Thousands join in the Christmas festivities
20 December 2016
We launched the festive season this year with special Christmas events on 6 December at West Middlesex and 9 December at Chelsea and Westminster.
We launched the festive season this year with special Christmas events on 6 December at West Middlesex and 9 December at Chelsea and Westminster. It was an opportunity to celebrate Christmas with our local communities.
At West Middlesex the event opened with a Christmas Carol Service from Gunnersbury School Choir. This was followed by the switch on of the Christmas tree lights by one of the children in the audience. Children were encouraged to make Christmas decorations with the play specialists from Starlight Ward, enjoy balloon twisting and visit Santa in Santa’s Lodge where they could experience the smoking chimney and snow. Refreshments were provided and there were plenty of stands to visit, including recruitment who were on the look-out for new nurses.
At Chelsea and Westminster the event opened when special guests the Chelsea Pensioners and one of our paediatric patients turned on the Christmas tree lights. This was followed by two hours of festivities including Santa’s grotto, gingerbread decorating, Teddy Bear Hospital, face painting and a fire engine! Our hospital charities also had stands at the event and the giggle doctors were on hand raising smiles. The event saw more than 1,300 visitors this year.
There was a carol service lead by the chaplaincy team to start the event and Christmas songs performed by the Staff Choir as well as a performance from Dick Laurie’s Elastic Band. The festivities wrapped up with a very special performance from Music’All choir, Prêt à chanter, who performed their song Brand New Day (Peace on Earth). Aiming for Christmas number 1, the song is available to download on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon with all proceeds going to the Chelsea Children’s Hospital Charity.
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Lesley Watts (Chief Executive) and Jonathan Albutt (Committee Member for the Friends of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital) presented the Christmas Cheers awards at West Middlesex. They were joined by Shân Jones (Director of Quality Improvement) to present the Best Decorated awards.
Karl Munslow-Ong (Deputy Chief Executive) and Andrew Goodwin (Chairman of the Friends), presented the Christmas Cheer awards at Chelsea and Westminster. Simon Dyer (Patient Governor) and Vanessa Sloane (Director of Nursing) joined them for the Best Decorated awards.
The Friends of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital generously sponsored the Christmas Cheer awards at both sites this year. Their support meant that we could recognise those who were nominated by their colleagues for their hard work throughout the year. They also sponsored the Best Decorated Ward, Unit or Department. This year’s best decorated competition is even more special as we asked teams to incorporate our new values ‘Proud to Care’ into their decorations. Congratulations to all our winners.