Harry’s tonic for poorly children
Prince’s tour cheers families and Haribo workers
ROYAL: Prince Harry provided a perfect tonic for seriously ill children during the final day of his hugely-successful visit to West Yorkshire.
Harry carried out two engagements yesterday in Leeds in support of the WellChild charity before heading to Castleford and its new Haribo sweet factory.
PRINCE HARRY provided a perfect tonic for seriously ill children during the final day of his hugely-successful visit to West Yorkshire.
Harry carried out two engagements yesterday in Leeds in support of the WellChild charity before heading to Castleford and its new Haribo sweet factory.
The Prince’s programme started with a trip to see fiveyear-old Oliver Rooney, who has a chromosome disorder called Wolf Hirschhorn Syndrome.
Harry met Oliver and his family at their home in Bramley, Leeds, where the garden is being transformed by volunteers into a safe play space as part of WellChild’s Helping Hands programme.
The Prince sat in the living room of the house and chatted to Oliver and his four brothers about school and their sleeping arrangements.
Later he sat at a garden table with the family and discussed sport and the Helping Hands project. Elizabeth McOmish-Rooney, Oliver’s mother, told Harry that until now her son had been unable to access the garden without constant close supervision.
She said: “It’s going to give us a space all the family can use. Previously, Oliver has had to be kept away from the other boys because of the condition of the garden at the bottom. Now we’re all going to be able to play together.”
Ms McOmish-Rooney said the visit was “something we’ll talk about forever”. She added: “What a lovely man. The way he interacted with the boys was fantastic and he put us all at ease.” Harry described the family as “lovely” and said of Ms McOmish-Rooney: “She is a superwoman.” The Prince then made the short journey to Leeds Children’s Hospital, in the Clarendon Wing of Leeds General Infirmary.
He was greeted by a sizeable and cheerfully noisy crowd before meeting WellChild nurse Helen Tooby, who gives specialist assistance to parents of poorly youngsters going home after hospital care. WellChild patron Harry also spoke with a number of families and young patients who have benefited from the work done by Ms Tooby. She said: “It was wonderful having Prince Harry here supporting the charity and meeting the families. He got to spend time with each of them and was brilliant with them. He put them at ease, asked them lots of questions about their lives and interacted well with the children. Having him as patron and raising the profile of WellChild is great.” The youngsters meeting Harry included six-year-old Audrey Frantzich, who suffers from a rare genetic condition called Mosaic Trisomy 9.
Her mother, Louise Frantzich, from Ilkley, said: “You can tell she enjoyed it.
“She loves it when there’s people around and all the cameras and everything.” She added: “Prince Harry was very down to earth, very friendly. I enjoyed meeting him and Tommy (Audrey’s 17-month-old brother) enjoyed it as well; he was playing cars with Tommy on the floor.”
The Prince’s visit to Haribo saw him being presented with a box of sweets that had been specially made to resemble his face. Haribo UK managing director Herwig Vennekens said: “The day went brilliantly; a lot of people were happy and excited to meet him. He took the time to meet them and talk with them and you could tell by the workers’ reactions how they felt.”
Machine operator Chris Ward, from Pontefract, said: “It was like talking to one of the lads, one of the workforce, he was brilliant. He was really interested in how it all works.”
Harry’s visit to the county began on Thursday, when he attended a mental health event in Leeds and a rugby league celebration at the city’s Headingley Carnegie Stadium.