Pictures: Special day as children from Cork City Hospitals Children's Club get the chance to meet Santa

MORE than 220 children and their families were invited to meet Santa when he visited Cork this week for a very special event.

Santa and his helpers descended on Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the Cork City Hospitals Children’s Club Christmas Winter Wonderland.

Now in its 29th year, the event had not been able to take place in the last three years due to the health risk Covid posed to already vulnerable children.

Santa met more than 228 children over the course of the two days and for some, it was their very first time to meet Mr Claus.

Chairperson of the Cork City Hospitals Children’ Club John Looney told The Echo: “Some of these children, unfortunately, are very, very ill, some haven’t seen Santa before.”

For others, it may have been the first time that an interpreter was present to assist Santa.

“We bring 42 deaf children down every year, and Mrs Claus is a qualified sign language interpreter, so she signs for the children and translates what Santa is saying,” said Mr Looney.

Among those in attendance were Richie and Eimear Kelleher from Ballyhooley and their children Conor and Jude.

“Conor would be in CUH a good bit, so we’d know the nurses... the staff in general in the Puffin Ward are amazing and we are so appreciative,” Richie Kelleher said.

“It’s amazing what they’ve done, from the decorations to the space itself, it’s really some effort”, he said, adding that for their younger son Jude who liked to run around “it’s great the space he has”, and similarly, he praised how accessible the venue was for Conor’s wheelchair.

Mr Looney explained how children attending the event boarded a bus at Nemo Rangers and were transported to the venue by a garda escort, Cork City Fire Brigade, and the airport police. The children were met on arrival with a guard of honour, a choir, Disney and superhero characters, and Christmas elves.

Each family was individually escorted into an elaborately decorated winter wonderland hallway, then into a room where Santa and Mrs Claus knew everyone’s name in advance.

While waiting for their turn there was a range of entertainment all provided by volunteers, such as a puppet show, face painters, and two clowns, Bally and Wally. Bally and Wally, who work as pharmacists the other 363 days of the year, have been taking part for 19 years since 2004.

They explained that the core group of about 40 volunteers has remained largely constant and that the number of children attending year after year doesn’t tend to change too much.

Discussing their entertaining show which they got children to get up and be a part of, they laughed: “It’s brilliant, we get more out of it than we put into it.”

Dominoes provided pizza for every child, Dwyer’s Electrical provided the lights, and Hanley’s decorated the trees.

Laura O’Sullivan was one of Santa’s elf helpers at the event, and said that she was delighted to be back, having volunteered prior to 2006 when she moved to Australia.

Laura described the whole day as brilliant, saying: “The entrance when they came in and everyone was clapping for them and greeting them – it’s the most magical two days for me over Christmas, and the children that take part are so deserving.”