Jon will be visiting an older people’s ward at the Royal Infirmary today to meet some patients and deliver his gift.

Making Christmas Special is a unique campaign that encourages local people to donate a Christmas present for one of the older patients who will be too ill to leave hospital and be at home with their families this year. Last year Leicester Royal Infirmary received over 1000 donated gifts, ensuring that every older patient got a gift on Christmas morning.

Jon said: “It is fantastic that the Trust’s Communications Team work with Age UK Leicestershire & Rutland to make Christmas a bit brighter for those elderly patients who are unable to leave hospital for the festivities. I am delighted to be able to support the ‘Making Christmas Special’ Campaign, and I will be taking along a gift for one of the patients at the Royal Infirmary.”

Carole Ribbins, Deputy Chief Nurse for Leicester’s Hospitals, said: “Receiving a small gift on Christmas Day really means a lot to our patients, so my thanks go to Mr Ashworth for his continued support.”

Tony Donovan, Executive Director at Age UK Leicestershire and Rutland, added: “We are delighted to be working with Leicester’s Hospitals again to bring Christmas gifts to the many older people in hospital at this time of year.

It makes such a difference to older people to know that someone has thought about them and generously offered a gift - especially as many older patients have neither visitors nor a gift on Christmas Day.

All of our shops and community resource centres are accepting gift donations across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland until 16th December.”

A limited number of gift tags are also available at the hospital receptions and Age UK shops and resource centres.

Where to donate
Once you’ve filled your gift bag with treats and presents, you can take it to the main receptions at any of our three hospitals - Royal Infirmary, General or Glenfield.

Alternatively you can drop off at any Age UK shop or resource centre in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Speaking before the event Jon said: “Saffron always has a fantastic community spirit and it is great to see the community coming together again for a Christmas Party. Loads of people turned up last year and no doubt this year will be the same”

“I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.”

The Christmas Celebration, which has received funding from the Saffron Ward Community Fund and other donations, had face painting, hair braiding, fairground rides and lots of other activities for children. There was, of course, Father Christmas to give out presents to the local children.

May Jones, one of the organisers of the event, commented: “This is the 5th year we have had the Christmas event and we are very proud to say it has been a big success every year.

We have been able to do it as a free event thanks to our local Ward funding which brings the community together.”

“I would like to say a big thank you to our local Councillors Elly and Bill for all the help they give us on this event and to Jon for opening the event for us this year.”

During his visit Jon met with Katie Dexter and Mike McNally final PhD students at the University of Leicester, Nagham Shiltagh, international scholarship student from Iraq and Dr Klaus Von Haeften, the head of the CMP Group.

Jon was given a tour of the facilities, witnessed an experiment at the ‘liquid jet machine’ and took a look at magnetic nanoparticles which could revolutionise cancer treatment.

The winning picture that is on the front cover of Jon’s Christmas Cards is by Maya Cheung-Ross, aged 9, shown in photo above with Jon.

Jon said: “Maya’s card design is exceptionally festive and bright. It has a reindeer, Christmas tree and lots of shining stars. It is unique and perfect for my Christmas cards this year.”

The designs by the four runners up, all from a range of schools in Jon’s constituency, are shown on the back of Jon’s card. The youngest runner up this year is Alisha Parmer aged 5 from Children’s Hospital School. Alisha’s design also features a reindeer which is made from her handprints. All runners up received a signed certificate from Jon.

Mr Peter Fowler, the Head Teacher at Granby Primary School, said: “Maya is a talented artist and was keen to enter the competition. The children really embraced the challenge, they were interested in the task and excited that many people in Westminster will be receiving Mr Ashworth’s card.”

“The competition also prompted many questions about the role of MPs and how they are elected. The conversations linked very well with our School Council elections and the way we can use democracy to improve our school.”

Jon commented: “I want to thank all the children that entered my Christmas card competition this year. It was very hard to choose a winner as there were so many great designs. I wish all the staff and children at the schools in my Constituency a very merry Christmas”.

In May this year, Hazel Community Primary School was rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted, which follows a ‘Requires Improvement’ rating at the previous inspection.

Speaking before the visit, Jon said: “I am looking forward to meeting Year 6 pupils and being quizzed on my role – you never know which questions I’m going to be asked. I’m sure they will have some very tough questions for me.”

“I will be thanking the Headteacher, Mrs Gillian Blatherwick, and all her team on their most recent Ofsted Inspection and the improvements the school has made. As many of the pupils have come to live in the UK, and have to learn English as well as their home language, it is fantastic that they are making good progress in reading, writing and maths and that standards are rising.”

The Ofsted report noted that teachers make learning enjoyable and they have high expectations of what pupils should achieve and encourage the pupils’ positive attitudes.

After Jon’s question and answer session, he met with the Headteacher and had a tour of the school. Mrs Gillian Blatherwick, Head teacher, commented: “It was a pleasure to welcome Jon to the school and enable children in Year 6 to find out more about democracy at first hand.”