Boost for Leeds children's heart unit appeal (From Ilkley Gazette)

Boost for Leeds children's heart unit appeal

9:00am Friday 18th January 2013 in News

The sale of Christmas “reindeer food” and a Wear Red Day in two Ilkley schools raised more than £750 for a group campaigning to save the children’s heart surgery unit in Leeds.

Ilkley mum Naomi Wilkinson, whose daughter Olivia’s life was saved by specialists from the Leeds General Infirmary children’s heart surgery unit, has organised the reindeer food campaign for several years.

Families make a donation in exchange for a bag of food which youngsters can leave out on Christmas Eve to feed Santa’s reindeer.

Maria Wells, landlady of The Crown pub in Addingham, helped to run the 2012 reindeer food appeal from outlets in Ilkley, this time raising money for the Save Our Surgery (SOS) campaign.

The appeal raised £450.

The SOS campaign has been fighting a decision made last summer to end surgery at the Leeds unit, leaving families in the region needing to travel to Newcastle.

Two Ilkley schools – Ashlands Primary School and Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School – raised £307 in total at a Wear Red Day in aid of the SOS fund last month.

The schools invited staff and pupils to wear a red item of clothing for the day on December 7, in exchange for a donation to the campaign fund.