Hereford family grateful for Red Cross care and compassion which spanned generations and the globe (From Hereford Times)

Hereford family grateful for Red Cross care and compassion which spanned generations and the globe

1:28pm Thursday 14th January 2010

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THE world outside Gillian Robinson’s window has altered dramatically since the 77-yearold moved to Broad Leys Crescent in Hereford.

As a girl she walked to a school on Commercial Road that is no longer there, while postal worker dad Basil cycled to Kington daily before he went to war.

Today she still lives at the house she moved to with her parents as a two-year-old but, while the days of ration books are long gone, the memories are still alive thanks to one common factor.

When she left hospital following a hernia operation in 2009, Gillian had no-one to call upon until a Red Cross volunteer arrived – alongside a timely reminder that the organisation had also come to her rescue many moons before.

Sheila Bird came as a “home from hospital” volunteer in the same week Gillian’s cousin sent some old letters written from the Red Cross to her father’s sister in 1940 telling her he had become a prisoner of war during the Battle of Boulogne.

Back in Hereford, Gillian remembered a telegram boy from the Red Cross, surrounded by neighbours who refused to let him go until she and her mother returned home to receive the news too.

“It was fantastic, because you didn’t get a lot of information in those days,” said Gillian.

She also remembered a parcel from abroad that arrived shortly after her father came home to convalesce, which had a Red Cross on the outside and his beloved accordion inside.

“The bellows had gone and I am sure it was full of woodworm, but he was glad to have it back,”

she laughed.

But it was an accompanying newspaper report, thought to be from a 1940s edition of the Hereford Times, that made her realise how crucial the Red Cross had been in ensuring there were any precious memories for her to remember at all.

Alongside a picture of him and the news that he was still alive, her father spoke of the “marvellous little parcels” he received during his time at war and said: “I shall not forget the Red Cross Society to my dying day.”

And in turn, the Red Cross would not forget the Robinson family either.

“When they told me in hospital what they could do I was amazed,” Gillian said.

“Sheila’s worth her weight in gold, she came smiling through the door and took me in hand.”

Now Gillian is on the mend, Sheila helps out less but still attends the odd hospital appointment or pops in for a chat.

Wendy Chambers, who as a coordinator for the charity brought the pair together, said: “The Red Cross provides crisis relief and for someone living alone going home after leaving hospital can be very daunting.”

“So it’s just like a friend going in to offer a little bit of support.”

For information on Red Cross services or a range of volunteer posts that desperately need to be filled, call 01432 272522 or visit the office on Blackfriars Street in Hereford.

RED CROSS FACT FILE THE international Red Cross movement started in 1863, inspired by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant.

He had been appalled at the suffering of thousands, on both sides, left to die due to lack of care after the Battle of Solferino in 1859. He proposed the creation of national relief societies, made up of volunteers, trained in peacetime to provide neutral and impartial help to relieve suffering in times of war. Dunant also proposed an international agreement, which would recognise the status of medical services and of the wounded on the battlefield. This agreement – the original Geneva Convention – was adopted in 1864.

In July 1870, following the outbreak of war between France and Prussia, Colonel Loyd-Lindsay (later Lord Wantage of Lockinge) wrote a letter to The Times calling for a national society to be formed in Britain following the example of other European nations. The British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War was formed later that year following a public meeting, and was reconstituted in 1905 as the British Red Cross.

The International Federation of Red Cross Societies began in 1919 in Paris in the aftermath of the First World War. The five founding members were Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States. There are now 186 recognized national societies.

RED CROSS FACT FILE THE international Red Cross movement started in 1863, inspired by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant.

He had been appalled at the suffering of thousands, on both sides, left to die due to lack of care after the Battle of Solferino in 1859. He proposed the creation of national relief societies, made up of volunteers, trained in peacetime to provide neutral and impartial help to relieve suffering in times of war. Dunant also proposed an international agreement, which would recognise the status of medical services and of the wounded on the battlefield. This agreement – the original Geneva Convention – was adopted in 1864.

In July 1870, following the outbreak of war between France and Prussia, Colonel Loyd-Lindsay (later Lord Wantage of Lockinge) wrote a letter to The Times calling for a national society to be formed in Britain following the example of other European nations. The British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War was formed later that year following a public meeting, and was reconstituted in 1905 as the British Red Cross.

The International Federation of Red Cross Societies began in 1919 in Paris in the aftermath of the First World War. The five founding members were Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States. There are now 186 recognized national societies.

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