IT’S not much fun being in hospital, particularly when you are a child.

So anything that can be done to cheer up youngsters is especially welcome.

When members of the Scout troop at Yarnton were looking to do a good deed, they thought of children less fortunate than themselves.

They had built a model farm, complete with outbuildings, animals, tractors and fencing, and decided in 1970 to present it to the Robert Jones children’s ward at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre at Headington, Oxford. The farm was mounted on a board measuring 5ft by 2ft 6in and was delivered to the hospital by five members of the troop.

The gift proved to be an instant hit with the young patients, as you can see from the picture above.

Yarnton Scouts weren’t the only group to support the Robert Jones ward.

As we recalled (Memory Lane, April 21), the Mysterious Uncles were among other benefactors.

Five men working at Nuffield Press at Cowley clubbed together to buy a workmate’s daughter baskets of fruit and other comforts while she was in hospital.

They decided they couldn’t leave sick children out, so they adopted Robert Jones ward, named themselves the Mysterious Uncles and contributed five shillings (25p) a month to buy fruit and other gifts for everyone.

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

The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre began life in 1872 as the Wingfield Convalescent Home after Hannah Wingfield, who gave £1,545 towards the cost.

It was rebuilt and renamed the Wingfield-Morris Hospital in 1931 following a £47,000 donation from William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, creator of the Cowley car industry.

It became the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in 1950, although patients continued to refer to it as ‘The Wingfield’ for many years afterwards.

Memory Lane this week