Club representatives brought some festive cheer to the patients of the Cygnet Hospital in Taunton when they dropped by just before the Big Day. Chairman Kevin Sturmey, Finance Director Alan Slade and goalkeeper Lloyd Irish completed a ‘Santa Drop’ at the hospital on Monday 23rd December, when they gave out Christmas presents to the 54 patients who were going to be there over the Christmas period.

Cygnet Health Care are the club’s Stadium Sponsor of course, the partnership being launched in July this year which saw the Peacocks’ home renamed The Cygnet Health Care Stadium. The partnership, which will span the next two years, seeks to promote, celebrate and help to deliver the positive effect of sport on mental health and wellbeing.

Siobhan Miller, Occupational Therapist at Cygnet Hospital Taunton said: “It is incredibly important for patients in the hospital to feel connected to the wider community, especially over the Christmas period, and Taunton Town Football Club have really made a difference to people’s experience here at Cygnet Hospital Taunton.

“Previously the club has invited patients to attend their games and they have provided fantastic opportunities for our patients to enjoy a fun and meaningful day out. Visiting the patients at Christmas is a wonderful gesture that the patients will truly appreciate. The happiness and sense of community it will create cannot be underestimated”.

Kevin Sturmey, Chairman of Taunton Town Football Club continued: “On behalf of Taunton Town FC, I am delighted to bring a small share of festive cheer to patients at our local Cygnet Health Care Hospital. The partnership we have developed with Cygnet has been wonderful, not only in terms of them being a major sponsor of the Cygnet Health Care Stadium, but also in the engagement that has been forged between staff, patients and all of us at Taunton Town FC.

“It is so important that, as a football club, we realise how much we can do for those in our local community. Football can break down so many barriers, and it has been a pleasure working with Cygnet Hospital Taunton. We hope the partnership will continue to flourish.”

Cygnet Hospital Taunton provides specialist inpatient services for older adults with mental health problems and for men diagnosed with a learning disability, along with an acute inpatient admissions service for men over the age of 18. For more information on the Cygnet Hospital in Taunton please click HERE