Meet the man delivering Christmas magic at Alder Hey

He’s the man who delivers the magic at Alder Hey throughout the year, but Barrington Powell is making a special appeal to make sure it’s there this Christmas.

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital’s resident entertainer and magician is asking anyone who can to donate to its Deliver the Magic Appeal.

“Seeing a child laugh in hospital is a very magical thing,” he says. “It’s therapeutic.

“It means that, if only for a moment, you’ve taken away the pain or the worry, and that – like Alder Hey itself – is something very special.

“It’s giving parents permission to laugh and be happy at what’s a difficult time, and that’s important to me too.  It’s gold dust, and never more so than at Christmas.”

Liverpool-born Barrington is a well-known figure at Alder Hey.

He’s the clown doctor, the ‘balloon man’, and the man who brings the laughter to the wards.

And Barrington, 50, who trained in comedy with famous funny man Peter Kay, knows more than most what value it can bring.

He was one of the first performers ever to take fun and magic to the hospital environment … and it was as a child he discovered how laughter can be the best medicine of all.

Barrington reveals: “My sister Cheryl, who sadly passed away two years ago, was in and out of hospital as a child.

“She had a congenital heart condition, and she used to go into the old Myrtle Street Hospital and Alder Hey a lot.

“I can remember trying to make her laugh to relieve the boredom.

“I can picture it now, pouring a cup of cold water over my head to get her to giggle and, while she clobbered me at first, she laughed. I was about six or seven and she was about 12.

“So I know from personal experience how much it means.”

Encouraged by his sister, Barrington became a Pontins Bluecoat, entertaining guests at the well-known holiday camps before going to Salford University to study comedy.

“I initially studied in Liverpool at St Katharine’s College in Childwall which is where I met Peter.  He didn’t finish the course, he moved to Salford which did an amazing comedy course – it changed the zeitgeist of comedy – and he said to me ‘you’ve got to come here, you’ll love it’ so I did. I followed him a year later while still working as a Bluecoat.

“And then I was head-hunted to work at LEGOLAND in Windsor. You might not think there’s a lot of similarities between a hospital and a theme park environment but entertaining large crowds while they were waiting to go on a rollercoaster and keeping people occupied was a great grounding.”

His love of magic came from finding an old Victorian magic book when he was in his teens, and he taught himself before meeting mentors throughout his career who have helped him perfect and excel at that craft too.

As a professional entertainer, comedian and actor, and magician – and author and illustrator –  Barrington has travelled the world, performing for companies and huge events, as well as at parties for A-list celebrities who love his illusions and magic, along with his inimitable style and sense of fun.

And he still does that.

But it’s the work he’s done for the last 25 for hospitals like Alder Hey that fire his passion and fill his soul. A strong man, Barrington can nevertheless be reduced to tears when he thinks about what he does in Alder Hey and the impact he can have on its patients and parents.

“It was when I was working at LEGOLAND that I saw an ad in The Stage asking for clown doctors by a man called Colin Maher, and I got the chance to train with him at Great Ormond Street and St Thomas’s Hospitals before moving back up north.

“Before he brought entertainment to the wards they were very serious places.”

Barrington set up a programme as the first clown doctor in the north, working first at Manchester Children’s Hospital and Pendlebury and Booth Children’s Hospitals, before moving on to Alder Hey in 2008.

He can earn huge sums with his work elsewhere, but Barrington cherishes his role bringing laughter and entertainment to first the old hospital and now the new.

“People think it’s just clowning and play, but it’s so much more important than that. It was Plato who said you can learn more in an hour with play, than in a year with conversation. 

“And it’s not just the fun and magic you create in the moment that’s special, it’s that connection you make with the human soul. You see a child who was frightened laughing their head off, a worried parent smiling at seeing their son or daughter laugh for the first time in a while. You can change the atmosphere in an instant.

“I want to blubber, it’s amazing. I love seeing the huge difference it makes. I’m proud to be able to do that, and I’m proud to do it at Alder Hey which puts the children at the centre of everything.”

With support Alder Hey’s Deliver the Magic Appeal is aiming to bring joy and laughter to its young patients this festive season through magical workshops, music and art, performances, and visits from Santa. 

Every contribution, big or small, can create unforgettable memories and make a difference to the wellbeing of children spending Christmas in hospital:

• £7 will fund a set of musical shakers for babies to aid in distraction during hospital stays
• £12 will pay for art packs for patients to express their creativity whilst under our care
• £24 will provide for an interactive magic session for patients waiting for appointments in outpatients

To donate and make a difference to a young person’s life go to the Alder Hey website.

For the latest news in Liverpool click here.