Participants from LFC Foundation's Premier League Inspires programme visited Alder Hey last week to donate the proceeds from a recent fundraising initiative.

Fifty pupils from Broughton Hall Catholic High School, which is less than a mile from the West Derby children’s hospital, spent the last six weeks undertaking a community fundraising project as part of LFC Foundation’s work in the school.

The youngsters raised a total of £250 through their activities – which included a cake sale and Christmas accessory day – and the funds were presented to hospital staff alongside Christmas cards and shoeboxes containing gifts for patients.

The pupils ended the morning with a tour of the hospital grounds, including the Steven Gerrard Foundation Garden, which opened in 2015 thanks to a donation from the Reds legend.

Last week’s visit was a culmination of a six-week project, during which the pupils conducted research on Alder Hey, gathered ideas on how to raise money for the hospital and came up with ways to help the staff and patients over the Christmas period.

Ideas were put to teachers and senior LFC Foundation staff in a Dragons Den-style format, allowing the pupils to work on their presentation and teamwork skills.

Shawn Donaghy, Inspires Coordinator at LFC Foundation, said: “The Inspires programme aims to help upskill pupils through alternative forms of education and different methods of approaching learning.

“Our work focuses on pupils who are struggling to engage with school, have low attendance or behavioural issues, and we use the power of the badge to inspire these pupils to achieve the best they can.

“The pupils all worked really hard on this project and delivered fantastic presentations during the ideas phase. The effort, hard work and excellent attitude the pupils have shown throughout the entire project has been outstanding and they are a credit to both their school and the LFC Foundation.

“We’d also like to thank the staff at Alder Hey for their warm welcome and for taking the time to show us around the different areas of the hospital – they offered a great level of insight and the pupils really learnt a lot from the visit.”

For more information on Premier League Inspires or LFC Foundation’s range of programmes and activities, click here.