Children across the region were delighted this week when Santa turned up at their hospital bed on a motorbike - in a fashion. The annual Santa Run carried out by the team from the life-saving Northumbria Blood Bikes charity saw hundreds of little ones in hospital beds across Northumberland , Newcastle, Sunderland and beyond receive a very special gift to brighten their time on the wards. The Northumbria Blood Bikes charity spends evenings and weekends ferrying vital supplies of blood and other medical essentials - for free - to hospitals from Darlington to Northumberland.
The idea is to support the NHS and help ensure tight resources can be spent where they are most needed. But each Christmas , the team of riders don their best Santa costumes and motor around the region delivering goodies to children who might be having a tougher Christmas than most. Kirsty Lawrence, trustee and publicity officer at the charity, told ChronicleLive: "At Darlington we joined the cast from Darlington Hippodrome’s Sleeping Beauty Pantomime and [on Thursday] we were joined by Beatrix - a three-year old little heart transplant recipient who has become an honorary Blood Biker.
"Bea is actually going to be featured on Saturday’s episode of BBC Casualty in their Christmas special telling the story of how Blood Bikes helped save her life when she was as on a Berlin Heart in the Freeman for 15 months, waiting for her heart transplant." The three-day Santa Run sees toys donated to 11 children's wards.