Mighty Red brings Alder Hey joy
Liverpool's new mascot Mighty Red brought joy to children and their families at Alder Hey on Tuesday as he toured three of the hospital's wards handing out special gifts and entertaining the patients.
Mighty showed off his dancing skills, posed for photos with kids and presented each of the children with a bag full of LFC goodies as well as his own signature cards.
Our mascot visited ward L2 before making the short walk to E2, where he was in fine form, joking and dancing as LFC club chaplain Bill Bygroves accompanied him on the guitar.
On ward E2 was 10-year-old Andy Speke, who was delighted to see Mighty bound down the corridor and make a beeline for him to say hello.
"I think he was really cool and he looked really funny," said Andy. "I liked him and I really liked his dance."
Ward C2 was last for Mighty before he headed home for the day.
"It was a fantastic day," said Bill. "Mighty really connected with the boys and girls. They loved him and lots of the parents did too. Some of the parents said it broke up a difficult and monotonous day, so all in all it was great.
"He was really friendly, really funny and full of life - he really connected with the boys and girls.
"You could see by the children's faces just how joyous they were and that's a great thing. All of us, especially Mighty Red, wants to wish all the boys and girls at Alder Hey a speedy recovery."
Irene Axon, senior community fundraiser at Alder Hey, added: "Today wasn't just great for the children but Mighty also put a smile on the faces of all the families who are here sitting around their beds and all the staff as well.
"He integrated very well with everybody on the wards. Some of these children are here every day, some have been here weeks, some months, and so it's great to have such a special visitor to break up the day."
