Christmas joy for sick children

FESTIVE TREATS: The Brown Watch crew with children from Rotorua Hospital. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

The sick kids at Rotorua Hospital had some surprise visitors on Christmas morning and, just like Santa, they came bearing gifts.

The Rotorua Fire Brigade's Brown Watch crew, who were on duty yesterday, turned up at the children's ward with presents for the eight kids spending the day in hospital.

Station officer Tony Kelly said the crew had come up with the plan for the visit.

"Spending Christmas in hospital is not great. We just wanted to do something for the day ... there's always someone worse off than you are."

He said The Warehouse generously donated the gifts, which brought smiles to the children's faces.

While the crew spent about 45 minutes with the children, it was probably their fire engine that was the star of the show.

"We took them all out to the engine, they loved it," Mr Kelly said, adding the kids all had a turn sitting in the front seat.

Mr Kelly said they planned to make the surprise visits an annual event whether it be at the hospital or somewhere else.

Fortunately, there were no callouts during the visit, he said.