1950s: The League of Friends of Derbyshire Children’s Hospital

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WHEN Barbara Senior’s two children were admitted to the Children’s Hospital within six weeks of each other, it was the start of a relationship that has continued for 30 years.

Although young Andrew and Kathryn were in for relatively minor complaints, Barbara wanted to repay the hospital in some way and, when a fellow parent at the children’s school suggested joining the League of Friends, Barbara was quick to volunteer.

Now she’s vice-chair and this year marks her 30th anniversary with the League as well as the League’s half-century.

Both children have also been involved in League activities and Kathryn still helps today.

“When Andrew was still quite young, we asked him to draw a raffle ticket,” said Barbara.

“Now, bear in mind that there must have been 15-20,000 tickets in one of those big bale bags. So he dug deep and pulled out two tickets. We told him to put one back, which he did. Then he unfolded the second to read out the winner’s name and we couldn’t believe it when he said, ‘Oh! It’s my ticket!’

“What an amazing coincidence! We decided to let him keep his prize as it was all fair and square.”

Who would care to guess how many raffles have been drawn over the years to raise funds for the Children’s Hospital?

Every year, the League held a big fete in the grounds of the Queen Mary Maternity Home and, later, at the old Children’s Hospital site on North Street. It was a highlight for staff, parents and patients alike. Chairman and treasurer Geoff Salt recalls the effort people went to to ensure everyone could enjoy these events.

“Children in traction used to be brought round the fete on their beds. Actually, we had one family who took their son off out into the streets in his bed! We thought, hang on, where’s he gone?” he said.

Geoff still has the minutes of the very first meetings held by the League and would be interested to know if anyone who was involved at the start is still alive today.

“Back in October 1959, the matron asked the League to set up a tea bar, saying she would do it herself, otherwise. Later, she even assigned a cadet nurse to help.”

Right from the start, the League was about providing kindness to the children and their families, as well as practical support such as transport to the orthopaedic hospital at Bretby and helping with disabled children. In those early days, the well-to-do women of the League would hold coffee mornings at their homes and drinks were served from a table.

The monthly jumble sales at North Street were so popular that Geoff remembers people walking to them from Chaddesden and then having to get a taxi home with all the things they’d bought.

Today, fundraising is still an important part of the League’s role, but the members are very much part of the human face of the hospital. Could it sometimes be an upsetting experience, seeing children who were ill?

“No, it isn’t upsetting because the patients themselves always seem quite cheerful and the parents are pleased that things were being done for them,” said Barbara.

The atmosphere has always been informal – the doctors don’t wear white coats, for example – and Geoff has led tours for parties of children, who are always tremendously interested in the hospital.

“We were a major beneficiary of the Scouts’ Christmas Stamp and Deliver appeal for a number of years and, as a way of saying thank you, we offered them a tour,” said Geoff.

“All the staff were thrilled to bits to show the children round – and, of course, it makes things easier for children who might need to go into hospital if they’re already familiar with the place and understand what happens if, for example, they need an anaesthetic.”

Although the League has been able to buy some major pieces of equipment for the hospital, the smaller items can make a big difference to patients’ lives as well.

“For example, we’ve given the physios a box of bubbles. Just bubbles! But they use them to help asthmatic children regulate their breathing. And sometimes a nurse will come down and ask for a card of babies’ comforters,” said Geoff.

“A bag of Maltesers is also useful in Special Needs. They have to do a mobility test that would otherwise involve marbles, which children have a habit of putting in their mouths, so Maltesers are better.”

One chapter in the life of the hospital closed and another started when the new Children’s Hospital was opened in 1996.

“I remember some children – patients – opening the hospital. They were given a helicopter ride and then had to drive a little electric car through a paper screen, but I don’t think that went quite to plan,” said Barbara.

A year later, the Queen visited the new site and both Geoff and Barbara were presented to her. They remember this as a very formal affair, contrasting strongly with the Duchess of York’s visit to North Street in 1991.

“One of her ancestors was involved in founding the Children’s Hospital, so she came on a visit and was a real livewire,” said Geoff. “She put everybody at ease and teased the photographers during the unveiling of the plaque by pretending to pull the rope and then quickly pulling it to try and catch them out.”

Seeing children recover and return home is, of course, the most satisfying part for anyone associated with the hospital and members of the League are no different.

“I remember a lad at North Street who was in a terrible state, just couldn’t do anything, after a road accident around one Christmas. But they got him playing with his hands and, bit by bit, he recovered and by the middle of the following year he was going home,” said Geoff.

Geoff has also made sure that his very good friend Father Christmas finds time to visit the children in hospital before he goes to all the other boys and girls on Christmas Eve.

“Every effort is made to get children home for Christmas if they possibly can, but inevitably some children have to stay in, and so the League makes arrangements for him to visit,” said Geoff, who’s never actually been seen in the same ward as Santa.

Over the years, members of the League have lived up to their names.

Said Geoff: “Well, yes, it is about being friends. Being friendly to people, everybody, who comes to the Children’s Hospital.”

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