Burnley FC players have made several visits across the community in order to spread a little festive cheer.
The players split into groups, armed with presents to donate, and visited Burnley General Teaching Hospital, Blackburn Hospital's children's ward, Pendleside Hospice, Burnley FC in the Community's Dementia Café, Casterton Primary School and Coal Clough Academy.
The players visited both Burnley General and Blackburn Hospital to meet patients, families and brought sacks of presents which were distributed on the wards.
Jay Rodriguez, who is an ambassador of Pendleside Hospice made a trip there to visit patients, staff and volunteers, alongside teammates Connor Roberts, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Nathan Redmond.
Jay said: “Pendleside means a lot to me, my family, and I think everyone local. Everyone thinks it’s a special place that does a lot of great work, so to come back is always a pleasure and hopefully to help and make people’s day is always good.
“Everyone just mucks in. When you come in, they make you feel welcome, we have a laugh and a chat, meet new people. You just see what this place does to people, it always brings people’s spirits up in tough times. I think it’s a great place and something we’re all proud of.
“I think that’s the special thing, you can go through the toughest times but when you’re actually here you don’t feel like that. The people that work here, every single one of them are great people and characters. You come in and you meet them and chat to them, and it’s like you’ve known them for ages. Everyone’s down to earth and a good laugh. We’ve all been smiling today.”
Year 5 and 6 pupils at Casterton Primary School received a surprise when Charlie Taylor, Dara O'Shea and Lawrence Vigouroux, who were joined by U18s Benji Wetshi and Logan Carlin visited afternoon assembly.
The players did a question and answer session and took part in a Christmas quiz.
Defender Dara said he was happy to spend time out in the local community meeting the school children.
He said: “It was great, obviously it’s nice to come out into the community, see the kids and try and put a smile on their face at this time of the year. Especially being in Burnley, the school it’s nice and it’s special, and it has a special place in the community.
“It’s massive [the importance of players meeting fans in the community]. Obviously, fans are what keeps football going and the young people are going to be there in the crowd at some stage, when they can.
“I think from a young age to try and put a smile on the kids’ faces and try and push them into football, it could be a hobby and give them something to do, is nice. I think us as players, we’ve all made great friends out of football, so it’s a great opportunity for the kids here to try and push themselves, step out of their comfort zone and step into something new.”
His competitive spirit came out in the quiz too and he was pleased to be on the winning side.
“Yes, I think we did alright,” he said. “We had a bit of help from the pupils as well, so I think we won in the end!”
The visits didn't stop there as Josh Cullen, Manuel Benson and CJ Egan-Riley also stopped by Coal Clough Academy to meet pupils and staff and the club showed support for Burnley FC in the Community's Dementia Café with Hjalmar Ekdal, Ameen Al-Dakhil and Denis Franchi joining in the group's social session and playing some dominoes
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