YKK sponsored Widnes Wild players Matty Barlow and Rhys Edwards took on the role of Santa Claus for the day as they distributed donated toys to good causes on Merseyside in the run up to Christmas.
The gifts had all been collected at the club’s annual Teddy Toss event which took place during the Wild’s last home game of the year against Blackburn Hawks on 10th December. It is part of a world-wide ice hockey tradition and, at a certain point during the game, spectators are invited to throw their soft toys onto the ice where they are then gathered up for distribution.
For Health & Safety reasons, toys to be given to children have to be new, securely wrapped and undamaged but no donations go to waste as any used or damaged toys are taken to an animal shelter for homeless pets to play with.
This year, the recipients of the Widnes Wild Teddy Toss toys were Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Carla Lane Animals in Need, both in Liverpool.
In all, 76 soft toys were donated on the night. You can see some video footage of the annual bear airing here.
Photos by Steve Cunningham
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