Guest blog
from Anna Bradley-Dorman, Public Affairs Chairman, Huntingdon &
Peterborough Federation
Towards the end of 2014 Sally
Dalley (Chairman of Huntingdon & Peterborough Federation) and I were
privileged to meet with Ann Rowcliffe whose daughter, Clare, was born with a genetic lung disease and unfortunately, as a matching donor was never found,
passed away aged 26. Even with her own time running out, Clare asked her Mum to
promise to donate any organs or tissues that she could after her death. As a
result, the sight of two young adults has now been restored by receiving her
corneas.
Clare loved being creative
and was also crazy about little yellow rubber ducks. On the first anniversary
of her death, in memory of Clare, as a random act of kindness Ann left little
yellow ducks in public places for people to find and take. This has now, thanks
to Clare’s friend Emma, blossomed into a worldwide initiative called ‘The
Little Yellow Duck Project’. Each duck has a label attached with a name and
details of how to register the duck on a world map and, most importantly, how
to register as an organ donor. Ducks have now been registered in over 65
countries and as a result many new donors have been created.
In our centenary year, the
members of Huntingdon & Peterborough were encouraged to make a public
display to show the difference the combined might of WI members can make to our
community. So, to support this year’s resolution ‘Time to Talk’, we invited all
our members to either knit, sew, crotchet or decorate one or more Little Yellow
Duck for a ‘Duck Bomb’ on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th
April 2015.
Ann likes to theme and name
her ducks so we decided to call all our ducks Wilma as it begins with the
letters WI. A special label was designed (with information about the ‘Time to
Talk’ campaign on the reverse) that asked members to indicate who they had told
about their wishes regarding organ donation.
Our members did not
disappoint. We estimate around 1,500 Little Yellow Ducks (and some not so
yellow or little!) were released over Friday 24th and Saturday 25th
April. The full sized padding pool we put out at our Annual Federation Day was
full to overflowing and we know that, in addition, several WIs were
distributing their own ducks locally. Many had duck making evenings where
members got together and one WI set themselves the task of knitting 100 ducks for
the centenary.
Many local retailers, sports
clubs, medical facilities, libraries etc. agreed to take some of our ducks and
our thanks goes out to all of them. We were particularly delighted that the
Organ Donation Committee of the Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust wanted to work with us. We turned up on Friday the 24th
with our paddling pool of around 200 ducks and Time to Talk leaflets and were
greeted by the Chairman of the Hospital, Rob Hughes and Dr Tuba Hussain, the
Trust Clinical Lead for Organ Donation who we, of course presented, with their
own ducks. Dr Hussain said,
‘I
love the cards saying “I have spoken to __ about my wishes”. Really great. So
often that is where staff get stuck, to have it written down in black and white
is fantastic.’
We were astounded with the
response from the general public and employees alike. In fact we ran out of
both leaflets and ducks by lunchtime so great was the take-up. It was fantastic
to see all the ducks go off to new homes but most importantly we had so many
conversations with people about both organ donation and the importance of
making their wishes known. We were also joined that morning by Ann Rowcliffe
herself, resplendent in bright yellow, Toby Payne (Chair of the Organ Donation
Committee) and Teresa Jude (Organ Donation Administrator).
 |
| Teresa Jude, Organ Donation Administrator |
The Duck Bomb has had
significant social and local media coverage and has not only promoted the
resolution but the WI as well. One comment about the ducks left on The Little
Yellow Duck website said,
"Was lovely to see them and made me
smile. Then I realised what the cause was and felt it was a good opportunity to
let my family know my wishes. Has started a conversation...saw a couple of
little girls hugging theirs whilst out for a walk, thank you for sharing. Will
take Wilma to work to keep the conversation going."
Our aim was to get people
talking and, even if people choose not to register their ducks or become an
organ donor at least they will have had the conversation.
The campaign is called ‘Time
to Talk’ – 1500 ducks certainly got people talking!
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| Prue Leith with one of the ducks |
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