Just when you think the world is tarnished and you wonder where all the goodness has gone… Something wonderful happens. Yesterday was our Bake Off in aid of our Transforming your Care appeal.

So many people went shopping, baked amazing cakes, washed up and carried them in to the hospital and then gave them to be sold in aid of the Charity…..And not just that. The cakes were amazing. For a full array of cakes, please visit our Instagram page @rbhcharity but here are just a few of them. 

These weren’t just cakes – they were delicious works of art. And the brownies and cup cakes which set out to simply be delicious, rather than works of art, were wonderful. So next time you think the world is not such a lovely place, think again. The world is full of people who just want to do something amazing – thank you to all the bakers. Thank you to all the people who came and bought the cakes which meant we made a fabulous £600 and that figure is still growing. Thank you to Lawrence Mack who just couldn’t stop buying cakes and giving them to people. The biggest thank you goes to Charlotte Coldrey who organised the event so well. It’s her last day today with us as she goes on to other ambitions but we will miss her and she has been a great fundraiser. 

Transforming your Care is an inspirational appeal which will support clinical staff and patients across both Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals. Paper trails will be a thing of the past as the Charity is buying and installing a new app to capture a patient’s vital signs quickly and easily, adding up the algorithms and, critically, automatically alerting a nurse and doctor if a patient’s condition deteriorates. The biggest loser will be sepsis, which can be difficult to detect at the best of times but now the app will send out an early warning signal so action can be taken to head off this potentially fatal disease. Thank you to all of you who have already helped us and those of you who have yet to do so…. More details and a chance to support is here.

We have been twice blessed in the last week – we welcomed 200 of our supporters to join us on HQS Wellington to celebrate what our donors and volunteers have achieved over the last year – successes include a brand new Catheter Laboratory, several life-saving Organ Care Systems, a myriad variety of equipment and facilities for the Patient Fund and much, much more. How did we come by such a stunning venue? We have a very special friend called Eric Shawyer who is a member of the Honourable Livery Company of Master Mariners and he very kindly hosted our event on this fantastic ship. He even laid on a fine London summer’s evening.  Here are some pictures to show what a wonderful evening we had.  Thank you to our Chairman Richard Hunting and our Trustee, Helen Putter for kindly sponsoring the food and wine. Music was provided by the best band in London – indeed the world – called The Jazz Goats, led by Dr (yes, skilled doctor and talented musician!) Chris Bowles, and magic was provided by Stephen Jones. Once again – proof that this is an amazing job. Thanks to the Charity team too, especially Ashley Westpfel and Paige Patrick for making the event work so very well.