Children and families at Neath Port Talbot Children’s Centre gave a warm welcome to Santa when he stopped by.

He brought presents for everyone and a £1,750 donation to the centre’s Cwtsh Natur Appeal thanks to his friends from TATA Steel Finance in Port Talbot and other companies.

The centre is on the Neath Port Talbot Hospital site and looks after children aged from 0 to 19 as outpatients.

Patients range from premature babies to those with emerging needs, long-term disabilities, life-limiting conditions and those being supported with their mental health.

Sian Thomas, Paediatric Occupational Therapy Lead, said it was extra special as their young patients are often too vulnerable to infection to risk going to public grottos.

“A lot of the children here wouldn’t have gone to see Santa because they are so immunocompromised,” said Sian.

“Our families miss out on a lot of things like this because if their child catches a cold they could end up in hospital.”

She said that’s why Swansea Bay Health Charity’s Cwtsh Natur Appeal, which is raising £200,000 for a nature space for child health and wellbeing at the centre, is also very important. Just under £10,000 has been raised so far.

“The vision for the garden is to have a multi-sensory environment which is accessible for our families,” said Sian.

“A lot of local parks are really busy, big and overwhelming and don’t feel safe for our children.

“The idea is that families will be able to come here and use an outdoor space with play equipment like swings and roundabouts suited to their needs, use an undercover area, play on proper flooring and enjoy sensory-based equipment.

“We are also hoping to use part of it as a memorial garden and perhaps a nature-based wellbeing space for those being supported by our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).”

Santa’s helper Anne-Marie Edwards, Finance HQ Office Manager at TATA Steel, said she and her colleagues were very passionate about helping local causes, with the community being at the heart of all they do.

“It is important to us to keep the money in Port Talbot and the centre is perfect as we have two colleagues whose children come here,” she said.

Tata Finance department held a raffle and collected donations for Cwtsh Natur.

They also liaised with the centre and put 125 tags on a tree in their reception area which each had a number corresponding to an un-named patient.

The tags also had the child’s age, gender and what they wanted for Christmas.

TATA colleagues took the tags and bought presents for that child, which were delivered in person by their very own Steelworks Santa.

Anne-Marie said: “We are so lucky that everyone has been so generous and always supports the charities we donate to year after year. They have filled each bag to the top.

“We are fortunate that so many of our contractor companies in Port Talbot works have kindly donated prizes, cakes and donations to support the raffle and cake sale.

“One of our contractor companies, Sunbelt Rentals, also donated a selection box for every Christmas tag and Vodafone provided us transport big enough for 125 gift bags to deliver to the centre along with a helper. We can’t thank everyone enough”.