Academy delight youngsters at Alder Hey
The bond between Liverpool FC and Alder Hey Children's Hospital was strengthened further on Tuesday when three Academy prospects embarked on a tour of the wards and spent time chatting to the hospital's young patients.
Such trips are part of the Academy's initiative to give grounding to their young players, who not only take part in regular hospital visits to Alder Hey and the Claire House hospice, but also help serve food at Liverpool's homeless shelter.
This week it was the turn of David Roberts, Matty Virtue and Ben Jackson to journey from the club's Kirkby complex across the city to Alder Hey, where they were welcomed with open arms by staff and patients alike.
Clive Cook, the Academy's education and welfare officer, said: "Our visits to Alder Hey play a crucial part in the holistic development of the young lads and it's an aspect of life at the club that they all relish and respect.
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"The trips to the hospital provide much-needed support for the sick children, who love meeting the players, and - equally - our lads thrive on bringing that little bit of happiness to the young ones' days.
"It gives our boys a broad perspective of real-life issues, too. They realise that their own troubles - injuries, lack of form or personal problems - may not be as overwhelming when compared with what the young patients are going through."
Each year, the hospital, which is roughly a five-minute walk from the Reds' first-team base, Melwood, in the suburb of West Derby, cares for more than 270,000 children, young people and their families.
Alder Hey is a leader in research into children's medicines, infection, inflammation and oncology - and next year will open a purpose-built hospital in the park next door to its current site. For more information on Alder Hey, click here.