Years of Friendship for North Mid
Historic supporters of North Mid have come together for one final act of support by donating £11,000 to North Mid Charity.
The North Mid League of Friends was formed in the 1980s by members of the local community to raise funds to support for the hospital with items that would assist wards, departments, patients and staff. Support for the hospital dates back as far back as to the 1940’s where the then League of Hospital Friends was formed by Mrs Dorothy Dixon MBE (pictured).
One of the groups first projects was a tea-bar run by volunteers selling sandwiches, drinks and cakes for staff, patients and visitors to the hospital.
Despite having members of the group 
come and go, the North Mid League of Friends also set up bric-a-brac stall in the Hospital foyer which was run by Beryl & Les who were supported by Doreen.
When the hospital moved into its new buildings, the tea bar was relocated, and the bric-a-brac shop continued under the stewardship of Beryl and volunteers selling a wide variety of items. The shop was very popular with patients and staff and the shop would see frequent visitors to buy and donate items. Some of the historical favourites included baby clothes knitted by local ladies.
One of the items to be sold in the shop was a book (pictured) charting the history of North Mid by local author Gary Boudier, who kindly donated all profits from the sale of his book to the League of Friends. With the book now out of print, profits from the book make up a part of the donation being received by North Mid Charity today.
Over the years the League of Friends helped fund many items and activities including supporting events at Christmas, purchasing wheelchairs for physiotherapy department, reclining chairs for cancer patients receiving treatment, furnishing a quiet room in radiotherapy and much more.
Despite no longer an active organisation, the League of Friends have made one final gesture of support by donating all funds held in their account to the North Mid Charity to support upcoming projects across the hospital.
Jean Chappell said “Everyone involved was sad to see the end of the Friends, but we feel we helped in a small way to add to the daily lives of patients and staff at North Mid”.
If you would like to donate your time, money or gifts to other projects at North Mid Charity we would love to hear from you. Contact our fundraising manager on 020 8887 2935 or northmid.donations@nhs.net
If you wanted to donate to a specific campaign at North Mid Charity, we have a number of campaigns currently running, and you can donate to them or to our general fund online .
Photo credits: Royal Free Radio Archive & Gary Boudier