Four Reading FC first-team players were out to spread Christmas joy with a visit to the Royal Berkshire Hospital to hand out presents.
Club captain Andy Yiadom, Tom Ince, Tom McIntyre and Shane Long all attended the town’s hospital to take part in a gift giving event where children were able to pick their presents from a range of goodies brought to them by the first-team players.
The Royals players spent Wednesday afternoon meeting the children and their family members and as well as playing their part in giving out gifts, they took time to pose for photos and spent time speaking to the various children and staff at RBH.
Speaking on the club’s visit to RBH, men’s first-team manager Paul Ince said: “I think it’s massively important. When I first came here I don’t think we did enough of that.
“Football is about the fans and the community.
“We are the lucky ones. I’ve always maintained at the clubs that I’ve managed that you do the visits, you go and see the kids and show how fortunate we are.
“We shouldn’t just do it because it’s Christmas, we should do it all through the season.
“As a football club we need to bring fans in. It works both ways, we can’t expect fans to turn up and pay their hard earned money.
“We need to show our appreciation to them and do the visits.”
One nurse at RBH said: “We love having them. They always lift the children’s spirits.
“They’re really good to us, give us gifts every Christmas and we really appreciate it.
“It makes a huge difference. It lifts the staff’s spirits as well, it’s exciting to have them come in and have pictures.”
