Young patients on the children’s ward at Heartlands Hospital have been given a festive boost thanks to a visit from Father Christmas.

Charity group the Castle Bromwich Lions brought along St Nick and two of his merry elves to deliver presents to poorly children after fundraising efforts received a big boost this year thanks to the new B&M store in Minworth.

Steve Else, from Castle Bromwich Lions’ fundraising committee, said: “The manager at B&M was really supportive of what we do and allowed us to have a Santa’s Grotto down at the store every weekend leading up to Christmas to raise money.

“He also arranged a campaign where customers could buy selection boxes and donate them to the children’s ward. It has been incredibly successful and we have received well over 2,000 selection boxes and we are delivering them today at Heartlands and later at Good Hope Hospital.

“It is lovely to be able to come here and hopefully bring a smile to the children’s faces at what can’t be a very nice time for them. I would like to thank Mike Baker and his wife Audrey for all their support once again.”

Christine Morrell, health play specialist at Heartlands Hospital, part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, said the team were hugely grateful to the Castle Bromwich Lions for their generous donations.

She said: “It is obviously not nice for children to be in hospital around Christmas time so having Father Christmas coming in and being given a gift can give them a real boost. I would like to thank Castle Bromwich Lions for their generosity, not just coming in today but for giving us lots of presents that can be distributed to the children who may unfortunately be with us over Christmas itself.”