Millwall and Charlton footballers spread festive cheer to hospital patients

Football stars from Millwall Football Club and Charlton Athletic Football Club visited hospitals over the festive period to pass on Christmas cheer and deliver gifts to sick babies, children and patients with cancer.

Players and club staff brought sacks of presents for an afternoon playing Santa at University Hospital Lewisham (UHL) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

First stop for both teams was the children’s wards, where many young patients spent Christmas.

Taking time out of their busy training schedules, the players met adult patients in the Macmillan Brook Unit at QEH and Suite 8 at UHL which both specialise in cancer care.

A young patient at University Hospital Lewisham, Romilade Amid, said: “I can’t believe I just met the Millwall Football Team. I have never met footballers before, so this is amazing.”

Millwall player Murray Wallace, said: “After a long gap in visits because of COVID, it was so nice to get back to University Hospital Lewisham to spread a bit of festive cheer.

“We appreciate just how difficult it must be to be in hospital at this time, so we hope that bringing gifts for the young patients provided a bit of relief. We all look forward to visiting and we thank all the doctors, nurses and staff for everything they do day-in, day-out.”

Sharon Justice, Lead Play Specialist at UHL, said: “The patients love meeting the Millwall players and staff. They’re really generous with their time and gifts, and pose for lots of photos. They speak to everyone and we very much appreciate that.”

Sian Rogers, goalkeeper at Charlton Athletic Women, said: “As well as bringing presents to the children, we came to Queen Elizabeth Hospital to give chocolates to the hardworking staff.

“Engagement with our local community is massively important for us. So it was great to spread some Christmas cheer to everyone and see lots of smiles.”

Pictured top: Romilade Amid with Millwall Football Team (Picture: Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust)