Ann Wickham    

Ann Wickham.  

  

Interviewer   

And which Friends group you involved in?  

  

Ann Wickham   

The Royal..The Guild of the Royal Hospital of St. Bartholomew.  

  

Interviewer   

 And how old are you?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 82, 83, no, 83. I forgotten that.  

  

Interviewer   

 Excellent. Thank you. So could I ask, what first inspired you to get involved with your Friends group?  

Ann Wickham   

 My husband was on the staff of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and his immediate consultant’s wife happened to be the Chairman of the Guild. And she suggested I came along to a meeting in 1966 and I haven’t left since.  

  

Interviewer   

 Okay. And it’s got a very interesting name, the Leagues of Friends have all sorts of different names. Why is yours called a Guild?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 When it was founded in 1911, it was suggested to call it a Guild of people who would work for the hospital, for the patients. And so therefore it was known as a Guild rather than a League of Friends at that stage.  

  

Interviewer   

 So there you are. You’re invited along. And did they allow you just to sit quietly? How did they get you more involved in their work?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 I signed a piece of paper and that’s it. That’s it. I was a member and then two years later I was on the committee.  

  

Interviewer   

 Okay. And what did the Friends group do then?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 Oh, at 1966, they ran a shop. They ran a trolley, service, newspapers, outings for the patients. They have a lot of patient involvement in parties, Christmas parties, mostly that raising money to help the patients.  

  

Interviewer   

 And was it all done by Friends, volunteers, or were there paid staff as well? At that point in time?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 No paid staff. They were all friends and volunteers members at that there was more distinction, between, volunteers and members. The volunteers did all the work friends all paid a subscription.  

  

Interviewer   

 Okay. And was there, there seems to be a lot of practical contribution from what you described, you know, they’re actually doing quite a lot of things. Yes. So roughly how many volunteers were there?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 Oh, gosh. I would have thought 50, 75, something like that. I can’t count them up. That’s a rough estimate  

  

Interviewer   

 That’s really interesting. And were they involved across seven days of the week or was it just particular times, do you think?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 Not weekends usually. Just during the week, weekdays and they had quite a strict rota.  

Interviewer   

 So, and you did lots fundraising?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 Yes. You had fairs and they had, concerts, they had all sorts of things, anything to raise money. And we also did a London flag day during that period.  

  

Interviewer   

 It’s interesting. I’ve come across other groups in London that mentioned the flag day, Roy Green, who we will both remember was a great fan of the London flag day and the benefits it had for all of the different groups across London. It was something to get involved in. And your fundraising, what did you use it to pay for?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 Benefits for the patients, a lot of equipment for the wards. In those days, It was probably a toaster or a television or whatever. That sort of thing. As the years progressed, it became more and more, there was a very strict rule. We would not supply anything which the National Health Service should have done, but this broke down very quickly and we found ourselves supplying all sorts of things to wards which the National Health Service should have done and didn’t.  

  

Interviewer   

 Absolutely. Yes. I definitely, I sometimes have questions asked of me at the national body about whether it’s appropriate for a group to buy something or not. And I’ll have to say my personal position very often is well, is it needed? And if we didn’t buy it, would patients suffer because they weren’t going to have it because it wouldn’t get bought. And very, very often practically we see all sorts of different things get bought. Do you think the Friends group today is very different from how it was then?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 No. I think the objectives are the same to help the patients and staff and students now of Bart’s Hospital. So I don’t think the objectives have changed.  

  

Interviewer   

 And do, do you find that people know who the Guild are and want to join it?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 No they don’t, hence my silent army, which is what I always call, they don’t know about them really, however much you advertise or you wear tabbards or you go around. Now we’ve got a shop in a much better position. I think people are more aware of it, but I really don’t think on the whole, particularly the, administrative staff, nursing staff to a certain extent.  

  

Interviewer   

 So there’s almost a sense, that, that the very people that you’re there to support don’t really understand who you are. And I don’t think that’s an uncommon situation. From my perspective, I think we’re living in a generation where we’ve got people who go into the health service who just think of it as state provision. And they don’t understand the long history of how actually it’s a provision by the community. The community have paid for it and the community want it to happen to help support people.  

  

Ann Wickham   

 That’s right.  

Interviewer   

 So, do you think that the people who are members and volunteers are different today to perhaps they were in 1960?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 To a certain extent? I think that one of the problems is when I started a lot of the consultants lived in London and their wives had, you know, time to work for the Guild or whatever. But nowadays, firstly, the wives of the white consultants live outside London and secondly, the wives are usually working. So it, it is a change of personnel, I think.  

  

Interviewer   

 Looking at that, in that context, do you think there’s still a need for the Friends groups today?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 Oh, definitely. Without question. Yes.  

  

Interviewer   

 Absolutely. And what would you say to encourage people to get involved today?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 A lot of it would depend on their individual circumstances and how much time they can give. Hence we do have the members who just pay a subscription, which is fine, but to encourage them to come and be a volunteer, it’s quite difficult actually. I mean, one of the main difficulties today, it wasn’t one earlier is all the police checks and all the other checks they have to have now, and that can take three or four months. By that time they’ve lost interest. And that is quite a problem, I think. Absolutely.  

  

Interviewer   

 And do you have young people that get involved?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 No, not really as much, because again, because of these checks, I would love to see schools encouraged to send people around. I’ve always thought this. But it is the health and safety and police checks, which have discouraged this sort of participation.  

  

Interviewer   

 But certainly if a young person wanted to get involved, that’d be very welcome?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 Yes. Oh yes.  

  

Interviewer   

 And when you were thinking about what I might come and ask you today, is there anything else that you thought you might want to tell me that we haven’t had the chance to say?  

  

Ann Wickham   

 No, not immediately. No. Okay. That’s fine.  

 

•