IT’S enough to send any child into a chocolate frenzy, even if you are in hospital.

These were the delicious Easter treats awaiting children in the Robert Jones ward at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre at Headington, Oxford, in 1966.

They were gifts from a secretive group calling themselves the ‘Mysterious Uncles’.

It was one of the young patients in the ward who gave the group its name.

“Pauline,” she told the little girl in the bed next to her, who was baffled by all the anonymous gifts that kept arriving for her, “you must have a mysterious uncle.”

So, out of a child’s fantasy, a name was born.

Five men working at Nuffield Press, which printed brochures and other publicity material for Cowley-built cars, had clubbed together to buy a workmate’s daughter baskets of fruit and other comforts while she was in the hospital.

While delivering the gifts, they decided they couldn’t deprive other children in the ward of the excitement and pleasure their gifts had given after Pauline went home.

So they adopted Robert Jones ward, became officially the Mysterious Uncles and contributed five shillings (25p) a month so that fruit and other gifts could continue to be given to the ward.

Before long, many fellow workers, plus friends and relatives, joined them, adding to the fund.

Sister Margaret Rymill, seen with the clutch of Easter eggs above, said at the time: “Even I know the names of only a couple of them. They are very careful to preserve a veil of secrecy about their identities.”

It wasn’t only at Easter that the Uncles were able to help – with raffles and other fundraising ideas, they were able to organise Christmas parties, pop shows, band concerts and film shows.

The Uncles’ good deeds later extended to providing Christmas hampers to retired Nuffield Press employees. A sister organisation, the Mysterious Aunties, also emerged and supported a local orphanage as well as helping the Uncles with their activities.

Will any Mysterious Uncles and Aunties reveal themselves?