Wolvercote Waterabbits support John Radcliffe Hospital

The group from North Oxford are seen above in 1989 presenting their latest cheque – for £4,000 – to the children’s ward at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

That brought to £25,000 the amount they had raised for young patients in 10 years.

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We see in the picture above Janice Stewart, Jane Trinder, and Sandy Leuridan, with staff nurse Doreen Tiffany and unit sister Alison Young.

The money had been raised throughout the year at jumble sales, dances, discos, tombolas, pram races, medieval evenings, Arabian nights and fete stalls.

One member told the Oxford Mail: “In the past, we have bought ventilators, special beds which monitor babies’ blood pressure and specialist pieces that the hospital could not meet from its own funds. We always support the hospital’s children’s ward.”

This isn’t the first time the Waterabbits have featured in Memory Lane.

In 2009, we reported how they organised an annual rail trip to the seaside.

More than 600 people, including many children, would pack 10 coaches of a special train and head to the coast for a day out.

Former member Colin Smith, of George Moore Close, Donnington, wrote: “The train had a brake van in the centre so that people could walk from the front and rear to get beer, lager and soft drinks. There were many flavours of crisps and nuts.

“I can recall getting all the beer from the Co-op in Iffley Road on a sale-or-return basis and taking it to Oxford station the night before we went.

“The crisps would be delivered to my house in about 14 boxes by Smith’s. They would be put in pallets and stored by the railway platform staff who also helped to load them on the morning of departure.

“A lot of hard work was done by a few committee members, on the outward and return journeys, but nothing went back to the shop.

“Sixty-four tickets would be issued for every coach so that everyone knew when the train arrived where they were sitting. They were good days and good trips.”

Earlier, Pamela Tuckell, of Rosamund Road, Wolvercote, had revealed how the group was formed – over a Friday night drink in a local pub.

She wrote to Memory Lane: “Out of the conversation came talk of forming a group to have fun in and around Wolvercote and raise money for a good cause. We chose the children’s ward at the John Radclife Hospital

“We started in 1978 and the charity was dissolved in 1995 due to a lack of volunteers and an inability to recruit new blood.

“The final cheque we gave was for £1,297. We raised about £50,000 in total. The Oxford Mail printed many pictures of our events. To advertise them, we often had a member dressed as a large rabbit.

“My husband Gerald, who was chairman for many years, once grew a beard and moustache, had half his face shaved and walked around like that for a week, sponsored by our charity.”