Emma’s Hospice birthday present

A pupil of Ebrington Primary School, where she is in P3, and is one of Miss Nutt’s prized little ladies, Emma decided she was going to do something different for her birthday party last month.

Not for her lots of presents or a big party outing - she wanted to help someone less fortunate than herself.

Mum and dad Adria and Peter Woods, and both sets of grandparents, Freddie and Marie Woods and Dot and Ronnie Simpson, made sure she got her family presents to mark her seventh birthday, but everyone else was asked to make a donation to the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.

Proud granda Ronnie said: “My wife Dot did it for her 60th birthday last year, but we had no idea that Emma was so absorbed by this and we honestly didn’t say anything about it to her, so we were so surprised when Emma just announced she wanted to do this for children.

“I’m not saying that she would not have appreciated presents from her friends, but she just wanted her gift to be the gift of comfort for other children who are not as fortunate as she is. Emma is a caring wee girl, she was such a good, quiet wee girl. She is just a real wee woman, if I’m honest, with a very caring spirit, and we are so proud of her in every way.

“It was £125 that she raised by doing this and we handed it over to Valerie Thomas the NI Children’s Hospice representative in the north west. I don’t think Emma really knows what it is that she has achieved, because we didn’t talk about it, but Emma has obviously thought a lot about it and wanted to celebrate her birthday helping others. Which is a lovely thing to do.

“There was so much talk surrounding Dot’s 60th birthday party and it was such a big day for the family that Emma has obviously absorbed this and wanted to repeat it for her birthday.”