Hospitals can be sad places, particularly for those whose elderly relatives are nearing the end of their lives.

But there are plenty of happier times, as these photographs taken at Cowley Road Hospital in Oxford clearly show.

Four-year-old Sarah Pickin, in Picture 1, brought a smile to everyone’s face when she danced to the music of the Thames Valley Police Band at the hospital’s summer fete in 1977.

READ MORE: Burger joint gets poor food hygiene rating

The hospital had plenty of volunteers willing to help, including the rubbish collectors in Picture 2.

They had become concerned at the amount of litter being dropped in the hospital grounds and decided to clear it up themselves.

Armed with a trolley and lots of bags, the four-strong team – left to right, hospital supervisor Joan Blackstock, Dennis Pratley, Vera Gibbs and Anne Parrot – set to work and the garden was soon looking spick and span.

Customers of the Trustee Savings Bank in Cowley Road showed their generosity by donating Christmas food to patients in 1977.

Among the first to deposit gifts were three local councillors, Ben Tannant, Harry Bowdery and Jean Matthews.

In Picture 3, we see bank manager Mr R Illingworth, back, with, left to right, Mr Tannant, senior nursing officer Susan Bradshaw, Mrs Matthews and Mr Bowdery.

Another gift to the hospital was the mobile reclining chair in Picture 4, with patient Elizabeth Padfield taking it easy.

The money was raised in 1975 by regulars at the Plough Inn, Wolvercote. Landlady Mrs W Greenwood and customers Mrs S Bailey and Mrs M Duffin are seen on the left. With them are nursing staff, left to right, Staff nurse Mrs A Andrews, Sister Jean McGoldrick and senior nursing officer Mrs G Bradshaw..

Two Red Cross nurses in Picture 5 clocked up 300 hours of voluntary work at the hospital in 1970.

Nora Bourne, left, and Mary Thomas, right, both from Didcot, are seen lifting patient Mrs E A Padfield out of bed. With them is Sister Danson, who was in charge of the ward.

In Picture 6, we see Victoria Avery, left, keeping up her cooking skills by frying pancakes, under the watchful eye of occupational therapist Rosalind McKenna in 1972.