their siblings, who visit our hospital every year with a facility that could be enjoyed all year round.

It said: “Giving a child some degree of normality during their hospital visits is really important. The playground provides fresh air, exercise and somewhere for children to relax and be themselves in a non-threatening environment.”

After more than 12 years of constant use, the current outdoor play area is said to be desperately in need of renovation.

Supporting the appeal is three-year-old Kadie-Leigh and her family. Kadie-Leigh has been a patient at our hospital since she was just a few days old. Her rare kidney condition means she has to visit the hospital for regular check-ups and earlier this year she underwent 13 hours of surgery.

“Coming to hospital is a huge ordeal for Kadie-Leigh but the playground helps to ease her fears,” said the charity.

Her grandmother, Teresa, added: “If it wasn’t for the playground, I don’t know what Kadie-Leigh would have done. Every time we visit the hospital, she looks forward to getting out on to the playground and her face lights up when she sees it, she even knows how to get there. It really helps to distract her from the real reason we’re there. She’s a real outdoorsy child and being outside with other children makes such a huge difference to the clinical atmosphere inside the hospital.

“The playground looks very tired and in desperate need of a face lift, certain areas are no longer in use. To have a new, colourful and fully functional playground would make such a difference to Kadie-Leigh and all the other families who visit the hospital.”

Miranda Williams, Public Fundraising Manager at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “Playing can have a huge impact on children in hospital – it would be fantastic to be able to give the children that visit our hospital a brilliant new outdoor playground that will bring fun, laughter and learning into their lives.”

More details on the appeal are available by visiting bch.org.uk/OutToPlay