Nine-year-old donates gifts to children in Peterborough hospital for fifth year in a row
Bea Willbond started donating in 2020
A nine-year-old girl from Peterborough will be donating gifts and money to children in hospital this winter - and she's been doing it since she was four years old.
Bea Willbond has been donating presents, including some of her own birthday and Christmas gifts, to Peterborough City Hospital since 2020.
It all started in 2020, when Bea was 4 years old.
Bea said: "My friend Thea was in hospital on Christmas Eve, and she still got presents so that made me think if I could do it, it could help other children."
More recently, Bea has started donating and raising money, and she's raised £320 in total so far.
The nine-year-old says she feels proud of making other people happy.
Zoe Wilkinson works with the children at Peterborough City Hospital as a Play Service Co-ordinator, so she's seen Bea's donations since they started.
Wilkinson said: "You can see the smile on her face and how proud it makes her feel."
She believes the joy brought by Bea's gifts can even speed up the children's recovery.
Wilkinson said: "She brought some arts and crafts activities last year, and I remember giving them to a child.
"They ripped them open and started doing them straight away.
"It aids that normality. It helps them get out of the hospital door a little bit quicker."
Peterborough City Hospital, Wilkinson said, welcomes any donations they receive - on the condition that the items are brand new so that staff know they're safe for the children.
Because the hospital treats children of all ages, Wilkinson said they're open to all sorts of toys: "Anything from slime to fidgets to sticker, right through to packs of UNO cards and Boggle."