The Play2Give Room at Oxford Children's Hospital

The Play2Give Room – a patient room for teenagers – was unveiled at the Oxford Children’s Hospital’s Melanie’s Ward in March 2017 after raising over £40,000 for our own named room. One of P2G’s proudest moments.

Picture – courtesy of and credited to Newsquest Oxfordshire

A special tribute from Oxford Children’s Hospital

Our fundraising for the Oxford Children’s Hospital was so significant that in 2017 a special tribute from the hospital was honoured to Play2Give on the teenagers ward in dedication of our years of tireless support.

A single patient room, simply known as “The Play2Give Room” ​treating teenagers facing long-term hospital stays was formally unveiled in a small ceremony with hospital nurses and charity staff and football tournament sponsors where the ribbon cutting took place.

1st March 2017 saw the room, based on Melanie’s Ward, formally unveiled in our name, after years of tireless campaigning and countless numbers of football tournaments, raffles, tombola’s, supermarket collections, charity nights and many more events and activities raised over £40,000 to sponsor the specialist room.

A proud moment for Play2Give

We funded a patient room in Oxford Children’s Hospital

This moment was a very proud achievement in our history, and to this date remains a very special commemoration. More recently our founder Andrew Baker, who was a former patient of the children’s hospital, was honoured with an MBE in Her Majesty The Queen’s New Year’s Honours 2021 and is also one of our most other proudest achievements.

The room – a single patient room – was chosen in 2014 by the Oxford Hospitals Charity with us, because Andy was a teenager aged 12 when he underwent brain surgery at the former Radcliffe Infirmary and and Dale Harris – who played a huge part in organising our early football tournaments – daughter, Mya, was treated from birth for Spina Bifida and benefited from the adolescent ward.

This room was a small token of the hospital’s appreciation for our relentless dedication to raising funds over many years since 2007 and the fact that Andrew began to raise funds in the early days when the hospital was just a dream and a hole in the ground. Our sponsored room helps care for the many adolescents and their families facing long-term stays.

Play2Give paid a visit every December

Andrew and some of the team paid a visit to our sponsored room every December pre Covid times when we delivered hundreds of Christmas presents to spread cheer, joy and smiles to the faces of sick children faced with stays in hospital over the festive period. And each time our room never fails to make the teen staying in feel comfortable and at ease.

So many people, from individuals to companies, supermarkets and groups all helped with this very special lifelong legacy be achieved in our name.

Whilst we can’t thank them all, just some of the special thanks include:

  • Dale Harris
  • Teresa Strike
  • Elaine Childs
  • Craig Harris
  • Sainsbury’s Didcot
  • Breckon & Breckon
  • Newbury Building Society
  • Angela Norris
  • St Birinus School
  • Oxford Mail and Didcot Herald
  • Ann Baker
  • and to many individuals including Lee Crook, Luke Norris and Matty Hambridge amongst others who took on sponsored challenges to help raise the funds.