League of Friends |
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of the Royal South Hants Hospital |
Sponsored Parachute Jump
Our long-serving Tresurer, Tony Bidmead, is planning a sponsored parachute jump in aid of the League of Friends - on his 75th birthday!
Tony will be jumping on 15th July 2011, and together with raising funds for the LoF he will also be supporting two other charities, the RAF Hampshire Regiment (who Tony used to serve for) and The Hospitals' Charity.
If you would like to make a donation, please email Tony at tony.bidmead@lofrsh.org.
Summer Fayre
We would like to thank the many people who attended our annual Summer Fayre, which was held on Wednesday 21st July and proved once again to be a great success.
With the usual assortment of stalls offering a variety of products such as new goods, crafts, books, toys and dolls, bric-a-brac, knitted goods, cakes, and the popular tombola, the fayre proved popular throughout the day and, most importantly, raised over £400 for the LoF.
Children's Poster Competition for Infection Prevention and Control
Reflecting on the health messages being broadcast to the nation during the time of the Swine ‘flu in 2009, LoF Chairman Richard Fruen hit upon the idea of a children’s poster competition to support the prevention and control of infection in general.
It was agreed by L o F Trustees to sponsor a competition for local school children to release their creative talents in the form of posters reminding the public how to stop the spread of germs!
Jan Westbury, Consultant Nurse & Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control for Solent Healthcare, fully supported the idea of the competition, providing public health literature on infection control for children to gain information from and agreeing to join Richard in judging the competition entries.
Mount Pleasant Junior School, close to the Royal South Hants Hospital, eagerly took up the offer and no fewer than 22 seven to eleven year olds were soon working away during their play times to produce eye catching posters.
With great difficulty, Richard and Jan finally decided on four winners plus a ‘highly commended’ runner up!
Mount Pleasant’s Headteacher, Rob Griffiths, then invited Richard, Jan and Jill Ghanouni, community liaison officer at the RSH Hospital, to a celebration assembly on 14th July for the handover of the vouchers to the lucky winners. Jan praised the efforts of all the entrants and the winners came up to collect their certificates, made especially for them by Laura Brown of NHS Southampton City’s Patient and Public Engagement department, plus their vouchers funded by the LoF. Richard bought a paint set for the delighted runner up to encourage her in all her future efforts!
The posters have been laminated, to enable them to be cleaned and to remain infection free in a hospital environment, and they are to go on display close to the LoF Coffee Shop.
A big thank you to everyone who helped to make this competition a partnership success and for helping to remind the public that infection control is in their hands!
A word from our new President
Following more than thirty years of dedicated service to the LoF, we are pleased to welcome Jill Whale as our new President.
“I thank you all so much for inviting me to become your President. As you all know, the League of Friends has been dear to my heart for so many years and I feel extremely honoured to take on this role.
I first began volunteering in 1980 and it has been such a pleasure to see the League and the RSH evolve in so many wonderful ways. I look forward to working with you all to promote the work of the League throughout the area.”
LoF members honoured by the Mayor
In recognition of many years of dedicated service to the League of Friends, a number of our members and trustees were honoured by the Mayor of Southampton at a presentation at the Guildhall on behalf of Southampton Voluntary Services.
Having amassed close to 200 years of volunteering for the League between the group in a variety of different roles, it was a proud and well deserved honour for those who have for so long formed the backbone and inspiration for all our charity’s achievements.
Pictured receiving their awards are Pauline Bidmead, Tony Bidmead, Richard Fruen, Eileen Gibbs, Bob Hailes, Kay Harris, Molly Summerton and Jill Whale, with LoF secretary Irene Davenport.
Also the beneficiaries of awards were Jack and Joan Porter who were unable to attend the event due to ill health. After the ceremony Jack was presented with his award whilst in hospital at the RSH. We are so very sad to announce that Jack passed away peacefully just a few days later; we all extend our sincere condolences to Joan and family, and we will always remember Jack as a true friend.
