It's a matter of days until the start of December, which can only mean one thing – pantomime season is upon us. With that in mind, one of the fairytale world's most famous faces stopped by to pay a visit to the children at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington this week.
Dick Whittington and his cat helped bring festive cheer to the young patients staying on the pediatric ward with games and a special panto performance.
They were joined by radio star and mother-of-three Sara Cox who was there to launch a new initiative that aims to put a smile on poorly children's faces this Christmas.Radio One DJ Sara and the Starlight children's charity have teamed up with Heinz to launch the Get Well Soup campaign, providing entertainment to children who will spend time in hospitals or hospices this festive season.Sara says: "There are lots of ways to make someone who is under the weather feel a bit more cheerful... It's such a lovely feeling to see these kid’s faces light up with something as simple as a little entertainment."
The initiative will help seriously poorly children forget about their illnesses for a while, and just have a bit of fun. Starlight's Neil Swann comments: "Happy children get better more quickly and we hope that the 'Get Well' soup campaign will make a big difference to children battling illnesses in hospital this Christmas."
Time towards providing entertainment to children's hospitals up and down the nation will be provided by the cause. They are aiming to raise 3,000 minutes of entertainment which will fund performances of the pantomime in over 65 hospital wards.
"The performance of Dick Whittington is so fun and engaging, we are sure the kids are going to love it," adds Sally Meekins from Heinz, happy to be "bringing a bit of sparkle to children's wards this Christmas".To help support this cause and really make a difference this Christmas visit www.facebook.com/HeinzSoupUK