Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre Charity and NOC Appeal
"I arrived at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in November 1990 to meet the Trustees who had started to raise funds a new Orthotics Department.
It was cold and pouring with rain and the day of the Children's Clinic. I was horrified to see that the small waiting room in the Portakabin which held only four wheelchairs and family members was full, and that there was a queue outside. Parents were holding umbrellas over the children who were wet, cold and crying. I immediately knew that I was going to try my hardest to raise the funds to change this.
I started fundraising with the Trustees and with the great support of our Chairman the Rt. Hon. Norman Tebbit whose wife was a patient here. We succeeded in raising £1.5 million in four years and built a new Orthotics Department - the Tebbit Centre.
I remember Lord Tebbit saying:
'Most of us who are able-bodied take our freedom of movement for granted. We do not know how lucky we are. It is only when tragedy strikes someone close to us that we begin to understand the enormous problems that face those whose movement is restricted. I am so pleased that this new department will help many thousands of people in the future.'
We were not to know at the beginning of our fundraising campaign, that we would later agree to fundraise for a new hospital and a new research centre, to replace the old, expensive to maintain buildings. We succeeded, and built a new children's ward and outpatients, two adult wards and a hydrotherapy pool.
Twenty years on our brand new hospital is built, and outstanding work is being done here by our skilled and dedicated staff for our patients at this Centre of Excellence.
We have also built two Phases of our new research centre - the Botnar Research Centre - and our fundraising continues for Phase 3.
None of this could have been done without the help and support of our patients, individuals, charitable trusts and others.
We thank you all and please continue to help us - we are so very grateful."