At the beginning of December 2025, the Club launched our ‘Extra Special Junior Poolie Experience’ to give some very deserving children in Hartlepool the opportunity to have a day to remember at our game against Scunthorpe on Boxing Day.

We had an overwhelming amount of nominations, and there were some incredible stories of brave, kind and selfless children in our town. It was very hard to narrow these down, as every one of them was deserving of a day to feel like a VIP.

The chosen children were brought along to Santa’s grotto the week before Christmas to find out the news, and the reactions were priceless. There were some very excited and happy faces.

On the day, the children were looked after by members of our Community Sports Foundation, and they met the players in the changing rooms, had a tour of the ground, received a Christmas present each, made the guard of honour for the players and took penalties against H’Angus at half-time.

Despite the result, it looks like they all had an amazing time.

Martin Pout, parent of Rory (age 9), said:

“Rory had the absolute best time! I asked him how much he enjoyed it, and he said, ‘it was the best day of his life’, and when he knew about it, he said he was looking forward to it more than Christmas Day!

“Rory, like all of the other amazing children chosen for the day, through no fault of their own have been dealt a bad hand in life. But they have all shown courage, tenacity and maturity beyond their young ages in dealing with it.

“Walking around with the VIP children, there was such excitement and smiles all afternoon long. 

“From a parent’s view, it was so wonderful to see Rory have a full afternoon of fun and to meet his heroes in a very special way.

“In Rory’s case, he is a young carer for his high needs disabled brother, and thus every day as a family we have to do things that are safe and appropriate for Hugo.

“This means Rory misses out on doing things that other children take for granted, such as going to the cinema or even a walk along the beach, which is challenging for us.

“But despite this, Rory’s selflessness and love for his brother are such that he never complains that he is missing out. For example, the lovely soft hoodie he received from H’Angus when he returned home, he put it on his twin brother as a gift.

“The VIP event just for him was such a wonderful treat for him, and it meant the world to him.  We have talked about it several times a day since we attended on the 26th, amazing memories for life”

Harry Brown, parent of Archie (age 4), said

“As one of the youngest, I was worried he might feel overwhelmed by the whole experience, but I can’t thank the Club and their support team enough for the kindness and care shown to him throughout the day.

“I want to mention Maddie. She went above and beyond any expectations to give Archie a day he’ll never forget.

“She seemed to instinctively notice when he was unsure or nervous and was always right there to guide and support him. That meant the world to us.

“As I shared in my application, Archie often has to miss out on things because of his cystic fibrosis, so opportunities like this are incredibly special.

“We’re season ticket holders who live in Nottingham, which means I have to be quite particular about the games I bring him to—the long travel and the weather can take their toll, and I’m always weighing up the risk of him becoming unwell.

“At times, it can feel like we’re the only Pools fans in our area, so keeping him engaged with Hartlepool can be a bit of a battle.

“Days like Boxing Day make a huge difference—they create positive memories that keep the excitement alive for him.”

It meant a lot for the Club to be able to give something small back to these incredible young people and have them recognised for being the special children they are.