Arts & Crafts at Southampton Children's Hospital

On Saturday I held an arts and crafts day at Southampton Children’s Hospital with Ian and my stepmum Carol. They are both survivors of cancer and understand how scary, yet how brilliant hospitals are, so we wanted to give back and to let the kiddies have some fun and relaxation in between treatments.

The idea was that the kids could design the Southampton Hospital Charity logo which is a hand, and then I will use these designs in my eco wear as part of one of the rounds that takes places at the Miss England finals in August at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.

Seeing the children visiting and staying at the hospital really makes you realise how resilient and brave children are compared to adults. I will try and find any ache or pain as an excuse to rest, but these little ones were bouncing around the place with so much energy, despite the tubes and wires attached to them. It really does open your eyes.

We met a number of amazing children; I got to know Annie, Corey, Taren, Aaaron, Sadie and Harriet particularly and their lovely parents. We held the arts and crafts day in the play centre but we also got to visit a number of wards to make sure children who couldn’t leave their wards could have a go. Sadie had a huge stuffed monkey with her as a way of apology by her brothers for breaking her finger who we also got to meet! Harriet was a lovely young girl who really stuck in my mind when her mum told me she’d had two cardiac arrests in a matter of weeks and was undergoing surgery again soon. Harriet had been in the children’s heart unit for 10 weeks, with probably another month to come.

Trying to keep a three year old occupied for three months isn’t easy and Harriet was running around like any other fit and healthy child. Her attitude and outlook was so positive so we made sure she had lots of colouring books to play with for the next month. All the books and crafty goodies were kindly donated by Toys of New Milton, so thank you so much.

What I also realised is although the day was emotionally draining and yet great fun, it was also about the parents having someone else to talk to, about something else other than hospital visits and sickness and everything else. It was good to just chat away about life and other bits and bobs for the parents, and give them five minutes to grab a coffee while we played with glitter and paints (what I also discovered was that you can never have too much glitter and glue. Kids LOVE glitter – it went everywhere!)

Sarah and Julie looked after us all day and explained about each of the units and the children that came along to get crafty and messy. They are such inspirational women and bring such a sense of fun and positivity to what can be a really difficult period in a child’s life.

I am still very much in awe of the children and their bravery and it has really made me realise once again how lucky I am. I know their smiles had a real effect on my stepmum and Ian and it has made us all appreciate our health and happiness. I really want to visit again and keep coming up with ideas on how to occupy them during their stay at the amazing hospital that is Southampton General.

(For child protection laws, we did not take any photos. However, the hospital staff did get consent forms to the parents and took a few photos which they will release soon.)