East Midlands Airport spreads Christmas joy to its neighbours
East Midlands Airport is spreading the joy of Christmas to its neighbours, offering festive treats and gifts to young and old in local communities.
As well as decking its check-in halls with Christmas decorations and lighting up its control tower with a festive message, every year the airport reaches out to surrounding communities, with staff volunteering their time to help create some happy Christmas memories.
A regular feature that’s now established in the airport’s festive calendar is the Kegworth Gentlefolk Christmas Tea Party, which took place last weekend (November 23). Volunteers from the airport helped local community group One Kegworth to provide Christmas afternoon tea for over-75s at the Crowne Plaza in Kegworth, where gifts, activities and entertainment were also laid on. Later in the season, on 14 December, festive hampers will also delivered to all those aged over 75 in the village who couldn’t attend the event.
This weekend (Saturday 29 November) will see local youngsters attend a matinee performance of Cinderella - this year’s Pantomime at Loughborough Town Hall. East Midlands Airport has gifted 190 tickets to children and their families from Cobden Primary School and Rendell Primary School in Loughborough, along with families of children with life-limiting illnesses being supported by Melbourne-based charity Me & Dee. Airport staff have arranged for Santa and his elves to hand out gifts to the children before the performance as well as ice-cream and drinks during the interval.
There’s also a series of school visits by Santa who will arrive in one of the airport’s Fire Trucks with gifts for the children - Kegworth Primary School on Thursday 11 December, Cobden Primary in Loughborough on Wednesday 17 December and Brackenfield SEN school in Long Eaton on Thursday 18 December.
And the When You Wish Upon A Star charity is once again bringing children with terminal and life-limiting illnesses and their families to the airport to fly to Lapland on Wednesday 3 December. East Midlands Airport staff pull out all the stops to help make their send-off to see Santa as easy and unforgettable as possible.
East Midlands Airport’s Community Engagement Manager Colleen Hempson said: “It’s a privilege to be able to work alongside community partners like One Kegworth to bring some magical cheer to people living in our local communities during the festive season.
“We are also excited to be hosting the One Kegworth Santa Sleigh in our airport check-in hall on Monday 1 December and hope that Santa gets to hear the wishes of lots of children as they travel through our airport. Our colleagues love to get involved in the various festive activities, bringing a smile to young and old alike.”
Pictured above from the airport helping at the Kegworth Gentlefolk Christmas Tea Party are, from left, security officer Jacqui Mitcheson, community engagement manager Colleen Hempson, security officer Imy Romano-Ley and Debbie Dixon from Air Traffic Control