Being the only guy on the team, I volunteered to be the big man himself (Picture: Kingston Play Team)

As I carried the sack crammed with presents into the hospital room, the children’s faces were a picture.

‘Ho, ho ho, Merry Christmas!’ I boomed.

I sat down next to one little boy. ‘Have you written me a letter yet?’ I asked him.

His eyes widened. ‘How did you know I was in hospital?’ he said.

‘Oh Santa knows everything,’ I smiled, hoping he wouldn’t recognise me as Gary, the play specialist who’d been helping him make paper chains that same morning.

It was December 2020 and my first Christmas as Santa at Kingston Hospital in Surrey.

As a full-time play specialist – most of the year – my work on the children’s ward usually involves ensuring all the kids have a chance to access toys, fun activities and crafts to help make their time there a little bit more fun and less intimidating.

I’ve always loved working with children and dote on my four nieces and nephews. So I was thrilled when I got this job in early 2020.

But during the pandemic, it became more obvious than ever that kids in hospital missed out on so much during the festive season – due to Covid-19 restrictions, many were in isolation so couldn’t visit a grotto and they had limited visits from family, too.

We made it our mission to make Christmas on the ward as festive as possible (Picture: Kingston Play Team)

Just before my first Christmas working at the hospital, I learnt that pre-Covid, it had usually been up to one of the doctors to be Santa.

So my colleagues and I came up with the idea of bringing Christmas – and Santa – to them. Being the only guy on the team, I volunteered to be the big man himself and my play specialist colleagues volunteered to be my elves.

That first year, we made it our mission to make Christmas on the ward as festive as possible.

After all, we knew only too well how being able to play is the one thing that can help many children have a positive hospital experience.

Yet many UK NHS hospitals don’t have the funds to enable it to happen. To bring Santa to the hospital, we needed lots of presents.

We got such incredible feedback from the parents and the kids (Picture: Kingston Play Team)

Thankfully, Starlight, a national charity that uses the power of play to make the experience of hospital treatment better for children and their families, donated gifts for us to give out to the children.

To make the atmosphere even more festive, my colleagues also arranged for two very friendly, antler-wearing ponies dressed up as reindeer to come to the hospital car park.

One by one, we ensured the kids were wrapped up warm to come outside and meet them. They were totally amazed – and interacting with the ponies gave them such a boost, they were all talking excitedly about it for days afterwards.

I really think experiences like this help make a difference to their wellbeing.

Gary outside of his Christmas outfit (Picture: Gary Broadway)

Interacting with the ponies gave the kids such a boost (Picture: Kingston Play Team)

Then once a day, I donned the red suit to visit the kids who had just arrived, to give them a gift before chatting to them about how they felt about being in hospital around Christmas.

I loved answering the kids’ questions about how I got into the hospital without a chimney.

As a treat, the elves would deliver mince pies to the parents, too.

After Santa’s visit, the kids could do Christmas craft, helping make decorations for the ward, or icing festive gingerbread. Most afternoons, we’d have Christmas movies and popcorn.

We got such incredible feedback from the parents and the kids, saying how special and fun we’d made their time in hospital. So we’ve done it every year since and I’ve been Santa every day in December, right up until Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day, I’m grateful I’m able to spend it with my partner and family, because, thankfully, many children in hospital can go home for that day at least. But some aren’t well enough and for those, we make it extra special.

Making sure all children can experience the magic is what Christmas is really all about (Picture: Kingston Play Team)

They get a stocking on Christmas Eve and then after a final Santa visit from me, they hang them up before they go to sleep. The night nurses then fill up the stockings all ready for Christmas morning.

As Santa, I try to make the most of the time I spend with every child, because I’m conscious that for some kids, it might be their last Christmas.

Last year, in my regular role as a play specialist, I spent lots of time with a nine-year-old girl who had leukaemia. Then that December, I helped her make some lovely handmade Christmas cards for her parents and grandparents.

When I visited her dressed as Santa, thankfully, she didn’t recognise me but she smiled for the first time in ages. ‘I didn’t think you’d know I was here,’ she said.

‘Santa will always find you,’ I smiled. When I came back onto the ward later, in my normal clothes, she excitedly told me she’d just had a special visitor.

‘I must have missed him,’ I said, ‘Let’s hope that doesn’t mean I’m on the naughty list!’ Thankfully, she was able to return home for Christmas Day itself.

But at the start of this year, her health deteriorated and she sadly passed away. Along with everyone else on the ward, I was devastated for her and her parents.

But I was just glad we’d been able to help her make those last Christmas cards for her family to treasure, and that she’d seen Santa one last time. I hope that in some small way, we helped to make her last Christmas special.

That’s our goal for every child who comes through our doors.

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For children who don’t celebrate Christmas we do lots of fun activities like arts and crafts, bingo and rather than visits from Santa, they have visits from an inflatable dinosaur and unicorn! We’ll adapt the fun to suit them and their family, so no one feels left out.

This year, I’m looking forward to wearing the red suit again for the third year running. After all, being in hospital is tough enough for anyone – let alone kids.

So I’m glad that along with my team of elves, we can bring a little Christmas spirit and festive fun so the kids and their parents don’t feel they’re missing out or that Santa’s forgotten them.

For me, making sure all children can experience the magic, no matter their situation, is what Christmas is really all about.

To help Starlight bring play to every seriously ill child who needs it this Christmas, donate on their website here.

As told to Bethan King

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‘I didn’t think you’d know I was here,’ one little girl with cancer said. ‘Santa will always find you,’ I smiled.