Swansea City players attend Christmas party for children from Morriston hospital
Swansea City players and staff recently attended a Christmas party at the Swansea.com Stadium, which gave more than 200 children from Morriston Hospital and our local community the chance to celebrate the festive season with their Swans heroes.
The party is an annual event organised by long-time supporter Phil Lake. It was first held in 2004 when a friend who worked at Morriston Hospital asked if he could do anything for the children who were spending Christmas as patients.
Over the past 18 years, the event has grown, with more and more children able to benefit and get the chance to enjoy some festive cheer.
“We’ve had a massive turnout and Russell Martin came along with the players,” said Lake.
“I want to thank the players for turning up because it makes the evening so special.
“This event is magic. You see these kids and you don’t realise what a tough time some of them have had this year, some of the stories are really sad but we’ve put on a special night for them.
“I’d like to thank everybody involved with Swansea City for helping us to put this on.”
The children were joined by Father Christmas, while Wales internationals Joe Allen and Ben Cabango as well as fellow Swans Joel Piroe, Michael Obafemi, Ollie Cooper and Matty Sorinola were also in attendance, along with head coach Russell Martin.
Cooper was pleased to be part of an event which put smiles on the faces of children from the city who have had a difficult year.
“It’s really nice that we can come out and do stuff like this, especially after Covid,” said the academy product.
“It’s really lovely to see all the kids and it’s nice to be able to sign stuff for them which they can take home and keep – I know I have a lot of that from when I was a kid.
“Anything we can do to get involved with the community and fans is massive. It’s nice that we can do little things like that to thank them for supporting us on the weekend.
“I’m really glad that I can be here and be part of it.”