Helping to make wishes come true

The Children’s Ward at Rotherham Hospital is now filled with toys, new electrical equipment and other useful items thanks to the Shepard family.

They held a wild west themed night at their farm on Green Arbour Road which raised more than £2,000.

They spent £1,500 buying items on the Children’s Ward’s wish list and donated £500 to the Epilepsy Society.

Sandra Shepard said they decided to help the ward because her granddaughter Poppy has epilepsy and has spent time on there.

“Poppy is 20 months old and has epilepsy. We wanted to give something back for all the time and care they have given Poppy,” said Sandra.

“We have had fundraisers before and decided to hold a wild west event in our barn in June.”

“We raised £2,070. Without the support of our family and friends we could have done that.”

Sandra said they decided on what items to buy after consulting with nurses on the ward.

She said: “We told the ward that we were raising money for them and that we wanted to buy toys and whatever they needed for the children’s ward.”

“The nurses gave us a wish list of what they would like.”

The family bought all sorts of goods including DVD TVs, pushchairs, toys, a car seat and sterilises. They visited the ward last week to hand over the items to staff, who were overwhelmed by their generosity.

Val Aspin, a play specialist at Rotherham Hospital, part of the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said the donation was beyond what they ever expected.

She said: “We’d like to thank Poppy’s family very much for the items they have donated to the ward.”

“They have managed to raise enough money to buy everything on our wish list which was lovely - over and beyond what we could ever have expected.”

“Equipment such as mugs, pushchairs and sterilises will bring great comfort to parents and the toys will bring so much delight to the children on the ward. It really is brilliant.”