It is not often in the Commons one can bring up Paddington Bear in a debate on Peter Pan. On Friday the Commons reformed the rules around Charities linked to the NHS. This includes Great Ormond Street Hospital which still benefits from the rights to “Peter Pan” left to it by JM Barrie – hence the Bill became affectionately known as the “Peter Pan” Bill.
The breadth of what the Great Ormond Street Charity does is impressive. This includes a huge programme focussed on the hospital itself in the same way that our own League of Friends of Horsham Hospital provides so much which is valued by patients, visitors and staff. In addition the Charity also supports pioneering research to seek new treatments and cures.
They do invaluable work and are known the world over.
However the point I made, while supporting the Bill, was that GOSH are not alone in this valuable endeavour....nor are they the only charity with the backing of a much loved childrens’ character.
Much closer to home, Action Medical Research is a Horsham based charity that raises money and commissions research into childhood illnesses. It was founded in 1952 and took an early lead in conquering polio.
Since then the charity has been been saving and changing lives through medical research and has spent over £100m, funding some of the most amazing breakthroughs including discovering the importance of taking folic acid during pregnancy to prevent spina bifida, developing the use of ultrasound technology in pregnancy and testing the rubella vaccine.
Current targets include asthma (suffered by 1.1million children), the causes of blindness in children, brain cancer – with which 400 children a year are diagnosed and a host of rare diseases that otherwise may not receive the attention they deserve.
And Paddington? Since 1976 Paddington Bear, with his creator’s agreement, has been the much prized official mascot of the Charity. Paddington is not alone in doing his good deeds – AMR was one of the first to organise charity cycling events. Anyone who fancies cycling to Paris in July in aid of a very good cause should contact AMR!