League of Friends of the Birmingham Accident Hospital (description from 1977)

• Registered charity 
• Objectives to help the hospital in every possible way
  • Raise funds and receive contributions from persons or organisations by way of subscription, donation etc.
  • Recruit and assist in recruitment of voluntary workers
  • Provide facilities and equipment which may be required for treatment 
  • Provide or assist in the provision of amenities
• Members served tea on the wards and being generally helpful in the patients lounge
• The Ladies Linen League – started by Mrs Gissane
  • A few stalwart members who worked in the linen room made garments to use on the wards
  • They made thousands of items of all shapes for patients 
  • The coffee bar in the Patients Lounge was manned by members of the League and it was no easy task finding volunteers for 5 days a week.
• Main function was to raise money and the funds raised were spent in the hospital
• Monies raised have bought television sets, curtain to screen beds, the original canopy over the entrance, so patients being unloaded could stay dry and the organ for use in the chapel – a portable one which could be used on the wards, lockers, wardrobes and telephone trolley. Also plaster trolley and a bespoke turning bed for MIU and two special cots for the Burns Unit
• In the early days, local industries gave generously with the idea that if their workforce were injured the hospital would get them back to work relatively quickly. 
• Activities to raise money included:
  • Coffee morning 
  • Sherry evening 
  • Whist drives
  • Raffles
  • Bazaars 
  • Street collections in Birmingham City Centre
  • Sponsored walks 
  • Appeal launched jointly with Birmingham Mail
  • Annual subscription 25p
• Members meeting held every three months in the patients lounge at the hospital at 7.30pm on the second Tuesday of the month

Fund Raising (By Peter Millard – Hospital Manager)

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the date, but I was approached by the Birmingham Sunday Mercury and Evening Mail as they wanted to raise money for the hospital as their annual charity.

• My main contact at the Sunday Mercury was Paul Fullford. 
• The fund raising lasted several months and ended up as the biggest fund raising event the newspaper had ever been involved in.
• I must have attended dozens of organisations to receive cheques.
• The money raised covered replacing all of the beds and lockers on all of the wards and a long list of other much needed ward equipment. I wish I could remember the final total.
• There was another major donation which arose after a sad incident.
• Mike Hailwood a world champion motor cycle champion was taking his children to get fish and chips and a lorry jack knifed in front of his car. One of his children died and Mike died some hours later in the MIU.
• I spent some 36 hours at my desk taking calls from news media around the world. 
• During the night Mike’s wife Pauline, joined me as she made the awful decision to let the team let Mike go as he had suffered massive brain damage.
• Several months later Pauline contacted me and invited me to attend the annual dinner of the “dog house owners.” A charity organisation led by the wives and girlfriends of formula 1 drivers.
• The dinner was at the Hilton in London and I was presented with a cheque for £40,000.
• I never heard from Pauline again, but I think she moved to South Africa.
• Mike died on 23 March 1981