Yesterday supporters from various supporter groups came to St Andrews to wrap Christmas presents to be donated to hospices and hospitals in the region.

It is the second year that I have been involved in the Blues “Give a Gift” wrapping session and at a time when there is a lot of malaise around the club it was good to see so many fans there willing to give some time up to help wrap presents to be taken to St Mary’s Hospice, the Children’s Hospital and Heartlands Hospital. Fans representing smallheathalliance.com, the Blues Trust and sportsradio.co.uk, along with various fans who follow the club on twitter, volunteers from Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice and staff helped wrap over £5,000 worth of presents.

Donations for the presents came from various sources with Quilter Cheviot and the Lilly Mae Foundation each putting £1000 in; however the largest donation came from the players themselves. Pat Brennan (Brennan Decorators), Alan Sadler (Profix) and Kay & Martin Franklin (Tonic Cosmetic Surgery) who all donated £100 each. Mars for donating 200 Christmas selection boxes and John Lewis for donating two huge rolls of wrapping paper, plus Toys r Us, Boots and B and M from St. Andrew’s retail park offered discount on all of the presents purchased.

Having felt quite demoralised by more allegations of fixing within the professional game it’s uplifting to see that despite the financial problems the club is in that they are able to continue putting together charity events like this and that the players were happy to chip in where it counted to ensure that more people than ever benefitted.

Tags: Blues Give A Gift