More than 400 toys donated to Queen Alexandra Hospital's children's wards thanks to Waitrose Gosport toy drive

Hazel Neligan and Julie Sheppard from Waitrose in Gosport, along with branch manager Lisa Ireland, delivered 14 boxes of goods to Sue Richardson, play specialist at Queen Alexandra Hospital’s paediatric department.

As part of the Give A Little Love Campaign to support families in need, the branch in Gosport decided to hold a toy drive to provide toys, games, puzzles, books and craft items for children staying in hospital over this Christmas period.

Julie said: ‘The toy drive ran for four weeks and the branch was completely overwhelmed with the generosity of its partners, their friends, family and our customers, particularly during this difficult year.’

The store hoped to collect a few presents to make Christmas brighter for some, but ended up with more than 400 brand new items being donated.

This means the children’s wards at the Cosham hospital have also been given toys and games to top up playroom supplies so all children in hospital can benefit in the year to come.

Hazel, community activator for the store, said: ‘The branch initially decided on a toy drive for reasons close to home.

‘Lisa’s daughter has a health condition that requires regular stays at QA, she told us how important toys and games are in making hospital stays a little more fun not just for the patients but also siblings that spend time there too.’

While handing over the boxes of toys, the Waitrose staff were also joined by Lisa’s daughter Abigail and Hope Ayres, an 11-year-old girl who also spends a lot of time undergoing treatment at the hospital.

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Hope, who has the rare medical condition Klippel Trenaunay Weber syndrome, is a familiar face at Waitrose Gosport.

When she heard what the store was doing, Hope and her family were really supportive of the drive and wanted to get behind the branch’s efforts.

Lisa said: ‘What we have collected in branch is truly incredible and will help make such a difference to the children’s time in hospital.

‘It’s so great to see a community coming together to support others.’

Sue and her colleagues were thrilled with the delivery and were eager to start planning what items would go where.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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