SICK children at Poole Hospital were treated to a visit from a group of pantomime stars this week.

Starlight Children's Foundation, which grants wishes for seriously ill youngsters, arranged for the actors to sing, dance and perform some classic stories - to the delight of patients and staff on the ward.

The eight-week long Starlight Storytellers tour will visit 96 children’s wards across the country after being funded by Heinz’s ‘Get Well’ soup campaign, which ran at the start of this year and urged the public to purchase personalised cans of soup.

Tracey Fordham, health play specialist at Poole Hospital, said: “We use play to help distract children from the pain and anxiety that they might be feeling as a result of their illness and there’s nothing like a good story to capture a child’s imagination.

“We are very grateful to Starlight’s Storytellers tour for providing the opportunity for our young patients to forget their illness for a short while and simply have some fun.”

This year’s stories have been produced exclusively for Starlight by The Panto Company, which will perform Beauty and The Beast, The Jungle Book and The Wizard of Oz.

Every year Starlight provides entertainment and distraction to more than half a million poorly children. The tour will give thousands of them the chance to escape their illness and enter the magical world of storytelling from the safety of the hospital ward.

Neil Swan, chief executive of Starlight Children’s Foundation, said, “All of Starlight’s activities are aimed at distracting children from the pain and anxiety that they might be feeling as a result of their illness.

"The Starlight’s Storytellers Tour proved extremely popular last year with hospitals and hospices alike and we’re delighted to partner with Heinz and its ‘Get Well’ Soup campaign to bring storytelling and fun to poorly children for a second year running. We hope that the stories will be just what the doctor ordered.”